We did it! We have made it through the summer with no football and it’s finally back! This Friday night kicks off the High School football season and it’s time to preview this week’s 2A/3A matchups.
Powdersville @ Broome
The Broome Centurions just like last year will open their season against Powedersville, their season also ended against Powedersville in the first round of the playoffs. In both those games, the Centurions had their chances but Powdersville was able to come away with the wins.
Now the Centurions will look to flip the script on Powdersville and start the 2022 season with a win. The Centurions have several talented players that should be key contributors for them this season and they were a team that was in a lot of ball games they just couldn’t make enough plays to pull out some close wins, so it will be interesting to see if they can do that this season. I expect the Centurions to be in this one and will have their chances to start their season off with a W.
Woodruff @ Chapman
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A fun matchup to have for week 0 with two local teams squaring off as Woodruff will travel to Chapman on Friday night. Normally this game would be a region game but with re-alignment, these two teams are in different regions in the 3A.
Last year Chapman won a high-scoring affair by the final score of 56-35, so Woodruff will look to avenge that loss and start their year off right. For Chapman, they will have to replace Drew Settle and Coleman Gray is the new starting Qb and will be interesting to see if he can continue the trend of leading a high-powered offense that we have seen Chapman have for the past 5+ years. Coleman has a lot of experience on the offensive line and that will help a first-time starting quarterback.
Woodruff will have their starting Qb return for this season as Carson Tucker will begin his senior campaign and he has been very productive for the Wolverines behind center. Woodruff last year had some struggles defensively so that is something to look out for to see if they have been able to clean up some issues on that side of the ball.
My outlook for this game is that it should be another entertaining one but right now I am leaning to Chapman to pull it out.
Chesnee @ Blue Ridge
The Chesnee Eagles had an up-and-down season a year ago so they will look to get more of a consistent season this year and they will look to start their year off right with a win. In order to do that they will have to get a win on the road against Blue Ridge.
Chesnee is returning a lot of players from last year so with last year being a young roster they went through their growing pains so it will be interesting to see if these players can take a big jump.
Blue Ridge last year was just 2-8 with both wins coming in region games so the Fighting Tigers will also be looking to have a bounce-back season. I look for this game to be close I don’t see either team being able to pull away from each other but right now I am leaning towards Chesnee to get the win.
Union @ Newberry
The Union Yellow Jackets will open their season on the road against Newberry. The Yellow Jackets are coming off a rough year and one that I was not expecting to them struggle as they did. They had several losses where it appeared they were going to win but lost in heartache.
They will be looking to bounce back this year and will be looking to start the year off with a win. Union will be starting a new Quarterback this year as the Senior Ben Black will be under center. The offense with Black will look different this year with Black as Tyler Shugart previewed during the summer so it will be something worth looking out for as to how the offense will look.
We know with Newberry they are going to try to run the football so for the Yellow Jackets it’s about stopping the run. If they can do that they have a pretty good shot at winning this football game. Right now my early feeling is the Yellow Jackets get the win.