The Herald's 10-best 2017 HS football games: Fairfield Central at Chester
It’s a thick old limb to crawl out on in suggesting Chester and Fairfield Central might be playing for the Region 4-3A football title on Oct. 20 when they meet in Chester.
Fairfield Central has been the measuring stick for many Chester football coaches, and is again for Victor Floyd in his second stint in charge of the Cyclones. He went berserk after his team laid down in a 33-point blowout to the Griffins two years ago, and must have been equally as disappointed, though in a different way, last year when his guys fell short in a 28-21 loss that still illustrated how far they’d advanced in just a year.
Fairfield Central
Few programs in the state have won as consistently in the last 25 years as the Griffins.
Last season’s nine-win season was only the second in the last five that Fairfield Central didn’t win 10 or more ballgames. The Griffins have won double-digit games in 12 of the last 23 campaigns and are one of the standard-setters in 3A football in South Carolina.
Fairfield Central will blood a new QB this fall with Stanley McManus graduated after a couple of successful years as the signal caller. But the Griffins should have their top-two leading rushers, Tony Ruff and Rod Edmonds (both 1,000-yard-plus rushers), back and they should help take the pressure off any new QB, especially in an offense that ran the ball five times as often as it threw last season.
Chester
Chester’s nine-win season last year was evidence that Floyd’s renovation project appeared to be ahead of schedule.
Floyd would probably point out that the Cyclones wouldn’t have had to hit the road in the second round of the playoffs if they’d held a fourth quarter lead in Winnsboro against Fairfield Central. Malik Williams’ 71-yard TD sprint made it 21-13 Cyclones with about 8 minutes left, but the Griffins scored the last two touchdowns of the game to win, with the second coming thanks to a fumbled punt snap deep in Chester’s defensive end of the field.
It was a bitter-tasting loss, but also a moral win - Floyd rolls his eyes as he reads this -, one that should give Chester great belief when it hosts Demetrius Davis’ program this fall. Williams graduated but Floyd has a ton of talent back all over the field, including standouts Quay Hardin, Pha’Leak Brown and John Erby. If the Cyclones can bolster a defensive line that lost a couple of key contributors to graduation - especially crucial against Fairfield Central’s tireless rushing attack - and stiff-arm any Griffins-related jitters in their stomachs, they should be in good shape to lay down an important marker on Oct. 20.
What’s the biggest question facing Chester football in 2017?
The series
Chester has only won five of its 26 games against its southerly neighbors from Winnsboro.
Three of the five wins have come under Floyd, with the most recent back in 2008. The Cyclones also beat the Griffins twice in the preceding season (2007), including once in the playoffs.
Showdown Countdown so far
Editor’s note: The Herald is counting down to the 2017 high school football season by revealing the 10 most interesting games in York, Chester and Lancaster counties this coming fall. Games will be organized by date and revealed in Monday, Wednesday and Friday newspapers.
This story was originally published July 23, 2017 at 4:37 PM with the headline "The Herald's 10-best 2017 HS football games: Fairfield Central at Chester."