After a year of questions, concerns, and schedule changes, the South Carolina high school football regular season has reached its end. However, this final week looks much different than your normal Friday night with many teams not playing. There were many coaches and teams that did not want to risk playing this week in a non-region game and having a player go down with the virus. Before we get to this week's games, click below to view this week's Media Poll as well as the Broadcasters Poll.
Here is a list of the matchup's for this Friday night:
Boiling Springs at SpartanburgBlythewood at GaffneyCamden at ByrnesBroome at Union CountyWoodruff at ChesneeMauldin at EasleyJL Mann at GreenvilleBlue Ridge at BlacksburgTravelers Rest at RiversideHillcrest at TL Hanna
Heading into the final week of the regular season I am sitting at 60-18 while I went 6-3 last week. Here are my picks for Week 7.
Boiling Springs at Spartanburg: This game is a matchup that I was a part of before coming to ESPN Upstate as the Voice of Byrnes. Over the recent years, this game has not disappointed as Boiling Springs has owned Spartanburg and the Vikings look to get over the hump on Friday night. In fact, the Vikings have not defeated the Bulldogs since October 17th of 2014. That is 6 straight wins for Boiling Springs; two in 2016. Rick Tate was very successful against Chris Miller and the Vikings, but with Mark Hodge as the new HC, I will be interested to see if this trend continues. Boiling Springs has been a well oiled machine this season with only one loss coming in Week 1 to the Gaffney Indians. Spartanburg comes off of a win over Riverside in which Riverside led for a good majority of the game. I like the Bulldogs to roll on Friday night.
Boiling Springs 38, Spartanburg 19.
Blythewood at Gaffney: I do not know much about Blythewood other than the fact that the Bengals did not make the post season and come into this game 3-2. Gaffney comes off of a quarentine break and may look rusty early, but this will be a good tune up for the Indians. Gaffney needed this game badly as they did not want to go into the playoffs off of a 3 week break. I expect the Gaffney offense to move the ball and score at will on Friday. Indians roll.
Gaffney 40, Blythewood 21.
Camden at Byrnes: After a dissapointing loss last week for the Rebels, Byrnes will look to clean things up this week before the playoffs. Camden is a team out of AAA that played Chapman last year in the Upper-State Championship. This should be a fantastic football game. I think the biggest thing here is the fact that Gabe Rogers, QB of the Rebels, simply needs reps. The passing game was non-exsistent last week at Dorman and that is something the Rebels will need to work on going forward if they want to make a playoff run. Camden has a very good running back who is a Mr. Football finalist that Reggie Shaw spoke very highly of. Speaking of running backs, Mack Long was shut down last week at Dorman after his opening drive 77 yard touchdown. The rest of the night, Long was held under 10 yards. For Byrnes, they will need to run the football early and often as well as get Gabe Rogers going to elevate the passing game. Camden will play them tough, but Byrnes prevails.
Byrnes 28, Camden 19.
Broome at Union County: The Broome Centurions have played several football games in a short amount of time and they are coming off of a loss on Monday night at Woodruff. Union County in my opinion has more speed and more athletes than Broome. Broome will need to run the football and keep the Union offense off the field. I like the Yellow Jackets in this one.
Union County 34, Broome 21.
Woodruff at Chesnee: Chesnee has had an incredible season and I think this is a very good matchup for both teams. Woodruff will present some challenges to Chesnee if the Wolverines can throw the football. However, I like Chesnee to set the tone and run the ball and get the win.
Chesnee 26, Woodruff 24.
Mauldin at Easley:
Mauldin 35, Easley 14.
JL Mann at Greenville:
Greenville 44, JL Mann 10.
Blue Ridge at Blacksburg
Blue Ridge 27, Blacksburg 20.
Travelers Rest at Riverside:
Riverside 30, Travelers Rest 28.
Hillcrest at TL Hanna:
Hillcrest 34, TL Hanna 24.
Southside at Woodmont:
Southside 29, Woodmont 20.
Listen to Camden at Byrnes LIVE on ESPN Upstate beginning at 7:00pm with Cole Bryson, Layne Fowler, & Sam Clark. For a full breakdown of all of these games, tune into the Saturday Morning Scramble on ESPN Upstate Saturday from 8-10am with Cole Bryson & Jed Blackwell.
