Class 2A Upper State Final Preview

A couple weeks back, we looked at the pick-your-poison Abbeville offense, built around about as balanced of a rushing attack as we’ve seen. And as the Panthers (9-0) get ready for their Upper State championship game against Gray Collegiate (8-0), that rushing attack will be a big part of the storyline that the Eagles have been doing their best to game plan for. But that’s only scratching the surface of the storylines we’ll be following in this game. All these gaudy numbers from these two schools will clash, with the winner earning its ticket to the Class 2A state finals. <strong>PROTECTING THE FOOTBALL</strong> Abbeville has had six lost fumbles in nine games. That’s not exactly a great statistic. But it also doesn’t mean as much as you might think. In total, the Panthers have tallied 341 carries. That’s an average of one turnover every 56.8 carries. Doesn’t seem like such a big deal now, does it? Now, factor in that leading rusher <strong>Tyrell Haddon</strong> (579 yards, 11 touchdowns) has two in 58 carries. <strong>Navi Marshall</strong> (540, seven) and <strong>J’Marion Burton</strong> (530, nine) have one apiece, with the other two coming from <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="59319" first="Cruz" last="Temple"]</strong> - the team’s fifth-leading rusher with 155 yards - and <strong>Shunkevis Brown</strong> (92 yards on 16 carries). Barring a defensive showing for the ages from Gray, Abbeville is going to surpass 3,000 yards rushing on the season sometime early in this game. The Panthers are sitting at 2,924 heading into Friday night.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span> Likewise, Gray hasn’t gotten to this point of the year by giving its first eight opponents free passes. Quarterback <strong>Ta’trevias Robinson</strong> has only three interceptions in 102 attempts. No, he’s mostly been finding his own guys to the tune of 1,228 passing yards and 14 touchdowns. Star running back <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="61078" first="Kazarius" last="Adams"]</strong> has lost it only three times this season in 177 carries (for 1,702 yards and 19 scores), not to mention the seven times he’s caught passes. <strong>SWAGGER VS. EXECUTION</strong> There’s no doubting that Gray has some serious confidence coming into Friday night. The Eagles have dispatched some pretty good squads, mostly utilizing this high-powered offense behind Adams and Robinson. Together, they’ve spurred an offense that averages better than 41 points per game and gets college recruiters drooling. They aren’t just beating people with brute strength; there is a level of understanding with this playbook that proves these players are college ready. Gray will need every bit of it against Abbeville’s defense, and this number is why. Seven. That’s the number of points teams from South Carolina have scored against the Panthers this season. Those came last week against Chesnee in the second round. And that was a team that was 7-1 prior to that game. Like everyone else so far, Chesnee discovered what they had in the tank wasn’t near good enough. <strong>PREP RED ZONE’S PICK</strong> From start to finish this year, the state’s media pollsters and the common fan alike have wondered if anyone had enough to stop Abbeville from returning to Columbia. That doesn’t change here, with the Panthers moving on.