Your fearless prognosticator is just coming up for air after a long weekend coaching baseball and a Monday morning catching up on errands missed while coaching baseball, but late is better than never, right?
We had a few surprises in Week 6 that muddied the waters a bit, but there was still plenty to learn from what happened under the Friday night lights.
Here are Five Things I Think I Know after Week 6:
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• Thomas Heyward needed a wake-up call.
Don’t get me wrong, the Rebels earned the right to be confident. When you’ve won 18 consecutive games, it’s understandable to walk a little taller. But the dose of humility Heyward was handed in a 55-14 loss to Trinity-Byrnes on Friday will do the Rebels a lot of good. The Titans reminded the Rebels that they can’t just go through the motions and expect to steamroll every opponent. Things usually go one of two ways after a loss like this — THA can either go back to work and use this experience to come back even stronger or start pointing fingers and allow the team chemistry to sour. I have a hunch the Rebels will be just fine.
• Teams should stop kicking to Rakim White.
Seriously, how many kickoffs does my man Rak — I think I’m gonna start calling him “The Raket” (Rocket) — have to take to the house before they stop kicking it to him? The Bobcats do a good job of moving him around and putting him where teams like to kick, but with five kickoff return touchdowns in six games, you’d think kicking it out of bounds would be a better option. The bad news for White and the Bobcats is everyone in their region pooch kicks, so they might have to get more creative to get the ball in White’s hands on kick returns.
• It’s must-win time for Beaufort High.
I really thought the Eagles were going to get their first win last week against Effingham County, but it didn’t happen. Now Beaufort High is treading into dangerous territory with three evenly-matched region opponents and a strong May River team remaining on the schedule. I still think the Eagles have as much a chance as anyone to win Region 7-4A, but with each loss the pressure mounts and the morale drops, so this week’s home game against Bluffton could make or break Beaufort High’s season.
• Hilton Head Christian Academy is going to be a really tough out.
The Eagles are not unbeatable, by any means, nor are they without flaws. The offensive line is on the small side, and the defense is susceptible to the run, but as long as quarterback Hayden Shinn stays healthy, it’s going to take a bunch of points to beat HHCA. The Eagles have had a different player lead the team in receiving yards in five consecutive games, and they just got back Floyd Hargrove, who is capable of being the sixth. Covering that many capable receivers is no easy task for any team, much less a SCISA 2A program.
• Battery Creek is on the rise (again).
I’ve been a believer in Walt Wilson’s Dolphins since covering their win over May River in 2017, so it was a bit disappointing to see the once-rising tide recede last year and watch Battery Creek get off to a slow start this year. But my belief in Creek is buoyed. The Dolphins were dominant in a 31-6 win over Creekside Christian on Friday, and now they will be expected to win their region opener at home against Lake Marion this week. Their game at Ridgeland-Hardeeville on Oct. 18 could easily be for the No. 3 seed in the playoffs, which gives teams a fighting chance to pull off an upset on the road. If Creek keeps playing defense the way it has and the ground game continues to click, they could make some noise.