Baxter’s Blitz: Midlands 5A

WEEK TWO of the 2019 football season
is in the books and here are my thoughts.

Dutch Fork remains unbeaten after
blanking Spring Valley 46-0. Jon Hall rushed for 4 touchdowns and QB Ty Olenchuk
passed for 212 yds and a TD to All-State WR Jalin Hyatt. This team is lethal
and will not lose a game in 2019.

The Sumter Gamecocks annihilated Crestwood
63-2 and remain the second ranked team in the Midlands.

Right now, there is a fair degree of
separation between these two teams and the rest of the Midlands but there is
also a fair degree of separation between these two teams. Dutch Fork, in my
opinion, is at least two touchdowns better than any other team in the state. \

REGION 5-5A

The Region 5-5A has an interesting
look. River Bluff hasn’t really faced a worthy opponent yet but they still look
very sharp. RB Braden Walker, along with new starting QB Jackson Stone, are
leading a powerful offense. This team, in my opinion, has strong hold on the
second spot in that region. But Lexington is 2-0 and while they haven’t played juggernauts
either, their defense has played stellar in both the 26-0 Irmo win and the 41-0
win over Dreher. White Knoll beat a good Brookland-Cayce team last week and pummeled
Colleton county this week. Right now, Lexington or White Knoll could be the
third best team in the region and a definite challenger for the 2nd
spot against River Bluff.

REGION 4-5A

In the Other 5A region, Sumter
reigns and with Spring Valley and Blythewood both losing Friday night, the Gamecocks
remain the only unbeaten in this region. Spring Valley must clean up the
mistakes if they are going to compete for the top spot in the region and
Blythewood must find some offense. They were all but shut down by Westwood this
week in the 14-7 loss and that raises concerns for me about this team.

So, here are my standings right now

  1. Dutch Fork (1-0-1)
  2. Sumter (2-0)
  3. River Bluff (2-0)
  4. Lexington (2-0)
  5. White Knoll (2-0)
  6. Blythewood (1-1)
  7. Spring Valley (0-1)
  8. Chapin (1-0)
  9. Irmo (1-1)
  10. Lugoff-Elgin (1-1)

About Jim Baxter

Founder of SCVarsity.com, and The Southern PIgskin Report. Former publisher with Rivals.com and Nationally published recruiting anlayst witih 30 years of experience in the industry. His work has appeared in publications such as Athlon, Sporting News, The Recruiting News and Deep South Recruiting. He is the author of the best selling book, The Book On Evaluating Football Players.

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