Football City USA: South Pointe No. 1, Northwestern No. 2 in preseason rankings

The pre-season high school football media poll has been released, and three area teams are included.

In 4A the South Pointe Stallions, the defending state champions, are No. 1, and the Northwestern Trojans are second.

In 3A the Chester Cyclones are No. 9 in the opening poll of the year.

The complete polls are listed below with first place votes in parenthesis:

5A - 1. Gaffney (10), 2. Dutch Fork (1), 3. Fort Dorchester, 4. Spartanburg, 5. Hillcrest, 6. Sumter, 7 (tie) Byrnes, 7. (tie) Dorman, 9. Lexington, 10. TL Hanna.

4A - 1. South Pointe (10), 2. Northwestern, 3. Greenville (1), 4. AC Flora, 5. West Florence, 6. Greenwood, 7. South Florence, 8. Hartsville, 9. Myrtle Beach, 10. Westside.

3A - 1. Daniel (9), 2. Camden (2), 3. Dillon, 4. Powdersville, 5. Brookland-Cayce, 6. Clinton, 7. Beaufort , 8. Gilbert , 9. Chester, 10. Aynor.

2A - 1. Gray Collegiate (9), 2. Abbeville (1), 3. Oceanside Collegiate (1), 4. Silver Bluff, 5. Saluda, 6. Cheraw, 7. Barnwell, 8. Newberry, 9. Kingstree, 10. Fairfield Central.

1A - 1. Southside Christian (11), 2. Bamberg-Ehrhardt, 3. Christ Church, 4. Lamar, 5. Lake View, 6. Whale Branch, 7. Baptist Hill, 8. Johnsonville, 9. Calhoun County, 10. St. Joseph’s.