HS Football Pivot: who are the contenders for All-Area offensive player of the year?

Offensive player of the year?

The Herald’s All-Area offensive player of the year award was Derion Kendrick’s to lose last season. And he didn’t. But the former South Pointe star is playing for Clemson this fall and the 2018 version is much more up for grabs. Who’s staking an early claim?

Lancaster’s Kemarkio Cloud, for starters. The Bruins’ bowling ball QB has scored multiple touchdown runs over 50 yards this season and has already topped 1,000 rushing yards in just seven games. Lancaster is 5-2 and has a decent shot to make the playoffs, though it’ll probably need a win over Ridge View or Westwood to make the postseason. That would certainly help Cloud’s chances of winning player of the year.

South Pointe’s Joe Ervin is also coming on strong, while Nation Ford’s Nathan Mahaffey may not be a player of the year candidate, but certainly could challenge for first or second team All-Area. Ervin has played his best in South Pointe’s closest games, and he should get plenty of chances to plump his stats when/if the Stallions make another deep playoff run. He’s got 13 touchdowns in seven games.

Rock Hill’s Narii Gaither is another very strong challenger. The Bearcat running back is close to 1,000 yards rushing in just six games and has also played some defense for the Bearcats. Gaither was the All-Area defensive player of the year in 2017, but the switch back to running back has been seamless. He’s getting ample backfield help from teammate Noah Thompson, which may dampen Gaither’s stats a bit, but not his impact.

Next week, we’ll look at the possible contenders for defensive player of the year.

Nation Ford, Northwestern play-makers in top form ahead of this week’s game

Nation Ford (4-3, 2-0) and Northwestern (1-5, 1-0) meet this week in what could be a pivotal Region 3-5A game, just as both teams’ dynamic, college football-bound play-maker is hitting full stride.

The Falcons’ Dewuan McCullum, committed to Conference USA’s UT-San Antonio, had a few games pass him by earlier in the campaign as his team tried to get the right offensive pieces in place. But the speedy senior has had two game-changing performances in a row, returning a punt for a touchdown and intercepting a red zone pass against Clover, before topping 100 yards receiving against Fort Mill, with two TD catches to boot.

Northwestern’s Jamario Holley missed a couple of games with a bum hamstring, but he looks like he’s back in full form after scoring twice at Dutch Fork, and putting in a game-winning effort last Friday at Clover. He had a 58-yard touchdown catch and over 100 yards receiving, scored the game-winning touchdown on a 1-yard run inside the last minute, and intercepted the Blue Eagles’ desperate final pass. The Trojans have struggled at times this season, but they still have maybe the state’s best player in Holley, the South Carolina Gamecocks commit.

Clover still learning how to win close ones

Clover players looked sick after their loss to Northwestern last Friday, their reactions reminiscent of a season-ending playoff loss. That’s because they knew they didn’t play their cleanest game and still almost beat the Trojans for the first time since 2006. Brian Lane’s team has to quit handing opponents 14-0 leads, which it did in losses to Irmo and Northwestern the last three weeks.

The Blue Eagles are 1-4 in games decided by eight points or less this season, emblematic of the cold-blooded winning edge that the program still lacks. Don’t be surprised if this Friday’s game against Rock Hill is another contest decided by a touchdown or less. If Clover can avoid spotting the Bearcats an early advantage, the Blue Eagles might come out on the right side of a close score this time.

Looking ahead

• Outside of Region 4-3A coaches, there are probably few people that would have guessed Camden would be this good. The 6-1 Bulldogs are top-10-ranked in 3A football, with the lone defeat a close game against perennial 4A powerhouse Hartsville. The Bulldogs are coached by Brian Rimpf, who played 16 games in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens in 2003-04, and haven’t won six games in a season since winning nine in 2010. With Fairfield Central down this year, it looks like Chester-Camden Friday will determine the region championship.
• This is a big Friday night of football. Start with the smallest schools, where Great Falls hosts McBee in a Region 2-A playoff elimination game. One region win is all it takes in 2-A, which has just four teams. Then there is York-Lancaster in Region 3-4A, a game between two teams that could be contending for second place in a very tough league. And of course Camden-Chester and two tough-to-call games in Region 3-5A (Clover-Rock Hill and Nation Ford-Northwestern). Hopefully the weather begins to match these other indications of autumn’s arrival.
• Check out the pre-set SCHSL football playoff brackets. The past few years, one region’s playoff teams would face the playoff teams of another entire region, but this year the regions are all mixed up. Situations could arise where a team might like finishing third place in its region, as opposed to second, because of a preferential matchup. Keep an eye on this over the next month.
  
  

This story was originally published October 7, 2018 at 5:10 PM.