The Regular season has come and gone and now its time to find out who will be the last team standing as its high school football playoff time this Friday Night. Let’s take a look at the matchups from the 2A/3A games in our local listening area.
Carolina Academy @ MVP
Carolina Academy won just one game this year and was 0-5 in region play, but with everyone making it to the 3A playoffs this year, they have a shot. Now, that shot is a long one as they have to take on an unbeaten MVP team.
As mentioned earlier, MVP went unbeaten in its first year, winning the region title. Its latest win came against Union, 48-7. And for the most part they have won big all year except for the Woodruff game where they squeaked by for the win. But they have gone out there each week and simply take care of business and show no weakness.
The bottom line Carolina is completely overmatched here and and would have to have a laundry list of things go their way to win it and that is simply just not going to happen MVP wins big.
Pendleton @ Woodruff
Woodruff has been a lot of fun to follow this year as they finished second in their region behind MVP but each week they came out ready to play and have had a lot of success this season. They finished their regular season with a win against Broome 35-14 and had another big night from their star players.
Pendleton finished the season at 4-5 and was 1-3 inside, they did play last week against Blue Ridge and got the win 26-0. But getting Woodruff in the first round is a tough draw and they will have their hands full on Friday Night.
If Woodruff comes out like they have all year this one should not be a tight game and I think Woodruff should roll to another victory and advance to the second round of the playoffs.
Broome @ Powdersville
Broome as mentioned earlier fell last week to Woodruff 35-14, But the Centurions were a little surprising this year and not in a good way. I know they lost the best Running back in the state but I still wouldn’t have it on my bingo card that they would go winless in region play and finish in dead last, but that is what happened and now they have to play Powdersville in the first round
Powdersville went 5-0 inside region play and 7-3 overall, they began the year at 0-3 losing to some good teams like Seneca, Abbeville, and Wren but ripped off seven in a row to end the regular season, so they are hot.
Broome will need to get a strong defensive performance in this game to give themselves a shot because Powdersville can score the football as they average around 36 points per game and I feel if they get around that average the game can get one-sided. Right now I would say Powdersville should win this one.
Union @ Cresecnt
Union finished their regular season last week as mentioned earlier as they were beaten 48-7 against MVP. Union did manage to improve this season winning a couple of games and a region win against Broome to avoid being in last place but their first-round matchup in the playoffs is a tough one against Crescent.
Crescent went 5-4 overall but 3-1 inside their region and they may not be an explosive team but they have been playing last out defensively they last few weeks as they only give up about 20 ppg for the year but in the last few weeks they have only average giving up 6 points per game.
Union will have to find a way to get some points up against Crescent and that is something they have really struggled to do at times this season. Right now I believe Crescent is playing the better football and they should win this game.
Palmetto @ Chapman
The Chapman Panthers really struggled at the beginning of the year and even went through some offensive changes during the season to help better suite their team. The results have been that the Panthers have played better football in the last couple weeks.
Palmetto was 4-6 overall this season and 2-3 in region play. Palmetto offense only averages around 21 points per game this season and allows 24 points per game. So they are prone to playing in close tight games but I definitively wouldn’t say they are an explosive football team.
I actually like the way the Panthers have been playing the last 3 or 4 weeks and I think they are a young team building a little momentum here and I am leaning towards the Panthers getting the win.
96 @ Chesnee
Chesnee dominated Blacksburg last week in their season finale winning 47-13 to finish the season 5-5 overall and 3-1 inside region play to earn this home playoff game against 96.
96 this season has been very mediocre as they are 3-7 overall and 2-3 inside region win. They are coming off a loss in their season finale against Strom Thurmond losing 21-7. They average about 24 point per game and give up about 27 points per game so defensively they will give up some big plays.
I say a lot about Chesnee they are a tough football team that never backs down from a challenge, they aren’t the most talented team, and they arent the deepest team but they compete every time they are on that field and they will give themselves a chance to win. I look for the Eagles to win this one and advance to the second round of the playoffs.
Landrum @ Central
Landrum finished the year on a disappointing note they were strong in non-region games once again, and even started region play with a win, but then dropped their last three region games to fall to 1-3 and finish second to last. That is a trend that has continued the last couple of seasons for the Cardinals a good start but a poor finish.
The bad finish now has them in a tough first-round matchup on the road against a good Central team. Central this year was 8-2 and 4-1 inside their region. Their only two losses came to Lewisville to start their season and to Cheraw, which was their only region lost.
Central is a strong defensive unit as they have only allowed 12 points per game this season so trying to score against their defense is no walk in the park. Offensively they score just shy of 30 points per game, so if they go up a couple of scores they are tough to come back on.
I just think the way the Central squad has been playing especially on defense and how the Cardinals have struggled this is a tough matchup for them and I see Central winning and ending the Cardinal’s season.
Related
