Some area playoff teams already aware of first-round opponents

Some of the area’s playoff-bound football teams already know their first-round opponents when the postseason opens next week.

Courtesy of the predetermined playoff structure, Georgetown will host Darlington on Nov. 13. That same day, St. James, which finished in third place in Region VII-AAA, will head to Marlboro County. North Myrtle Beach, which has the strongest figures in the Class AAA points system, will be playing No. 1 Hartsville, although that matchup won’t be officially announced until the brackets are released.

Meanwhile, the team that won the Region VII-AAA championship, Myrtle Beach, will have to wait until at least late Friday night to find out its opponent. In the meantime, the Seahawks will keep their normal practice schedule while the built-in postseason delay following the effects of last month’s flooding allows the rest of the state’s teams to finish their regular seasons.

“It’s a little different,” Myrtle Beach coach Mickey Wilson said. “We’re going to work on ourselves right now, making sure we’re fundamentally sound.”

Of the area teams in the state’s lower three classes, only Waccamaw and Loris will be playing this Friday. The extra week off for the rest of those heading to the playoffs was welcomed by many, if for no other reason that players can rest up before the postseason.

Just the same, having a free Friday night is new territory for Wilson.

Since he took over in 2009, Myrtle Beach has used Week 0 as its off week, started the following week and played every week until the end of the season. He prefers that scheduling approach so that rhythm and routine is not disrupted.

Traditionally, the Seahawks would play their rivalry game against North Myrtle Beach in the regular-season finale and go right into playoff mode.

“As soon as, in that last game, the clock hits zero, you start preparing for whoever you’re going to play in the playoffs,” Wilson said. “It’s a team you don’t know a lot about. You hit the ground running at 10:30, 11 o’clock. It’s been a little different.”

Essentially every scenario has Myrtle Beach opening the playoffs against an at-large team from the Upper State. There is a caveat that if one of the three Upper State at-large teams is from Region IV, that team joins the Lower State field.

With so much up in the air – 14 teams in Class AAA alone still have a regular-season game remaining – nailing down Myrtle Beach’s opponent is impossible.

When North Myrtle Beach and coach Blair Hardin resume practice Tuesday, the Chiefs will be preparing for Hartsville, the No. 1 team in Class AAA. The game can’t be finalized because of the points system.

Hardin, though, said getting ready for the Red Foxes now is a must.

“We’re going to game plan for Hartsville,” Hardin said. “We know they’re the top team in the state. That’s all we can do right now. I know nothing’s official yet.

“We will take our time. We don’t have a lot of stuff on them right now. But we’ll do what we can control.”

A number of other local teams are still vying for a playoff spot in the other divisions. In Class AAAA, Conway will finish in the top three in Region VI-AAAA regardless of this week’s game against Carolina Forest, so the Tigers are heading back to the playoffs for the first time since 2012. A Panthers win on Friday is also expected to be enough to get them into the postseason for the first time since moving up to Class AAAA in 2008, although their official standing won’t be known until late next week.

In Class AA, Loris (2-2 Region VIII-AA) and Waccamaw (1-3) are part of a four-team cluster that also includes Mullins (2-2) and Marion (2-2). Mullins will play at Waccamaw on Friday, while Loris heads to Mullins.

And with a possibility of a three-way tie existing for third place, the region may have to use a secondary tiebreaker, which is defensive points allowed, if head-to-head records don’t settle it.

Twelve Class A teams from around the state also have to wrap up their regular seasons this week, meaning Carvers Bay is also in a holding pattern when it comes to a first-round opponent. The Bears will be in the Class A, Division I bracket when it is finalized this weekend.

This story was originally published November 2, 2015 at 4:16 PM with the headline "Some area playoff teams already aware of first-round opponents."