State Championship Preview: 2A

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The State title matchups are all set and will begin this Thursday with the 1A and 5A matchups followed by 2A and 6A on Friday and 3A, 4A and 7A on Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Check out our preview of all the action below, continuing with 2A:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Who</strong>: Charleston (12-2) vs. Heidelberg (11-3)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>When</strong>: 4pm, Friday, December 1st.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>What to watch for:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>Charleston</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Charleston is no stranger to high stakes football. Offensively the Tigers have been strong as usual via the rushing attack as they should eclipse the 3,000 yard mark for the season in the state title game. Devon Olive calls the shots as the QB as a sophomore and depends heavily on fellow sophomore running back [player_tooltip player_id='691314' first='Marcus' last='Flowers Jr']. When the Tigers do have to go to the air keep your eyes peeled for [player_tooltip player_id='618929' first='Deondre' last='Riley'] as he has 61 of the teams 94 grabs on the year with 13 TD's to go along.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>Heidelberg</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ground and pound, toughness, power... All words that can be used to describe the Oilers in 2023. Freshman QB [player_tooltip player_id='1241251' first='Chase' last='Craft'] has been a bright spot thru the year and was dynamic in multiple phases in the win over Raleigh in last week's South State championship with 75 rushing yards 32 passing yards and a punt return TD. Down the stretch of the schedule the Tigers have hung their hat on the play of the defense, namely two linebackers in [player_tooltip player_id='1351208' first='Devin' last='Tribble'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1127620' first='Destin' last='McCray']. To beat Charleston you have to figure out a way to avoid those two in the middle of the defense. Heidelberg is a new name among the big boys in 2A but they have the firepower to win it all.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Key to the game:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Heidelberg is as good at linebacker as anyone in 2A but can the secondary keep [player_tooltip player_id='618929' first='Deondre' last='Riley'] from getting loose?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->