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<p>Now that everyone has played at least one game, we're starting to see stars shine and some newcomers moving to the forefront. Teams from the Midlands and CSRA area had some bounce back wins while others one for the first time. Other teams made their season debuts and others remained undefeated.</p>
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<p>We're here to give out our weekly Game Balls to standouts from Week 1.</p>
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<p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1603902' first='Angelo' last='Rios']</strong> RB, Westwood</p>
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<p>The senior scored four touchdowns and accounted for 142 yards of total offense as the Redhawks picked up their first win of the season. Rios carried it 14 times for 85 yards and three scores and added five receptions for 57 yards and a touchdown. <strong>Carter Carrington</strong> hit on 80 percent of his passes and threw for 170 yards in the win as well.</p>
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<p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1818414' first='Josiah' last='Robinson']</strong> , River Bluff</p>
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<p>Robinson was all over the place on defense in leading the Gators to a shutout victory over Brookland-Cayce. He finished with eight tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack. <strong>Caleb Renwick </strong>and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1825516' first='Jyree' last='Grady']</strong> both added five tackles and an interception that helped limit the Bearcats to less than 200 yards of total offense.</p>
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<p><strong>Brishaun Lee</strong> QB and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1820530' first='Deonte' last='Phillips']</strong>, Strom Thurmond</p>
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<p>The Rebels rolled to a 50-0 win over Silver Bluff and Lee was fantastic under center. He threw for 128 yards and four touchdowns, all to different receivers. Phillips and the defense did their part in the shutout by holding the Bulldogs to 119 total yards. Phillips recorded nine tackles and a fumble recovery.</p>
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<p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1818103' first='Kyle' last='Henry']</strong> RB, <strong>Isaac Shine</strong> RB and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1592297' first='Cole' last='Martin']</strong> RB, Dutch Fork</p>
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<p>The Silver Foxes found themselves in a close game at the half but turned to the running game in the second to win going away over Spartanburg. Henry led the charge with 102 yards and two touchdowns and he was aided by Shine's 96 yards and two scores to go along with Martin's 78 yards on the ground. In total, the Silver Foxes finished with 341 yards rushing.</p>
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<p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1054176' first='Grayson' last='Gunter']</strong> LB/QB, Gilbert</p>
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<p>We knew Gunter was going to be a force on the defensive side of the ball but we didn't expect the offensive output. Gunter did everything in the Indians double overtime win over Wilson. He collected 19 total tackles. two tackles for loss and a quarterback pressure but the offensive output was just as impressive. He only finished with 59 yards passing and 32 yards rushing but he scored on three short touchdown runs, including the game-winner, in the first real taste on offense.</p>
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<p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1422528' first='Maleek' last='Miller']</strong> WR, Irmo</p>
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<p>Miller caught the game-winning touchdown from <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='860400' first='Drevon' last='Dopson']</strong> with 34 seconds remaining to rally the Yellow Jackets past Byrnes on Friday. He finished with 258 all-purpose yards and two total touchdowns. Dopson was outstanding as well by throwing for two scores and rushing for another.</p>
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<p> <strong>Jhais McKiever </strong>QB, White Knoll</p>
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<p>The Timberwolves collected a nice bounce back win over Sumter as McKiever accounted for two touchdowns in the 28-6 victory. He ran for a touchdown and threw for another. He received help from [player_tooltip player_id='1036740' first='Tiyon' last='Fanning'], who rushed for two touchdowns in the win.</p>
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<p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1820308' first='Alan' last='Moore']</strong> QB, Pelion</p>
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<p>The junior quarterback was a huge part of the Panthers big-strike offense in the victory over Columbia. Moore finished 13-of-24 for 212 yards. His TD passes covered 42, 26 and eight yards to <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1820313' first='Daniel' last='Adkins']</strong> and he connected with <strong><u>[player_tooltip player_id='1708197' first='Jai' last='Chuniesingh']</u> </strong>on scores of 72 and 25 yards.</p>
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<p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1820699' first='Brayden' last='Price']</strong> QB, North Central</p>
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<p>The Knights improved to 2-0 after Price accounted for four total touchdowns in the victory. He ran for three scores and added a passing touchdown. </p>
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<p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1664643' first='Calvin' last='Wofford']</strong> RB, Crestwood</p>
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<p>It was a breakout performance for Wofford with over 300 yards of total offense. He ran for 275 yards and five touchdowns on 28 carries and added two receptions for 38 yards as the Knights rolled to 452 yards of total offense.</p>
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<p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1811040' first='Leonard' last='Pressley']</strong> WR, American Leadership Academy</p>
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<p>Pressley scored both touchdowns and caught the game-winning two-point conversion with 50 seconds remaining to give American Leadership its second win in as many weeks. <strong>Jackson Sherriff</strong> threw the game-winner to Pressley on an extra-point fake.</p>
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<p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1820474' first='Preston' last='Smith']</strong> RB, Midland Valley</p>
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<p>The Mustangs rallied from a huge second half deficit to defeat Blythewood. Smith did his part by rushing 83 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries. Midland Valley trailed 28-12 entering the fourth quarter before making the comeback with 26 fourth quarter points.</p>
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<p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1824044' first='Bryson' last='Crawford']</strong> RB, Fox Creek</p>
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<p>Crawford ran wild in the Predators victory over Dixie. The junior ran for 250 yards and three touchdowns. Fox Creek scored on its first three possessions in taking control and let the offensive line and the running of Crawford carry the rest of the way.</p>
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<p><strong>Tommy Burns</strong> QB, South Aiken</p>
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<p>The Thoroughbreds broke into the win column behind the arm of Burns. The sophomore was 15-of-30 for 196 yards and three touchdowns. In two games this year, Burns has thrown for 540 yards and six touchdowns. He's going to be instrumental in guiding this offense going forward. </p>
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<p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1840730' first='Michael' last='Francis']</strong> RB and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1840755' first='Malik' last='Cuyler']</strong> DT/DE, Aiken</p>
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<p>The Hornets turned to the running game in the blowout victory over Airport and Francis led the way. Aiken ran it on 34 of their 39 plays with Francis gaining 92 yards and adding a touchdown to pace a ground game that went for over 200 yards. Cuyler, a sophomore, helped limit Airport to around 50 yards of total offense. He had four tackles, two tackles for loss and two sacks. Aiken had 10 sacks total. </p>
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Now that everyone has played at least one game, we're starting to see stars shine and some newcomers moving to the forefront. Teams from the Midlands and CSRA area had some bounce back wins while others one for the first time. Other teams made their season debuts and others remained undefeated.
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