North Myrtle Beach coach Perry Woolbright isn't ready to call the winner between his Chiefs and Socastee tonight the new region front-runner just yet.
The third-year coach has his team 4-1 and travelling to take on the 5-0 Braves. And while tonight's game will carry plenty of region weight, there's' still the elephant in the room.
Myrtle Beach.
"Until
they get beat, they’re the favorite," Woolbright said of the Seahawks. "But I thought before the season that
Socastee would be one of the tougher teams, if not the toughest team, in the
region."
After weeks of seeing what the Grand Strand high school football teams have to offer, Friday's games start determining playoff positioning (or lack thereof) for squads in the state's lower three classes.
Once again, there are plenty of great story lines about to play out. Socastee attempts to move to 6-0 for the first time in coach Tim Renfrow's 10 seasons. North Myrtle Beach - which heads to Socastee - is playing for its fifth win of the year after failing to win a single game each of the last two seasons.
Myrtle Beach is putting its 19-game region winning streak on the line when it travels to Wilson. St. James tries to recoup from an emotional week as it makes its way to Georgetown. Aynor, Loris and Waccamaw all try to make that crucial first step in Region VIII-AA. And Carvers Bay (Region VII-A) attempts to keep its four-game winning streak going while Green Sea-Floyds (Region VIII-A) goes against arguably its toughest region foe all season.
We took everything from the non-region slates of games and rolled it into the respective region projections. Who do we think will win Region VII-AAA, Region VIII-AA and Region VII-A? We'll tell you who we believe has the best chance.
Some of the answers may not shock you; others could be considered surprise picks.
Three Grand Strand teams finished their non-region portion of the schedule having done enough to be ranked in the top 10 in their respective class.
Myrtle Beach, which held onto the top spot in Class AAA after beating Conway, is joined by Socastee, which remained No. 10 in Class AAA. Carvers Bay, which was unranked prior to last Friday, jumped to No. 8 in Class A after its third consecutive win over a school from a high class.
We'll find out soon enough what some bulletin board material actually means to the Myrtle Beach and Conway football teams.
Tiger senior Jacob Moreland went off this week, declaring that not only did Conway have a speed advantage on both sides of the ball, but that it was "time we put them back in their place." There's only so much room in the print edition, though, and Moreland had other interesting things to say, too.
It's hard to believe that region play for the majority of the local high schools doesn't start until next week.
Conway heads to Myrtle Beach; North Myrtle Beach attempts to start 4-1 after failing to win a game the past two years; Aynor attempts to surpass last year's win tally (3); and Loris and Georgetown meet in a game that will propel either into the region slate.
When Friday night rolls around, Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium is going to be jammed for the annual Victory Bell rivalry game between Myrtle Beach and Conway.
However, the Seahawks aren't going to push too much when it comes to a load of injuries. The latest could be another blow to a defense that is already missing its highest-profile player, cornerback Chocolate Wilson (knee).
Sean Michael Orcutt, Myrtle Beach's second-leading tackler, had surgery to repair a broken hand Wednesday. He is in a cast, and coach Mickey Wilson said he is 50-50 to play against the Tigers. Granted, the injury occurred during the first quarter of Myrtle Beach's win last week against Carolina Forest, and Orcutt finished the game.
Jeff Zell from WBTW News 13, Matt Parris of ESPN Radio Myrtle Beach and yours truly take another whack at breaking down the Grand Strand football scene.
Featured heavily this week - of course - is Conway's trip to Myrtle Beach for the annual Victory Bell match-up. We spent a good bit of time on Tiger linebacker Jacob Moreland's comments (we'll have plenty more on that Friday in print and right here on the Prep Talk blog), but we also talked quite a bit about what Conway has to do to pull the upset again.
The most recent S.C. High School Football Media Poll has been released, and no longer is Myrtle Beach the only area team in the rankings.
Socastee (5-0) has moved into the Class AAA rankings. The Braves, who are off this week before starting Region VII-AAA play next week at home against North Myrtle Beach, are now No. 10 in Class AAA.
Myrtle Beach, which as been No. 1 for the last two weeks, remained there after beating Carolina Forest last week on the road.
Tons of good stuff up on the Web this morning in regards to tonight's games.
We've got a near-full slate, with only Loris, Aynor and Green Sea-Floyds taking their off week's tonight. In the middle of it all, we've got a high-profile player returning to his former school, Conway attempting to get back into the win column after three straight losses and Georgetown trying to sweep its county foes for the first time since 1999.
Here's everything you need, compiled in one place, to get ready for all of tonight's games:
Ian Guerin has been covering sports in Myrtle Beach since 2005 and in South Carolina since 2004. In that time, he has served as a reporter on the college and high school beats at multiple publications. You can reach him directly via ian@ianguerin.com.
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Have a question about the Tigers, Seahawks, Bulldogs, Chiefs or your favorite team? E-mail Ian your questions at ian@ianguerin.com and he will answer them here on the blog.
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