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The Crestwood Knights got their region opener win over Lake City last week with strong play from QB Javion Martin, who may be on his wayh to another Region Player of the Year award. WR Nigel Johnson is a lethal target for Martin and makes the Knights dangersous on offense. This week, they travel to Marlboro County to takeon an athletic Bulldogs team who’s only two losses were to a 6-1 Oceanside Collegiate and 6-0 Dillon team.
Camden got a solid region win to go 2-0 in region play over Lakewood. The Bulldogs got a big game from QB Grayson White and their defense, as usual, played very well. This Camden team seems to be back in form after a three game skid and will face off with a winless Darlington team in their third region match up.
Brookland-Cayce got a region opener win against Orangeburg-Wilkinsonon the road and did it with ground play. I told you at the beginning of the season this team would have to run the football to win with no dynamic receivers on the roster and that’s what they are doing. They have gone to running a basic single wing, rotating three or four runners at the wildcat position, including quarterback Tanner Staton. They are running a lot of misdirection off of it and are changing the offense each week, making it difficult for opponents to plan. This week, they host Lower Richland, who was pummelled by Gilbert this past week.
The Gilbert Indians got a great game out of their running back tandem of Alais Graham-Woodberry and Jaden Allen-Hendrix, combining for 5 touchdowns in their region opening win against Lower Richalnd. This Gilbert team is strong on both sides of the football and their one dimension ground attack offense will not be an issue in region play, but needs to be addressed before playoffs. I just don’t think they can make it past the third round without at least a minor threat of throwing the football.
The Dreher Blue Devils opened up region play with a win over Swansea and the small steps forward towards improving this program were noticable. They got a 200+ yards game out of David Epps and the defense was strong for the Blue Devils. This week, they take on an Orangeburg-Wilkinson team and this is actually a winnable game for the Blue Devils. The Bruins are not playing well on offense and it has hurt them.
Lakewood lost their region match up with Camden in a big way and this team is still struggling for consistency on offense. They have a solid running back in Divon Woods who is one of the Midlands rushing leaders but they can’t seem to get out of their own way on offense. This week, they take on a 3-4 Lake City team who was beaten up on by Crestwood last week.
Lower Ricland continues to baffle me with their offensive philosophy. I see this team with one of hte most dynamic athletes in the Midlands at wide receiver in Nate Branch not targetting him during games. last week, they threw thirty passes and only 3 targets to Branch. They did put him in the Wildcat and he ran for an 18 yards touchdown, but they are crippling themselves by giving their quarterback just one option per play to deliver the ball to. The other problem with that is, he is throwing frequently to guys who are not open and it has cost them seven interctptions this season. So for every 10 complete passes, there is also an intercption. If it doesn’t change this week, they will be in for their second region loss to Brookland-Cayce, who will run the football right at them.
Orangeburg-Wilkinson is a headscratcher to me. This is a 1-5 team that should have at least four wins. They have talent in skills spots and are strong in the offensive and defensive fronts yet still find ways to lose games. They are not very efficient at the quarterback spot and that is going to hurt them in region play. They have Dreher this week and that is an opportunity for them to get on track if they play well.
3A STAT LEADERS
| PLAYER | SCHOOL | CARRIES | YDS | TDS |
| Graham-Woodberry, Alias | Gilbert | 105 | 920 | 9 |
| Mays, Naahzekiel | Brookland-Cayce | 60 | 819 | 8 |
| Allen-Hendrix, Jaden | Gilbert | 78 | 700 | 13 |
| Pearson, Lamarion | Lower Richland | 119 | 527 | 9 |
| Woods, Divon | Lakewood | 69 | 515 | 3 |
| PLAYER | SCHOOL | ATT | COMP | YARDS | TDS |
| Martin, Javion | Crestwood | 129 | 65 | 1303 | 18 |
| Smith, Marcus | Lower Richland | 130 | 65 | 888 | 6 |
| White, Grayson | Camden | 102 | 58 | 885 | 10 |
| Staton, Tanner | Brookland-Cayce | 51 | 25 | 565 | 5 |
| Braddock, Drake | Gilbert | 42 | 22 | 298 | 3 |
| PLAYER | SCHOOL | REC | YARDS | TDS |
| Johnson, Nigel | Crestwood | 17 | 516 | 7 |
| Campfield, Mechi | Lower Richland | 35 | 514 | 5 |
| Mayrant, Jah | Camden | 25 | 442 | 3 |
| West, Dominick | Crestwood | 17 | 382 | 4 |
| Branch, Nate | Lower Richland | 18 | 327 | 2 |
| PLAYER | SCHOOL | TACKLES |
| Torbett, Jake | Gilbert | 62 |
| Boatwright, Brendan | Gilbert | 57 |
| Smith, Jordan | Gilbert | 51 |
| Seigler, Kyler | Gilbert | 46 |
| Johnson, Jaylyn | Brookland-Cayce | 45 |
| Tyler, Ricky | Swansea | 45 |
| PLAYER | SCHOOL | TFL |
| Blackwell, Kelvin | Gilbert | 12 |
| Seigler, Kyler | Gilbert | 7 |
| Copley, David | Camden | 7 |
| Mcleod, Xavier | Camden | 5 |
| Dolby, Carmelo | Camden | 5 |
| Tyler, Ricky | Swansea | 5 |
| PLAYER | SCHOOL | SACKS |
| Blackwell, Kelvin | Gilbert | 4 |
| Copley, David | Camden | 4 |
| Dolby, Carmelo | Camden | 4 |
| Garret, Diamonti | Lower Richland | 4 |
| Boatwright, Brendan | Gilbert | 3 |
| PLAYER | SCHOOL | INTS |
| Smith, Jordan | Gilbert | 3 |
| Tyler, Ricky | Swansea | 2 |
| Torbett, Jake | Gilbert | 2 |
