Playoff heartbreaks and hopes
And like that, it was over.
Football season came and went far too quickly for fans of most of the area’s high school teams, as the Lowco went through the wringer in round 1 of the playoffs.
After a brutal opening night of postseason play, only three teams from Beaufort County strapped on the pads for practice Monday, and some of the early casualties were stunning.
The biggest shocker came in The Den, where dreams of a state championship started even before the season began. The hype machine was already cranked up with quarterback Aedan McCarthy and star receiver Carnell Warren coming back along with a strong supporting cast, but it hit a fever pitch when Amare Patterson announced his transfer from Beaufort High to join the Bobcats’ offensive juggernaut.
Bluffton’s air raid offense put up big numbers all season, as McCarthy and Co. carved up defenses and Kordell Holley gashed soft defensive fronts, but cracks in the foundation started showing in back-to-back losses to Lucy Beckham and Hilton Head High, and the self-inflicted mistakes that kept Bobcats fans on edge in close calls against Bishop England and May River down the stretch all came home to roost Friday.
Three ill-timed penalties wiped touchdowns off the board in Bluffton’s first-round matchup with Gilbert, including two that could have turned it into an early rout in the Bobcats’ favor. Missed tackles, blown coverages, dropped passes, and a blocked field goal for a touchdown all helped the Indians dig out of an early hole and suck the life out of Bluffton’s stadium.
This time, the Bobcats couldn’t muster the magic needed for a comeback, and Gilbert’s inspired and physical play was too much to overcome, sending a stunned home crowd home unsatisfied.
“We just can’t hurt ourselves. That’s easy,” Bluffton coach Hayden Gregory prophetically said at WHHI-TV’s preseason media day. “It’s very rare that if we’re at our ‘A’ game that the other team’s gonna beat Bluffton. The No. 1 enemy we’re gonna have is Bluffton.”
It’s cold comfort for the Bobcats that their rivals across town also bowed out early, as May River’s one-dimensional offense didn’t quite have enough gas in the tank to win a second-half shootout with Wilson. The Sharks’ slogging Slot-T offense provides the smoke and mirrors necessary for May River to pull as many wins out of hats as possible year after year, but it hasn’t held up to quality competition in the playoffs.
For the second straight year, Beaufort County’s last remaining hope in the SCHSL football playoffs lies with B.J. Payne’s Hilton Head Seahawks, who navigated the Lowcountry gauntlet with expertise en route to their first region title since 2008 and kept the momentum rolling with a 52-24 home win over South Aiken on Friday.
The Seahawks seemingly have it all. Thaddeus Czarnecki and Jayvin Risher provide a dominant one-two punch running behind a veteran offensive line, Jeremiah Walters and Kaden Stewart have the speed to stretch the field in the passing game, and Derrick Raniszewski has played almost flawlessly at quarterback since being knocked out of the game in the Seahawks’ lone defeat at James Island in August.
Moreover, Hilton Head’s defense has found a way to limit lethal rushing attacks like May River’s and stymie prolific passing attacks like Bluffton’s with an ensemble cast of unsung heroes, and a reliable kicker who hasn’t missed in 35 PAT tries and six field-goal attempts this season.
The playoff path goes through The Nest until at least the Lower State finals, when a return trip to South Florence would be in order for the Seahawks if the seeds hold. But Hilton Head will first have to take care of Wilson on
Friday, and likely Gray Collegiate the following week.
The Seahawks are the best we’ve got, and but as we learned last week, sometimes that isn’t enough.
Just like that, it can be over.
Justin Jarrett is the sports editor of The Island News and is the founder of Lowco Sports. He has a passion for sports and community journalism and a questionable sense of humor.
