By Thomas Grant Jr.

A 5-game winning streak after early struggles against some of the Palmetto State’s top teams has Ridge View competing for a region title.

The Blazers (6-3, 5-0) play host to undefeated Sumter for the Region 5-5A championship. A win gives them a first-round bye in the Class 5A Division I Lower State brackets.

Ridge View is currently third behind Summerville and Sumter (9-0, 5-0) in the RPI Ratings. The formula is used to help determine the playoff seedings in which eight teams will receive first-round byes.

Having a high ranking was not the only purpose for Ridge View head coach Derek Howard putting together a difficult non-region schedule.

“The purpose was to see what our strengths and weaknesses are and to increase our understanding of what playing (Class) 5A football requires since we had been playing in (Class) 4A the last two  years,” he said. “Our team is a good mix of senior and underclassmen talent. None of these players were varsity players when we lost our third round game to Spartanburg by three points in 2021.

“We went toe-to-toe with Northwestern (winning at half time, gained 400 total yds) and had some competitive moments versus Dutch Fork, holding them to seven points in the second half. We need to draw on the good and bad lessons learned in order to compete with the top Class 5A teams in the Lower State Division I.”

Ridge View has one of its top offensive weapons back for its playoff run. University of South Carolina commit Jordon Gidron is back healthy after missing time with a knee injury.

During his absence, the offense has not missed a beat with quarterback Trey Howard.

“Khris Jackson, Hayden Morris, Darius Carter have each played at a high level all season and more once Jordon was hurt,” Howard said.

Jackson accounted for all three touchdowns in Ridge View’s 21-7 win over neighbor Blythewood. He caught two touchdown passes and returned a punt for a touchdown.

Ridge View faces a Sumter team which is averaging close to 50 points a game. The senior backfield of Kameron Fortune and John Peeples have combined for 1,700 yards and 10 touchdowns and Shrine Bowl linebackers Anthony Addison (71 tackles, 6.5 sacks) and J.B. Burson (69 tackles) anchor the defense.

“Sumter is an elite program that knows how to win year in and year out,” Howard said. “They are physical and well-coached. Offensively, they have a rushing attack that has 3-4 backs that are each explosive with the ball in their hands to include the quarterback (Franklin Richardson). Defensively they fly around and make very few mistakes.”

This is the first-ever meeting between the Blazers and Gamecocks.

Mr. 10,000

Irmo’s A.J. Brand was not the only Shrine Bowl quarterback to reach five career figures for total yards.

Will Wilson of Richland Northeast achieved the milestone during this past Friday’s regular-season finale against South Pointe. This was his third game back with the Cavaliers after missing time with an injury.

Despite the 56-6 loss, Richland Northeast (7-3, 2-2) matched its win total for the second straight year. It will now await its first-round opponent in the Class 4A playoffs.

Playoffs begin for Cardinals

A very familiar foe awaits Cardinal Newman as it begins the SCISA Class 4A playoffs.

For the second straight week, defending champion Hammond School awaits the Cardinals. This time, they will travel to Edens Stadium for the first-round matchup.

In this past Friday’s matchup at home, Cardinal Newman had a 14-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. Despite 255 yards and two touchdowns from Caleb Ford, the Cardinals went on to lose 52-21.

It was the 24th consecutive loss to the Skyhawks.

For the season, Ford has a Palmetto State-best 2,145 yards and 14 touchdowns this season.

S.C. PREP FOOTBALL MEDIA RANKINGS

Class 5A

1. Dutch Fork (15) (8-0)

2. Northwestern (1) (10-0)

3. Summerville (10-0)

4. Irmo (9-0)

5. Sumter (9-0)

6. Spartanburg (7-1)

7. Gaffney (7-1)

8. JL Mann (7-2) ↑ 1

9. TL Hanna (7-2)

10. Greenwood (7-2)

RPI RATINGS

Class 5A

Division I

(Upper State)

1.Dutch Fork, 8-0, 0.86398, 2. Spartanburg, 7-1, 0.76197, 3. River Bluff, 7-2, 0.69895, 4. JL Mann, 7-2, 0.67508, 5. Dorman, 6-3, 0.62036, 6. Clover, 7-3, 0.61893, 7. Lexington, 5-4, 0.595882, 8. Boiling Springs, 5-3, 0.56335, 9. Blythewood, 6-4, 0.56370, 10. Rock Hill, 5-5, 0.54581, 11. J.F. Byrnes, 4-5, 0.54255, 12. Mauldin, 2-7, 0.35300 13. Wade Hampton, 0-8, 0.21096

(Lower State)

1.Summerville, 10-0, 0.77742, 2. Sumter, 9-0, 0.75349, 3. Ridge View, 6-3, 0.64056, 4. Ashley Ridge, 7-3, 0.61842, 5. James Island, 6-3, 0.61337, 6. Carolina Forest, 5-3-1, 0.58531, 7. Fort Dorchester, 5-5, 0.51585, 8. Stratford, 4-5, 0.47463, 9. Wando, 5-5, 0.46604, 10. West Ashley, 4-6, 0.45999, 11. Cane Bay, 2-7, 0.36164, 12. Spring Valley, 0-9, 0.29078, 13. Stall, 0-8, 0.24439

Division II

(Upper State)

1.Northwestern, 10-0, 0.81007, 2. Gaffney, 7-1, 0.69433 3. TL Hanna, 7-2, 0.66099, 4. Greenwood, 7-2, 0.64891, 5. Hillcrest, 7-2, 0.61847, 6. Catawba Ridge, 7-3, 0.58371, 7. Riverside, 4-4, 0.52357, 8. Indian Land, 5-5, 0.48252, 9. Eastside, 4-4, 0.44713, 10. Woodmont, 3-6, 0.43356, 11. Nation Ford, 2-8, 0.38028, 12. Greenville, 1-8, 0.34853, 13. Easley, 1-8, 0.30387, 14. Fort Mill, 1-8, 0.29509

(Lower State)

1.Irmo, 9-0, 0.81206, 2. White Knoll, 5-4, 0.61561, 3. West Florence, 6-3, 0.60009, 4. Chapin, 4-5, 0.57090, 5. Berkeley, 5-4, 0.53771, 6. Goose Creek, 5-4, 0.52977, 7. Myrtle Beach, 4-4, 0.50912,  8. Westwood, 5-5, 0.50762, 9. Socastee, 4-5, 0.46390, 10. Lugoff-Elgin, 4-6, 0.45239, 11. Lucy Beckham, 4-6, 0.42940, 12. North Myrtle Beach, 3-4, 0.42128, 13. Conway, 1-8, 0.35036, 14. St. James, 0-9, 0.23213

Class 4A

(Upper State)

1.Westside, 8-0, 0.84002, 2. Daniel, 8-1, 0.70141, 3. Seneca, 8-1, 0.67316, 4. South Pointe, 7-2, 0.66548, 5. Camden, 7-3, 0.63912, 6. Wren, 6-2, 0.61754, 7. Richland Northeast, 7-3, 0.60525, 8. A.C. Flora. 7-3, 0.59607, 9. Greer 5-4, 0.59060, 10. Fountain Inn, 5-4, 0.53906, 11. Emerald, 5-4, 0.51161, 12. Pickens, 4-5, 0.48357, 13. Blue Ridge, 4-5, 0.43417, 14. Lancaster, 3-6, 0.42711,  15. Dreher, 3-6, 0.41108, 16. Berea, 3-6, 0.38973, 17. York, 2-7, 0.37113, 18. Laurens, 1-8, 0.36080, 19. Travelers Rest, 1-7, 0.28390, 18. Southside, 0-9, 0.20874

(Lower State)

1.Hartsville, 8-1-1, 0.69866, 2. Bishop England, 8-2, 0.68648, 3. North Augusta, 8-1, 0.67600, 4. Gray Collegiate, 7-2, 0.64976, 5. South Florence, 7-3, 0.64816, 6. May River, 7-2, 0.61617, 7. Hilton Head Island, 7-2, 0.60629, 8. Bluffton, 6-3, 0.58025, 9. Crestwood, 5-5, 0.53930, 10. Darlington. 4-5, 0.49969, 11. South Aiken, 4-5, 0.48232, 12. Lower Richland, 5-5, 0.47326, 13. Gilbert, 4-5, 0.46513, 14. Midland Valley, 4-6, 0.44444, 15. Brookland-Cayce, 3-7, 0.40017, 16. Beaufort, 2-8, 0.38396, 17. Lakewood, 2-8, 0.36600, 18. Colleton County, 1-9, 0.31167, 19. Wilson, 1-8, 0.30880, 20. Airport, 1-8, 0.30295 21. Aiken, 0-9, 0.23338

FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE

(All Games Start at 7:30 p.m.)

Cardinal Newman at Hammond

Sumter at Ridge View

Photo by WLTX