Please stand clear of the doors. Por favor manténgase alejado de las puertas. This is the end of the road for some.
We’ve arrived at Week 10 of the high school football season, and while most of our area teams will tee it up again next Friday, we must bid adieu to some of our passengers.
May those teams whose season ends tonight leave it all on the field. You know the teams who are playing for region titles will. And we have quite a few of those.
Three of the eight clashes on the local slate have direct region championship implications, and a fourth one could if the other piece falls into place. There will be a lot of scoreboard watching tonight, so if you’re out at a game, help us keep the scores updated using the free Scorestream app.
Here’s your Week 10 primer:
LOWCOSPORTS.COM GAME OF THE WEEK
Hilton Head Prep (4-5, 2-1) at Hilton Head Christian Academy (8-1, 3-0)
There were years when this cross-island clash was bigger — and better attended — than the Bridge Bowl, and this might be one of them.
Hilton Head Island’s private school football teams were the class of SCISA back in the late-00s, and this rivalry was heated. The teams haven’t been good at the same time recently, with the power struggle shifting back and forth every few years, but in the past few years it has once again become a “throw out the records” type of game.
The Dolphins have won four of the last five meetings, including a 35-19 stunner last season that threw the region standings into chaos on the last day of the regular season, resulting in Hilton Head Prep earning the No. 1 playoff seed. The Dolphins are hoping for a repeat performance, and they’re peaking at the right time. After missing the first four games of the season with a broken nose, quarterback Stone McDonald has rounded into form and is leading a dangerous offense that has scored 85 points the past two games. Opposing defenses have committed to taking away versatile back Tommy Stauffer, and McDonald has made them pay with his arm and his legs. HHCA’s coaching staff is well aware of that and surely has a scheme to try to combat it.
The Eagles present opposing defenses with a similar conundrum, as quarterback Hayden Shinn has too many weapons at his disposal for almost any defense to cover. Daniel Harrington had the hot hand last week, but he’s just one of four HHCA receivers with at least 380 receiving yards.
Two accomplished senior quarterbacks going head to head in a rivalry game with region-title implications on the final night of the regular season? Sign me up.
This one should be a treat.
Prediction: Hilton Head Christian Academy 44, Hilton Head Prep 28
Beaufort High (3-5, 2-0) at Colleton County (3-5, 1-1)
The Eagles’ second-half turnaround has been remarkable, but they need one more win to complete the job and clinch the region title. And it won’t come easily against a Cougars team that is built to matchup well against Beaufort High.
Colleton County runs the ball well with 1,000-yard rusher Trakell Murray leading the way. The Eagles were hurt by the run early in the season, but they’ve improved during their three-game winning streak and bottled up Hilton Head High’s Lavarus Brown last week. The underclassman starters — including three freshmen — on Beaufort’s defense have really grown up and are playing well.
Good running teams have been able to move the ball against the Cougars, and the Eagles certainly fit the bill. Daniel Phares gets better every week at guiding the option attack — and he was pretty darn good from the jump — and James Dagin and Amariee Morris are running well behind a solid offensive line.
Playing on the road always has its challenges, but the Eagles are talented enough and playing with enough confidence to get the job done.
Prediction: Beaufort High 31, Colleton County 20
Bluffton (1-7, 0-2) at Hilton Head High (4-4, 1-1)
The Bridge Bowl is the undercard in Region 7-4A this week, but the stakes are still high. The Bobcats must win to have a chance at a playoff spot, while the Seahawks also could miss out on the playoffs with a loss (via tiebreakers, but that’s a subject for a longer, separate post).
It will be interesting to see if Bluffton can rally after a crushing home loss to Colleton County last week added to a disappointing season. Even if they do, it’s a tough matchup for the Bobcats, whose weaknesses correspond pretty directly with Hilton Head High’s strengths.
The Seahawks are tough in the secondary, which doesn’t bode well for a Bluffton offense that uses the pass to set up the run and needs receiver Rakim White to have a big game. The x-factor is whether HHIHS star cornerback Christian Miller is able to return from an ankle injury suffered in the first half last week and try to slow down White. If Miller is out, the Bobcats’ offense could have a big night.
On the other side of the ball, Hilton Head High’s offense has achieved a nice balance with Gaston Moore guiding the passing game and Lavarus Brown chewing up yards on the ground. Brown is also banged up, though, and if he’s not available the Seahawks become more one-dimensional.
Prediction: Hilton Head High 33, Bluffton 27
Battery Creek (3-4) at Whale Branch (5-3)
The second meeting of the season between these crosstown rivals figures to look a lot like the first — a defensive struggle won in the trenches. The Warriors escaped Battery Creek with a 9-6 win in the season-opening matchup, and now they get to play at home in the rematch.
It’s been a tough run for the Warriors, whose three losses have all come against top-10 opponents in region play — and two of them were by a combined eight points. The Dolphins were rolling with three straight wins before running into an angry May River team last week and taking a 52-13 loss on the chin.
Expect a heavy dose of the run from both offenses and a low-scoring affair in which the team that can limit penalties and take care of the ball will come out victorious.
Prediction: Whale Branch 14, Battery Creek 13
Wade Hampton (8-1, 3-0) at May River (7-1, 3-0)
This one easily could have been the Game of the Week — and it’s where I’ll be tonight — with all the marbles on the line in Region 8-3A.
Last week’s performance against a solid Battery Creek defense was enough to convince me May River’s setback against Beaufort High was a combination of the Sharks simply having an off night and the Eagles being better than they had gotten credit for to that point. May River quarterback Ahmad Green will be the best player on the field— though the Red Devils have some dudes, too, most notably quarterback Quayshon Williams and running back De’Shareoh Williams.
The Sharks’ difficulty against Beaufort’s option attack is somewhat concerning, especially with Ridge Dowe lost for the season to injury, but they bottled up a good ground game last week and will try to do the same this week.
The Red Devils’ only loss came in overtime against a Barnwell team that is head and shoulders above the rest of Class 2A, but that was at home. This will be the toughest road environment Wade Hampton has played in this season, and that could be a factor in a close game.
Prediction: May River 31, Wade Hampton 28
Lake Marion (0-8, 0-3) at Ridgeland-Hardeeville (1-7, 0-3)
The playoffs start tonight for these teams, as the winner will earn a berth in the postseason while the loser will turn in equipment Monday morning. The question with games like this is which team has already quit on the season, but both of these teams appear to have kept playing hard.
It’s been a tough six-game losing streak for the Jaguars, but if they can focus on establishing the run against a porous Lake Marion defense, they should be able to grab an early lead at home and stay in a more comfortable gameplan that gives them a chance at success.
Prediction: Ridgeland-Hardeeville 26, Lake Marion 14
John Paul II (0-8) at Colleton Prep (5-4)
This is an intriguing matchup, because the Warhawks aren’t really playing for anything, and the Golden Warriors have nothing to lose. Colleton Prep is already in the playoffs — though it’s unclear how SCISA will break a tie between the Warhawks and Thomas Heyward without a head-to-head result (thanks to Hurricane Dorian) — which could prompt the Warhawks to hold back their key players to avoid injury.
Meanwhile, JPII has no reason to leave anything in the tank and is playing for the pride of avoiding a winless season. That is a powerful force, but I’m not sure it will be enough against a tough Colleton Prep team.
Prediction: Colleton Prep 33, John Paul II 27
Patrick Henry (3-7, 2-4) at Beaufort Academy (2-6, 2-4)
The playoffs are out of play for both of these teams, so they’re simply playing for pride and the rare opportunity to walk off the field the last time as winners, a privilege usually reserved for state champs.
Beaufort Academy has been bitten liberally by the injury bug this season, but the silver lining is it has put some young players in positions to gain valuable experience and become contributors.
Look for those young guys to come up big tonight. Mark Clifford won’t stop coaching them up and trying to go out on a high note at home.
Prediction: Beaufort Academy 38, Patrick Henry 32
Last week: 8-1
Season: 70-13