The playoffs for High School Football around the state of South Carolina kickoff on Friday. The playoffs are "the season within the season". The year starts in August and for the 1st few weeks, teams tune up for region play with their non-region schedule. After that, region play starts and that determines who qualifies for the playoffs and the seeding of teams. Then in November, it's win or start basketball season. We are to that part of the season. A great friend of mine in coaching , once said "The finality of the playoffs, there's nothing like it. That's what makes the wins that much more gratifying and what makes the losses sting that much worse".
The 1st round of the playoffs generally doesn't contain many real competitive games here in South Carolina. I have been vocal about the fact, I think too many teams make the playoffs in this state. That to me, waters down the 1st round of the postseason. However, this article is not about that, it's about the matchups in the 1st round. All season long, I have covered 10 region races around the Upstate and nearly 60 teams. This article is a look at all the 1st round matchups for Upstate teams in the 5A class.
Gaffney hosts Rock Hill- Region 2 Champs and defending State Champs Gaffney opens their State Title defense on Friday. The Indians fell in their regular season finale 30-21 at Byrnes and got off to a super sluggish start. However, they had the Region Title are already wrapped up and the back ups got tons of reps. Gaffney will look to bounce back. They are 32-4 "On The Reservation" under Head Coach Dan Jones since 2017. Gaffney would be at home at least the 1st 2 rounds and possibly all the way through until the 5A State Title game, if they can keep winning and get a little help with an upset elsewhere on the way.
Dorman is at Clover- It's a rematch of a game earlier this year, Dorman went to Clover and won 37-23. It's hard to beat a team twice in one season. Dorman has lost their last 2 games after starting 8-0. They dropped one at Gaffney 41-29 and then lost at home in an instant classic, 42-41 to rival Spartanburg. Dorman has been one dimensional on offense, being so run heavy. They have a great O-line and talented backs, so stopping that one dimension is much harder than it seems.
Byrnes at Hillcrest - Two Upstate and GSP area teams are duking it out on Friday, which we love to have that happen on the Scramble. Byrnes got some momentum in the win over Gaffney last week. They also are starting to get healthy after being bitten by the injury bug hard this season. Hillcrest has just 1 loss on the year and it was by one point on the road to Hanna. That loss costed Hillcrest the Region 1 5A Title and gave them a 2nd place finish. I imagine Coach Anthony Frate will use that, as a motivational tool for this game. Hillcrest has a high octane passing attack, with playmakers all over. QB play is generally paramount in postseason football at all levels and HC has a really good one in Senior Bennett Judy. He also has some ballers to throw it to in Avery McFadden, Jaylen Neal and they have RB Logan Coldren, who's threat to run it or catch it. In my mind, this one of the best 1st round matchups anywhere in the Upstate.
Spartanburg hosts Nation Ford. Spartanburg earned home field in the 1st round by knocking off cross town rival Dorman last week. While Spartan High has 4 losses on the season, they have played a tremendously tough schedule. That schedule featured Georgia powerhouses Langston Hughes and Grayson, also featured the #1 ranked 5A team in South Carolina, Dutch Fork and the Region 2 gauntlet. The Vikings have three things working for them that usually translate to postseason success 1. They are battle tested 2. They have a Coach who has been here many times before and been successful. 3. They have great QB play with Raheim Jeter at the helm of their offense.
TL Hanna hosts White Knoll- Hanna has not lost since early in the season. The ugly loss to cross town rival Westside , seemed to be a wake up call and refocus the Yellow Jackets. Hanna is well coached, as Jason Tone has had them playing at a high level seemingly every year. They run the option, which isn't seen much anymore. That makes it incredibly difficult to prepare for Hanna. They are always good at what they do, Hanna's players have a grasp of that offense, what the reads are, who to block and how to angle blocks to spring the runner.
JL Mann hosts Spring Valley- Mann has been an incredible story this season. Coach Scoot Watson has engineered a renaissance in just a few years at the helm. JL Mann is 6-4 this season and is guaranteed a winning season for the 1st time since 2011. Mann is hosting a playoff game for the 1st time since 2009, they won their 1st round game at home that year. So this Friday, is the biggest game for Mann Football in over a decade. D-End Mookie Bennett is one of the most underrated defensive players in the GSP area. Mike McLellan is incredibly versatile and can do almost anything on the field. The D for Mann has been strong all year. Will be interesting to see how the players react to being in game of this magnitude for the 1st time.
Mauldin at Dutch Fork. Mauldin has struggled much of this season after losing talented D-1 prospects from last year's team. They beat Woodmont in the regular season finale to get into the playoffs. Their prize for that win, was a road trip to 5A's #1 team Dutch Fork. Last week, Dutch Fork beat a 8 win and 2nd place region finisher Lexington by over 50 points.
Boiling Springs at Blythewood- The 5A Class only has 7 regions in the state to field the 32 qualifiers from in the class, statewide. Therefore, 5A has an at large team that gets in the playoffs in the Upper State to make an even 16 teams in that bracket. Boiling Springs was selected as the at-large team this year, as I expected they would be. 1st year Coach Matt Reel has done a nice job of making Boiling Springs more competitive than last year. However, the build will take time and is an uphill climb. No disrespect to Coach Reel or his program, but they didn't win a game in Region 2 5A. Yes, that's a really tough region but, I don't see how you justify having a team in the playoffs without at least one region win? Blythewood won the Region 3 Crown and has had a tremendous season.
That's a look at all the class 5A playoff matchups for teams that we cover. We will do a preview for all the teams we have covered this season and all classes, as this week progresses. Tune in to the Saturday Morning Scramble from 8-10 AM each week for results, analysis, previews of the next week's biggest games and interviews with coaches involved in the 864 area's biggest games.
