Week 2 2A/3A Preview

Week 1 of the high school football season was quite interesting! With the severe thunderstorms running rampant in the area pretty much all games were effected. It made for a long night but it was worth it having football back in our area. Now we set our attentions to week 2 of the season and we will take a closer look at the games from the 2A/3A classification in our local listening area.

Chapman @ Walhalla

The Chapman Panthers started off their season with a 26-7 win over Eastside. They moved the game up Thursday night but that backfired as they started the game and the sky’s opened forcing them to push the rest game back to Friday night. Chapman jumped  out to the 26-7 lead at the half but with the weather coming back in it stopped the game and the Panthers got the win.

Walhalla is coming off a loss to the hands of the Landrum Cardinals by a final score of 32-21. Walhalla found themselves in a 14-0 hole early in the game but they settled in and made a few plays but the lead was too much for them to overcome.

Chapman struggled last year so it was a good to see them get the win and start this season off on the right foot. Quarterback Ashton Moore was solid in the win completed 12/18 passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns. The Panthers would like to see more of that production on the road this week. I am leaning towards the Panthers getting the win.

Broome @ Chesnee

The Broome Centurions opened their season off with a loss to the now 2A Woodruff Wolverines by a final score of 51-25. This game started on Friday Night and resumed on Saturday evening. The game was 14-7 Woodruff when it resumed and it remained with Woodruff being in control.

Chesnee is opening their season this week after a season last year where they went 5-6 overall and finished third inside their region. Their season in the first round of the playoffs as they fell to a strong Fairfield Central team. One thing Chesnee showed last year is they can put up some points. They average scoring 32 points per game last year and returning they got their QB Evan Lawter, who was a big reason why they were successful. He also has a few returning weapons he can throw to as well as a couple starting offensive lineman to protect him.

So Chesnee can certainly score but the question is defense they also gave up 32 points per game last year so that will be the question mark, can they clean up area’s on that side of the ball this year. Broome struggled in the opener against a good Wolverine team but can their offense get going against a defense that allowed big plays last year. Right now I am leaning towards Woodruff getting the win.

Landrum @ Ninety-Six 

The Landrum Cardinals are fresh off the opening win against Walhalla as I mentioned earlier in the story, but it was nice to the Cardinals, who had a tough year a season ago, start this season off right with a win. They will look to get to 2-0 against 96 this week.

96 did not start their season off with a win as they fell last week to Mid-Carolina 49-21. They were down 21-7 at the half and simply just couldn’t get themselves into the game. They couldn’t string together stops and allowed far too many big plays.

Landrum won the game last week because they won at the line of scrimmage they were able to open up holes and allowed their playmakers to have space all game long.  The Cardinals rushed for a combined 393 yards and four touchdowns. Ian Patterson didn’t have to pass the ball much because he had a field day on the ground rushing 22 times for 150 yards and three touchdowns.

On the defensive side of the ball JP Branyon won the Fox Sports 1400 player of the week award by having 10 total tackles, one tackle for a loss, and one pass breakup. I like the Cardinals to get the win this week and improve to 2-0.

Greer @ Union 

Union opened their season against a really solid Newberry team. This one of the two games in our local listening area that was not affected by the storms last Friday night. Union struggled in the opener to get anything going offensively as they were shut out 27-0. They will have another difficult test with Greer coming into town this week.

Greer on the other hand opened their season with a win over Woodmont 45-31. The Yellow Jackets had a big day offensively and were able to run for over 350 yards on the ground that just wore down Woodmont over the course of the game. Cavin McCoy rushed the ball 28 times for 212 yards and three touchdowns.

I think Union showed some improvements last week against a good Newberry team but as mentioned it doesn’t get easier with a solid Greer team coming in. I look for another big day on the ground for Greer and see them getting the win.

Fountain Inn @ Woodruff

The Woodruff Wolverines as mentioned earlier in the article rolled to a win against Broome as they finished their game last Saturday. The Wolverine Quarterback Connor Davis was slinging the ball around as he was 18/23 for 381 yards and four touchdowns. Jaylen Lyles rushed 13 times for 181 yards and two touchdowns.

Fountain Inn is also coming off a win as they defeated Greenville 24-20. These two teams met last year and it was easy win for the Wolverines 46-27. Davis had 3 touchdowns passing touchdowns in the win so the Wolverines will love for him to continue to find the endzone and build off a strong first game last week.

This is a solid test for Woodruff as Fountain Inn is a solid program, but I still love what I see from the Wolverines as they racked up 618 yards of total offense last week. I expect them to get the win on Friday night.