Bruins, Red Foxes eager for postseason

South Florence’s Lynn Fleming and Hartsville’s Jeff Calabrese were already in preparation mode Saturday morning.

The two coaches were watching game film on the ride back from Columbia as they prepared for the Class 4A Division II playoffs.

The Bruins (6-5) will travel to Rock Hill and face Northwestern, which started out 0-4 but won six of its final seven games to win the Region 3-4A title.

South is making its first trip to the playoffs since 2003.

“We kind of figured it was going to be Northwestern. We went through some scenarios last night,” Fleming said. “We are very excited to be in the playoffs and see what we can do.”

Hartsville (9-2), the runner-up in Region 6-4A, will host T.L. Hanna on Friday. It’s the second time in the last three years the Red Foxes have made the postseason.

The Red Foxes defeated Conway in 2007 before losing in the next round.

“We had a great regular season and not a lot of people thought we would be at this stage,” Calabrese said. “Hopefully, we we can make the most of it.”

Scouting Northwestern shouldn’t be that difficult for Fleming because the teams each run the same wide-open style of offense.

Northwestern quarterback Justin Worley threw for 380 yards and receiver Robert Joseph hauled in a state-record 22 passes for 232 yards in Friday’s win over Gaffney.

Lamar’s Derrick Higgins held the old mark with 20 catches.

On the season, Joseph has 108 receptions, also a new state record.

“The routes they run are something our kids see in practice everyday, so that’s one positive,” Fleming said. “We will be able to run our offense full pace during practice, so it’s the best of both worlds for
us.”

Hanna (5-6) features receiver Martavis Bryant, a Shrine Bowl and U.S. Army All-American Bowl selection. The Clemson verbal commitment has 66 catches for 683 yards and 10 touchdowns, but was held
to just two receptions in Friday’s win over Westside.

In that game, Hanna rushed for 366 yards.

“It’s going to be a pretty big challenge,” Calabrese said. “They are a good football team. We are just going to have to limit our mistakes we had against Sumter and come out ready to play.”

South and Hartsville were two of the four teams from Region 6-4A to make the postseason. Sumter, the region champs, will face Blythewood in the Division I playoffs.

Conway got in as an at-large team and will travel to North Augusta in the Division II playoffs.

If South and Hartsville both win, they will face each other in the second round.

The second round will begin for the rest of the teams in the Pee Dee. There is one matchup between Pee Dee teams as Carvers Bay will travel to Hemingway. The Tigers defeated the Bears 7-6 on Sept.
26.

Some of the other top matchups include Lake City traveling to unbeaten Airport, which defeated Darlington 37-31 in overtime. Timmonsville, who upset Military Magnet on Friday, will get a rematch with
Scott’s Branch. The Eagles won 12-0 on Oct. 16.

Marlboro County (11-0) will meet Socastee for the second straight year.