Gamecock football is done; indoor sports will take over
For lack of any offense whatsoever, Gamecock football is done. For realistically, the lack of squad members means Lady Gamecock cheerleading is done. Both ended on Saturday. Yes cheerleading is indoors, but now everything is indoors.
Wrestling is scheduled to start on November 18 and basketball on November 22. Now the Harold Lee Scott Gymnasium is the place to be.
Let’s talk some football playoffs. After the first week of football playoffs there are always a lot of folks who question the wisdom of four teams from each region making the state playoffs. Even last year when the season was pushed back two weeks there were four teams from each region.
For seemingly ever only one team, the region champion, made the state playoffs. Two teams began to make the state playoffs in 1989. Beginning in 1996 four teams made the state playoffs. Heck, we went on the road that year as a number three seed and beat Dodge County 56-42.
So what about the number fours last week? There were 61 fourth place seeds (two regions had only three teams eligible and one region had just three teams) from 64 regions. Two private number fours forfeited. Well out of those other 59 games, three number fours won: Manchester (5A#4) 20-8 over GMC (7A#1), Johns Creek (7AAAAAA#4) 31-27 over Rome (5AAAAAAA#1), and Douglas County (5AAAAAA#4) 24-17 over Riverwood (7AAAAAA#1).
Does .05% make the extra week worth it? We say in softball you bet so.
As a number four we went on the road Saturday. We went as a 3-7 team. Another question — does that record make a mockery of playoffs? Sixteen teams went on the road this past weekend with three wins or less. In Class A private Heritage (0-10 in a four team region) forfeited. Three of the 16 were 2-8. None won. Most did not come close. There were two two-point games in AAA and our three point game in A.
This is the first time we have ever gone on the road with a losing record. All of our other trips as a number four seed have been with at least 5-5 records.
We have gone on the road eight times, counting this one, as a three or a four seed. As a three seed we beat Dodge County 56-42 in the first round in 1996 and lost to Fitzgerald 33-7 in 2007. As number four we have now played three close games — Dodge County (7-23) in 1999, Metter in 2019 (19-27), and now the 3-0 loss Saturday. Our other number four ventures have been horrible: at Charlton (6-43) in 2006, and Brooks County in both 2013 (22-54) and 2018 (0-47).
Kudos to our football kids this year for playing out so tough this season. This season ended a far cry from last.
If you are wondering, we have lost a game 3-0 in the past. On September 16, 1977 we lost to SEB 3-0. To get us in another column, we have also won a game 2-0. Back on September 7, 1973 the Lean Mean Seventeen defeated Baldwin County 2-0 right here in Kelly Memorial Stadium. Of course I played in that one.
How about the classification appeals of last week and the new region alignments?
First off, as expected our own Region 3A remained unchanged. Thirty-four schools won appeals to move either up or down in classifications. Most of the approvals came from those seeking to move up. Our own Bryan County was its appeal to move back to A from AA and won to keep our region intact. In an oddity Aquinas was approved to move from A to AA and will be the lone private school in Class AA. I don’t really get it.
As of me writing this, the entirety of Class A private is down to something like 27 schools. At least eight have moved back to GISA. For whatever reason they are unhappy with the state of things; I just can’t be bothered by this. Play by our rules, let all of your student-athletes come from your district (the same as the public school district in which you reside) and maybe I will be bothered.
In one last note, Lovett, one of the two schools that brought about the increased multiplier I wrote about last week, unanimously lost its appeal to drop from its new AAAA to its current AA. The arrogance of that appeal is amazing.
