5 things we learned from Friday’s action plus a lookahead to next week’s matchups
Here are five things that stood out from Friday’s high school playoff action involving Midlands teams:
Then there were two
After two rounds of the South Carolina High School League Playoffs, there are just two Columbia-area teams left – Dutch Fork and Ridge View.
It’s the first time in several years that just two teams are left after the second round. Last year, there were seven teams making it to the third round with Dutch Fork and Brookland-Cayce making it to the state semifinals.
Road trip
Despite a No. 1 ranking and 22-game winning streak, Dutch Fork will hit the road for the next round of the playoffs and lower state championship if it advances.
The Silver Foxes face West Florence, 27-20 winners against Fort Dorchester, in the Class 5A Lower State semifinals. It’s the first time since 2015 Dutch Fork will play a road playoff game. The brackets of the SCHSL playoffs are predetermined if both teams are the same seeds. Dutch Fork and West Florence won their respective region titles.
The winner of the game travels to the Berkeley-Summerville winner on Nov. 30.
Dutch Fork defeated West Florence, 42-14, last season in the first round. But the Knights have a new coach in Jody Jenerette and the emergence of running back Aliym Ford, a Mr. Football finalist who has rushed for more than 2,000 yards this year.
Putting up the numbers
Ridge View is on to the third round of the playoffs for the second time in three seasons, and Javon Anderson has been a big reason.
The senior quarterback threw for 367 yards and five touchdowns in Friday’s win over Westwood. Anderson has thrown for 988 yards and 16 touchdowns over the past three games for the Blazers.
As a team, Ridge View is averaging 495 yards in its last three games.
Ridge View has 30 wins in Perry Parks’ four seasons. The Blazers had 31 wins from 2007-2014, the year before Parks took over.
10-win mark
Dutch Fork won its 10th game of the season with the 63-20 victory over West Ashley on Friday.
It was the eighth time in nine seasons the Silver Foxes have won at least 10 games since Tom Knotts’ arrival. The only time Dutch Fork didn’t win 10 games was in 2015 when it won nine games.
Prior to Knotts’ arrival in 2010, Dutch Fork had just two 10-win seasons from 1992-2009.
Fond Farewell
South Pointe’s four-year reign as state champions came to an end Friday when Daniel knocked off the Stallions, 50-49 in double overtime of the Class 4A Upper State playoffs.
Tyler Venables, the son of Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables, scored the game-winning touchdown and two-point conversion for the win. Venables had 239 yards passing and rushed for 213 yards in the game.
Herron won 102 games in seven seasons and five state titles.
Next week’s playoff schedule
Friday
Class 5A
Upper State
TL Hanna at Dorman
Gaffney at Byrnes
Lower State
Dutch Fork at West Florence
Summerville at Berkeley
Class 4A
Upper State
Ridge View at Greer
Wren at Daniel
Lower State
North Augusta at Hartsville
North Myrtle Beach at Myrtle Beach
Class 3A
Upper State
Union County at Chapman
Southside at Chester
Lower State
May River at Dillon
Wade Hampton at Hanahan
Class 2A
Upper State
Saluda at Southside Christian
Central at Abbeville
Lower State
Barnwell at Timberland
Bamberg-Ehrhardt at Carvers Bay
Class A
Upper State
McBee at Dixie
Wagener-Salley at Lamar
Lower State
Green Sea-Floyds at Baptist Hill
Hemingway at Lake View
This story was originally published November 17, 2018 at 11:34 AM.