Week 1 Preview: York, Chester and Lancaster Counties

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The first week of the high school football season for most teams is here and you'll be getting your first look at many players that we've been talking about all through the summer. And for other teams, it's a chance to improve heading into a new week as the non-region schedule kicks into high gear.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>No. 1 South Pointe (1-0) at Rock Hill (0-1)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This game has two teams on opposite ends of the spectrum. <strong>Malachi Marshall, Caleb Sims, A.J. Miller </strong>and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='139304' first='Chris' last='Dixon'] </strong>are some of the guys that stood out for the Stallions in<a href="https://prepredzone.com/2022/08/what-we-saw-south-pointe-pulls-away-from-gaffney/"> last week's win over Gaffney. </a>They'll be looking to keep the momentum going this week and play a more complete game for four quarters.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For Rock Hill, they took a historic loss to rival Northwestern last week where they gave up 89 points defensively. They have <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='139293' first='Matthew' last='Wilson'] </strong>at quarterback with receivers <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1012834' first='Malik' last='Clark'] </strong>and <strong>Evion Hinton</strong> who both scored touchdowns for the Bearcats. Can they find a rhythm on defense? That will go a long way in determining the outcome of this one.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Timberland (0-1) at Indian Land (1-0)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Indian Land is coming off a strong 28-8 win over Nation Ford last Friday night and they will be led by the duo <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='139305' first='Jaden' last='Singletary'] </strong>and <strong>Myles Stinson. </strong>Both of them are focal points for the run-first offensive attack for the Warriors. It will be interesting to see what <strong>Jaxen Schiedt </strong>will bring to the table in the passing game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Timberland struggled offensively in a 16-6 loss to Berkeley last week, so the things they bring to the table in Week 1 will determine whether or not they leave Lancaster County with a win or loss.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Myers Park at Catawba Ridge (1-0)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>First year starter <strong>Tyler Fikis </strong>has some wheels on him, as <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2022/08/what-we-saw-run-game-defense-lead-catawba-ridge-to-opening-win/">we saw last week against Fort Mill</a>. But what will he do with Charlotte power Myers Park coming to town? He will have <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='202755' first='Brandon' last='Raysor'] </strong>(pictured above) to go to on the outside and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='262619' first='Tyler' last='Jones']</strong>'s speed and power in the backfield. Expect the Copperheads to keep it on the ground offensively. <strong>Brody Teismale </strong>and <strong>Sheldon Thompson </strong>will lead a solid defense who we expect to be tested.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>No. 2 Northwestern (1-0) at Clover (0-0)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='241044' first='Finley' last='Polk'] </strong>and the Trojans offense scored a school record 89 points against Rock Hill last week, as we mentioned. While we think it may be tough to follow that same effort up this week against the Blue Eagles, the talent is there. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='265222' first='Turbo' last='Richard'] </strong>ran for 100+ yards last week and is tough to bring down along with <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='146372' first='Elijah' last='Caldwell'] </strong>at receiver.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Clover's defense, led by <strong>Omari Davis </strong>and <strong>Cooper Zoehner </strong>will have their work cut out for them in trying to slow down this offense in Week 1. The duo of <strong>DeMarco Evans </strong>and <strong>Elijah Farmer </strong>are strong anchors in the backfield for quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='202766' first='Joe' last='Boyd'] </strong>and if they can get the running game going and keep the explosive Northwestern offense on the sideline, they could make things interesting. <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2022/07/2022-season-preview-clover-blue-eagles/">Read more about the Blue Eagles in our preview here.</a></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Chester (0-1) at Fort Mill (0-1)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Trooper Floyd, </strong>the son of Chester head coach Victor Floyd will lead the Cyclones against the Yellow Jackets on Friday night. Floyd can sling it and he'll have wide receiver <strong>Reggie Heath, </strong>who was a <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2022/08/week-0-game-balls-york-chester-lancaster-counties/">focal point for the offense,</a> caught a touchdown late last week in the loss to Lancaster.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For Fort Mill, they'll be looking to improve their offensive output from last week with quarterback <strong>Isaiah Haynes </strong>at the helm. Haynes has <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='421255' first='Jason' last='Moran'], </strong>who caught a touchdown last week along with <strong>Van </strong>and <strong>Max Piercy </strong>who can catch the ball down field.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Nation Ford (0-1) at York (0-0)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='91150' first='Carson' last='Black'] </strong>and the Nation Ford offense were held to just 8 points last week in a game that was full of penalties. They'll need to put up a much better showing this week on the road to Highway 5 and York Comprehensive – they certainly have the skill talent to do it with <strong>Ja'Derrick Foster </strong>and <strong>Kenan Bowman</strong>, but Black will need time to throw the ball.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For York, it's the season opener and we'll know more about them late Friday night. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='208367' first='Ayden' last='Davis'] </strong>returns at quarterback and we expect <strong>Javarus Gutherie </strong>to get the majority of the snaps at running back.&nbsp; The questions come in the secondary outside of <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='267449' first='Debo' last='Hall'] </strong>at defensive back and at wide receiver, where they've battled injuries and inexperience. <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2022/07/2022-season-preview-york-cougars/">Read our full season preview of the Cougars here.</a></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->