Great Falls gets at-large bid to playoffs

Devils, Lewisville on the road, Chester at home

By Barry Byers - bbyers@heraldonline.com

Although Great Falls lost Region 3-A's automatic bid to the state football playoffs and lost the tiebreaker to Lewisville after the regular season ended Friday night, the Red Devils earned enough points to get the No. 8 and final seed in the Class A Division II Upper State bracket.

The playoffs for South Carolina's three lower classifications begin next Friday. Teams in Class AAAA end the regular season that night.

Cyclones' McNeal back

Chester ended up No. 2 in Region 4-AAA, as its hopes of getting the top seed ended with Fairfield Central's 19-10 in over Chapin. The 9-1 Cyclones have a home game against 5-5 Greer. Chester quarterback Tony McNeal, who suffered a severe knee injury in Week 6, returned in the Cyclones' win Friday. McNeal has to wear a protective brace and has been undergoing physical therapy.

Chester has been state runner-up the past two seasons, losing in the title games to Wilson and Myrtle Beach.

Classes AAAA and A have two state championships, and teams that qualify are seeded based on their enrollments. The 16 largest that earn berths are placed in Division I. The next 16 play for the Division II championship.

Class A awards automatic berths based on how many teams are in a region. Region 3-A, which includes Great Falls and Lewisville, has seven teams, and the top four go. Great Falls earned a berth on points and because Region 1-A has four teams and Region 2-A five. The number of teams that fall in the two divisions is another factor in the creation of at-large bids.

Great Falls (3-7) and Lewisville (4-6) got possibly the toughest draws in their divisions. Lewisville, the No. 8 seed, plays two-time defending Division I state champion Chesterfield, 10-0 and ranked No.1 in Class A, on the road. Great Falls travels to 10-0 and second-ranked Williston-Elko.

Westminster Catawba begins the private school playoffs at home next Friday. The opponent will be announced today.