Class 1A Lower State Second Round Preview

The Class 1A Lower State bracket had two games that came down to the wire, but the higher seeds won in each of the eight first round games. Things get more difficult in the second round. It will be interesting to watch if C.E. Murray, Lake View, Bamberg-Ehrhardt and Baptist Hill can all win again on their home fields in the second round. Here is a preview of the four Class 1A Lower State contests. <strong>No. 2 Branchville (7-1) at No. 1 C.E. Murray (5-1)</strong> Branchville got over 200 yards rushing from <strong>Philijuan Saldano</strong> and over 100 yards and two touchdowns from <strong>Xy’querius Nimmon</strong>s in the opening round win. <strong>Kadden Irick</strong> led the way on defense with 11 tackles and an interception. C.E. Murray used big plays from <strong>Quadarous Grant</strong> (three touchdowns) and <strong>Tyree Prunes</strong> (two TDs) in its first-round win. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="123264" first="Amond" last="Myers"]</strong> and <strong>Nicolas Brown</strong> added scores as well. <strong>No. 2 Whale Branch (8-1) at No. 1 Lake View (9-2)</strong> Whale Branch defeated East Clarendon 19-0 in round one and Lake View rolled over Estill 46-6. RB <strong>Joseph Hicks</strong> went over the 1,000-yard mark for the season in the Whale Branch win. The Warriors didn’t complete a pass and that must change against Lake View. The Wild Gators have won four in a row behind the play of <strong>Treyvon Bellmon</strong>, <strong>DJ Bethea</strong> and <strong>Shaheed Dawkins</strong>. <strong>No. 2 Carvers Bay (4-2) at No. 1 Bamberg-Ehrhardt (10-0)</strong> Carvers Bay had a limited regular season but earned a 55-22 win over St. John’s in the opening round. <strong>R.J. Bromell</strong>, <strong>Tony Bell,</strong> and <strong>Josh Walker</strong> will have to continue to come up big for the Bears if they hope to knock off undefeated Bamberg-Ehrhardt. The trio of <strong>Isaiah Johnson</strong>, <strong>Nick Folk</strong> and <strong>Quinton Banks</strong> rushed for over 300 yards in the Red Raiders opening round win over Hannah-Pamplico. It’s still uncertain if QB <strong>Gage Boykin</strong> will be available. <strong>No. 2 Green Sea Floyds (6-2) at No. 1 Baptist Hill (7-0)</strong> Green Sea Floyds had to play the first round without <strong>Colby Thorndyke</strong> but received three touchdowns from <strong>Kayden Watson</strong> in a 33-16 win over Allendale-Fairfax. It’s still unclear if Thorndyke will be ready to go this week. <strong>Dan Johnson</strong> added a score and an interception on defense. Baptist Hill trailed at the half but rallied behind 198 rushing and 78 yards receiving and for scores from <strong>Ra’shawn Murray</strong>. QB <strong>Harold Gathers</strong> played big as well.