Published: Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009 / Updated: Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009 07:48 AM

Prep playoffs: Games, picks, records

Rock Hill will play Spartanburg on Friday night at District Three Stadium in the opening round of the Class AAAA Division I football playoffs.

Northwestern’s game against South Florence will be played on Thursday night.

The initial schedule released after last Friday night’s games, had Northwestern playing on Friday and Rock Hill on Thursday.

The principals and athletics directors from all three Rock Hill schools met with Luanne Kokolis at the District Office early Monday morning to discuss a verbal agreement that was made several years ago.

Rock Hill principal Judy Mobley said a district agreement was made, but not in writing, that the higher-seeded team between Northwestern and Rock Hill would have the choice of playing on Friday or Thursday night because they share district Three Stadium.

A compromise was reached that as long as Rock Hill and Northwestern are in the playoffs and have home games, they will alternate playing on Friday, with the other team playing Thursday.

Rock Hill, 11-0, won the Region 4-AAAA championship, and Northwestern, 6-5, won Region 3-AAAA. Rock Hill beat Northwestern in the regular season.

When coaches from around the state met on Saturday at the South Carolina High School League, Northwestern got the No. 2 seed in the Division II playoffs, while Rock Hill was seeded No. 4 in Division I.

Northwestern, if it advances, is assured of playing its first two games at home and could play a third if the Trojans are the highest remaining seed in the third round.

Rock Hill would also play its first two games at home and could play a third if they are the highest remaining seed in Division I.

STATE RECORDS: Northwestern wide receiver Robert Joseph put on a show in the Trojans’ 30-23 win over Gaffney last Friday in a game that secured the Region 3-AAAA title.

And along the way, he set two state records. His 22 catches put him at the top of the SCHSL record book. The old record was 20 catches in a game by Lamar’s Derrick Higgins in 2000.

He also set the record for most catches in a season, with 108. That record (103) was set by Byrnes’ Jomar Wright in 2003. Joseph’s 22 catches against Gaffney were good for 232 yards and two touchdowns. Joseph, a 5-9, 150 junior, has 108 catches for 1,314 yards this season.

MY PICKS: Now that the playoff brackets in the two Class AAAA division are set, here’s how I see them working out.

Division I first round: Byrnes over White Knoll; Mauldin over Fort Dorchester; Rock Hill over Spartanburg; Sumter over Blythewood. Summerville over Lexington; Gaffney over Stratford; Irmo over Hillcrest and my upset special, Clover over Dorman. Heard it here first. Hope I don’t eat crow for supper next Saturday.

Second round: Byrnes over Mauldin; Rock Hill over Sumter in a revenge game. Sumter beat Rock Hill for a state championship berth last year. This year, the Bearcats are healthy and play at home. Summerville over Gaffney in a barn-burner. Clover, in another upset, over Irmo.

Third round (semifinals): Hate it, but Byrnes over Rock Hill because of home-field advantage. Will be close and the Bearcats are capable of pulling the upset. Hate it again. Summerville over Clover on a late drive.

State championship: Byrnes again, this time beating Big John (McKissick) and his Green Wave.

Division II first round: Berkeley over Aiken, the last team to get in on points; Beaufort over Greenwood; Goose Creek over Lancaster, although the Bruins did knock the Gators out down there last year; upset special, Conway over North Augusta.

Northwestern over South Florence; Hartsville over T.L. Hanna; Wren over James Island; South Pointe over Richland Northeast. Second round: Berkeley over Beaufort; Goose Creek over Conway; Northwestern over Hartsville; South Pointe over Wren (road game for the Stallions).

Third round (semifinals): Berkeley over Goose Creek; South Pointe over Northwestern. Tough call here because the Trojans are playing well. But South Pointe has a three-game winning streak against Northwestern.

State championship: South Pointe over Berkeley. The Upper State is stronger and the Stallions, although they lost to Rock Hill last Friday, are playing outstanding defense.

So there, you have my picks. If you want to send in yours, I’ll be glad to take them and can probably publish them. Send to bbyers@heraldonline.com.

FRIDAY 13th: I’m sure most of you out there are superstitious about something, but have you looked at a calendar? Coming up for the first round of the Class AAAA playoffs and the second round for Chester and Westminster Catawba is Friday the 13th. This is the third of the year. The other two were back-to-back in February and March.

So if you have a routine, if you don’t wash your clothes after your team wins and wear them to games until they lose, keep doing it.

Man, I bet those Rock Hill fans smell good, but who’s complaining? The Bearcats are 11-0. Maybe your superstitions had a little to do with that.

See ya Friday.