2A Woodruff vs Bishop England
A rematch of last years title game in which Woodruff more than held their own. A game matching Poverty Index versus accusations of recruiting, yada, yada, yada--hush and lets play the game! Two very good soccer teams meet today at 3pm and both teams arrive with a little pep in their step. Woodruff stepped up its schedule this year and suffered some close losses early on but rides a 13 game winning streak into the championship game. Bishop England has won the last "100" 2A championships but suffered 2 losses versus Waccamaw in the regular season to only revenge those 2 losses with the win in the playoffs versus them.
Close game Bishop England by one goal over Woodruff. 1-0 or 2-1.
3A Riverside vs Hilton Head
These two teams had to be the 2 favorites to reach the state championship from the beginning of the season. State champion (2007) Eastside lost 10-12 seniors off of last years team thus giving Riverside the edge this year to earn the upper state spot in the championship game. Hilton Head lost maybe 1 senior from last years runner up team that lost to Eastside 2-0. Hilton Head has only 1 senior this year while Riverside has 8-10 seniors plus a very solid freshman class. Senior Sarah Jacobs will be a wild card at today's match--can she play? Is she 100%? Hilton Heads defense has not been tested and strength of schedule has to go to Riverside. The upstate has won 2 state titles in a row in 3A. That streak will end today as Hilton Head wins by a goal. 2-1 or 1-0
4A Mauldin vs Wando
It's hard to believe that Lexington is not back in the finals again this year but I think everyone is glad not to hear about the choo choo train being on a roll. Wando was outplayed last year in the state final but yet capitalized when needed and held on to win the controversial state championship. Urig is a beast but their other forward Shawn Haviland has stepped up and had the better year. Their defense is solid and have a very good goalie. Experience should favor Wando. Mauldin is a "fresh" face to this years championship game. After losing twice to Dorman in the regular season, they revenged those 2 earlier losses with the big playoff win versus them. Dorman and Waccamaw know the pain all too well of how hard it is to beat a quality team 3 times in 1 year. I am not certain the number of seniors Mauldin has but once again, I believe experience will favor Wando. Quick fact: Wando has 2 "Clash" players, Mauldin has 0 "Clash" players; Wando has 2 All State players, Mauldin has 1 All State player. All signs point to a Lower state sweep for the championships but not so fast. Mauldin's strength of schedule is much better than Wando's and Mauldin pulls the emotional upset today in the 7pm match.
All predictions are for fun and good luck to all 6 teams involved. Another note--4 out of the 6 teams playing today were involved in last years state championship games. One last side note....if I had 2 cents for every time a fan or coach or ref counts to make sure only 11 players are on the field today--I would be a reach person!
