High school football in 5A and 4A turn up a notch this week, as region play begins in Region 2-5A and Region 2-4A for our local teams. Playoff positioning gets impacted each and week from this Friday until Halloween, and getting off to a 1-0 start is always ideal. Here’s a look at this week’s games.
Spartanburg @ Eastside
The Spartanburg Vikings start their region slate on the road with the Eastside Eagles after coming off of a bye. Spartanburg is coming off of its first win of the season two weeks ago against Broome at home by a final score of 50-7, following losses to Northwestern and Dutch Fork in the first two weeks.
Spartanburg’s headliner is the early play of junior RB Trenton Lynch, who in three games this season has scored six touchdowns on the ground on 436 yards, nearly averaging 150 per game with two of those games against defending state champion lineups. General inexperience as well as an injury at quarterback has held the Vikings back, and injuries you can’t control but ideally the issue of inexperience becomes less and less of a problem after each game.
Eastside is 3-0 in 2025 and has shellacked teams, outsourcing opponents 168-35 in three wins. However the level of those opponents is a not insignificant part of the reason why that number is so lopsided. Two opponents have been from the 3A level (Carolina Academy and Blue Ridge), and the other is a 4A team that has not won a game since 2022 (Southside). The Eagles feature a senior LB MJ Posey who already has 10 sacks.
Boiling Springs @ Gaffney
In a thriller last season at Boiling Springs, the Indians pulled out a tight game that needed overtime. Now this season, Boiling Springs and Gaffney enter this matchup with questions stemming from less than perfect non-region starts.
Gaffney is 1-2 with a win against JL Mann at home and losses to Independence (NC) and Greenville. The biggest story around the program is Tuesday’s news that Arkansas-commit QB Jayvon Gilmore has withdrawn from Gaffney High and is no longer a member of the team. After starting every game last season that went 8-1 in the regular season, won a region title and made another upper state championship game, Gilmore has seemingly been beat out for the starting role by QB Banks Bouton and will not be in the picture for the 2025 Indians at all. Bouton is the Indian’s leading rusher through three games with 162 yards and a pair of scores, and has only thrown 13 passes, completing 6 for 79 yards and a touchdown.
Boiling Springs on the other hand got back on the right track with a home win over Chapman two weeks ago. But the Bulldogs loss to Mauldin the week prior made the matchup against the Panthers much more important to ensure Boiling Springs is not going to the Reservation with a losing record. QB Josh Kahl has locked down the starting quarterback spot, and the defense is a big strength. The health of DB Jeremiah Favorite will be important to monitor going into the matchup. With so much surrounding the Gaffney program in the last three days, Boiling Springs maybe could benefit from the spotlight shining brightly on the Indians.
Wade Hampton @ Byrnes
The Byrnes Rebels were the only 5A team in Region 2 to play last Friday night, going to Greer and winning 49-9 over the Yellow Jackets. The win makes Byrnes 2-1 this season, with a loss to Irmo at home sandwiched between wins at Greer and home against TL Hanna.
Junior RB Tre Segarra ran for 145 yards and two touchdowns rushing, and added a receiving touchdown as well, while sophomore PR Emerson James brought a punt back for a score in the rout. In its two wins the Byrnes defense allowed just 19 points, but in its loss surrendered 35. The offense on the other hand has scored 30+ in every game.
The Wade Hampton Generals are 0-3 this season with losses to Travelers Rest, Blue Ridge and Easley. Last season they were 0-9.
Riverside @ Dorman
The Dorman Cavaliers are 2-1 in non-region play with wins over Greenville and Catawba Ridge followed by a heartbreaking loss in overtime against Greenwood. After a bye, the Cavaliers host Riverside.
Dorman rallied to erase a 21 point halftime deficit in its last game against a talented Greenwood team, took the lead in the second half, gave it up as the Eagles hit a hail mary pass followed by a two-point conversion to force overtime. In the end Greenwood won a one-point game that Dorman still played very well in. The Cavalier defense has still been very tough to crack, junior RB Nick Means has scored 10 touchdowns in three games with 441 rushing yards.
The Riverside Warriors have had an up and down non-region schedule. It began with a big offensive output in a 41-27 win against Mauldin, but the Warriors enter this Friday’s game on a two-game losing streak after falling to Greenville 28-0 and Christ Church 37-34. Riverside has WR Speedy Taylor back after a season-ending knee injury in 2024, and a returning QB in Gideon Merhib.
Berea @ Greer
The Greer Yellow Jackets dropped to 0-4 after a 49-9 loss at home against Byrnes on Friday night. Greer marched down the field for a touchdown on its first drive, but failed to find the end zone for the rest of the night. The Yellow Jackets got a couple of turnovers from the Rebels but couldn’t capitalize on them either.
Greer has played a very difficult non-region schedule, three of the four against strong 5A squads like Byrnes, Boiling Springs, and Hillcrest, and the fourth against a state title contender at 3A with BHP. The young team is clearly still growing, especially on offense where they didn’t get off to a slow start against Byrnes like their other games. The Yellow Jackets will start to see a big drop-off in competition level on the other side, and it starts this week.
The Berea Bulldogs are 1-2, with a 39-0 loss at Landrum, a 21-6 loss at home to Carolina, and a 21-12 win at home against Southside. Last season Greer beat Berea 63-0 as the Bulldogs only won one region game in 2024, going 3-7.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login