Herald-area teams some of the best in the state

By Barry Byers - The Herald

Enough is enough.

There should be no more negative talk about the caliber of football in The Herald's circulation area.

The teams up here are pretty darned good. Heading into the first round of the Class AAAA playoffs and second round for our two teams left in the lower classifications.

The combined record for those teams heading into Rock Hill's home game last night against Fort Dorchester stood at 66-22. Take away York's 4-7 mark and it improves to 62-15.

South Pointe is 11-0, Northwestern 10-1 and Rock Hill was 9-2. Clover, Chester, Lancaster and Great Falls all have 8-3 records.

The three losses by Clover and Lancaster were against South Pointe, No. 2 in Class AAAA, Northwestern, No. 4 and Rock Hill, No. 5. Not counting Rock Hill's games last night, those three went into the playoffs with a combined 30-3 record.

South Pointe beat Rock Hill and Northwestern. Northwestern lost to Rock Hill.

Although York brings up the rear, got in as a No. 16 seed and has the unenviable task of trying to beat No. 1 seed Northwestern in a rematch of their regular season game, give the Cougars credit.

Every team sets goals at the start of the season and one of them is to make the playoffs.

Maybe the longest shot of all that made it is Lancaster, which has seen a resurgence since coach Bennie McMurray arrived three seasons ago. The Bruins were 3-8 in 2006, 4-7 last year and this year's 8-3 record is the best since a 6-5 finish in 2001.

Tonight at 7:30, McMurray takes his Bruins on the road for a first-round Class AAAA Division II match-up with Greenwood, one of the legendary programs in the state.

"If you tell me we'll be 8-3 next year, I'll take it right now,'' McMurray said. "We are not riding a bus for two hours just to show up. We're going there to do our best to win. The kids have worked hard and this is what you practice for all year, a shot at the playoffs.''

Yes it is, and the ultimate goal is to end up in the state championship. And don't count out anybody out.

Clover won the Division II championship last year. Chester and Great Falls played for the state championship, but lost. Northwestern made it to the semifinals and lost to eventual Division I state champion Byrnes, 14-0.

South Pointe and Northwestern are strong candidates to make the Class AAAA Division II championship game. They are on different sides of the bracket and three wins would land either or both a spot in the title game.

But another pitfall coaches try to avoid is not letting their players look past their upcoming game. The playoffs can be a cruel animal. Slip up and lose concentration, and the next step is turning in equipment.

McMurray said the season is split into three parts, preseason, regular season and the playoffs. Nothing that happened before tonight matters.

"We lost to the three Rock Hill teams and when you consider they are No. 2, No. 4 and No. 5 in the state, that's lofty company'' McMurray said. "We lost to the top teams in state, but there's no glory in losing. It's still a game in the loss column. No joy at all.

"We want to get our program in the top five, just like the Rock Hill teams. When we do that, we'll know we have arrived. We're not concerned what people think. We are concerned with what we do here. We want to control out own destiny and let the chips fall when they may.''