SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Boys Varsity Soccer Post boys playoff scores and results in this thread ...

I looked back the last couple of years to see comparable records between NW, Irmo and Mann. I can safely say that there is no way Mann would have been able to hang with either Irmo or NW the past couple of years. Anybody that is saying that they could have is delusional. Irmo has had two losses the last three years combined, both came in the state championship game. NW has also had six losses over the same time, but they only had two losses over the past two years when they won the state championship. Mann has had 12 losses over the same time against weaker 3A teams as compared to either NW or Irmo. Mann is going to have to beat Irmo the next couple of years, and it is going to be difficult to do so. Irmo has a ton of underclassmen coming up, so to say Mann is going to win it all for sure the in the next year or two is being too cocky. I am not saying that Irmo is for sure going to win it all, but they are going to be strong. It all depends on how well the team gels together, injuries, and coaching.

To say that Irmo has had problems winning big games is a false statement. Irmo has two losses in the state championship game, they lost to a BETTER NW team. That is only two losses in three years. How can you say that they are having problems winning big games. They went through a tough Wando team each year to make it to the championship game.

There is a reason that 4A tends to be the only thing that people on these boards only seem to care about. That is because they have a larger school population to draw from for their talent. When I attended Irmo, we had over 800 kids in a class to draw from. There was no way that small schools could expect to compete with large schools like that that had a soccer tradition. It is just a numbers and talent pool thing. Now you do get those freaky good teams that have a ton of good players on them that are smaller schools, but those aren't the norm.

We will see who wins the game on Tuesday, but I would venture a guess that Irmo is going to win this one 4-1 or 5-1. By looking at either teams record this year, I just don't see that Mann can hang with Irmo's depth. Nothing is a done deal, but I am pretty confident that Irmo will dispose of them handily and make it to the state championship game again.