WEEK 1 DORMAN @ GAFFNEY PREVIEW

We have made it to Week 1 of the High School football season and we have the biggest game in the state at The Reservation on Friday night as the defending Division 1 4A Champions the Dorman Cavaliers are coming to take on the Tribe. The Indians are fresh off of their Week 0 victory over the Boiling Springs Bulldogs by a score of 21 to 14. The Cavaliers played in a jamboree last week and this is their season opener. There are a lot of coaches out there that says that a team improves more from game one to game two than at any other time during the season. The Tribe needs to make major strides this week to play with the Cavaliers and have a chance to defeat them. So lets look at the game and see what the keys will be for Gaffney to pull off the upset.

Dorman @ Gaffney..... The Cavaliers have won the last three meetings in this series including two games last season. The Cavaliers have a potentially lethal offense with arguably the top wide receiving tandem in the state led by Sr. Charone Peake who is 6'4" 194 lbs. and is rated as the No. 12 prospect on the ESPNU 150 list and a 5 star rating. The Cavaliers have suffered some injuries during the preseason especially at the QB position where they have had to rotate some guys in. Reports have said this week that starting QB Nelson Hughes might play some Friday night. Defensively the Cavaliers return only three starters from their dominating defense that led them to the State Championship last season. The Cavaliers defense is very fast and swarm to the ball very well, but they are smaller than they were last season.

The Indians have probably the most elusive QB in the state in Sr. DeEdward Burris. The Indians also have a very talented wide receiving tandem of their own in Jr. Quinshad Davis and Sr. Khris Brown. Like the Cavaliers the Indians have been plagued by injuries during the preseason, most notably on the defensive side of the ball. The Tribe was without four starters last week against Boiling Springs and had some players banged up and several players suffered from cramps. The Indians are extremely young on defense as they could start as many as seven sophomores. Some good news for Gaffney is they should get Jr. DL Edward Bigby and their top CB Jr. Snoop Byers back to play some this week. That should help with depth.

Keys to the Game for Dorman.....(1) Find a QB to get the ball to their talented wide receivers. (2) Keep there opening game mistakes to a minimum. (3) Put the ball in Charone Peake's hands as much as possible. (4) The Cavaliers defense needs to keep DeEdward Burris in the pocket to keep him from making big plays off of the scramble.

Keys to the Game for Gaffney..... (1) The Tribe's defensive front must put pressure on which ever Dorman QB in in the game. (2) The Tribe must keep their key players on the field, no more cramps. (3) They have to do a better job against the Wildcat formation which has killed them the last two seasons against Dorman. (4) They are not going to stop Charone Peake but they need to contain him and not let him take the game over. (5) The offense needs to put some points on the board early to gain some confidence against these guys, as they have been shut out two of the last games against them. (6)They must take care of the football and not give Dorman a short field.

Game Prediction..... The Indians will play well but come up a little short..... Dorman 17 Gaffney 13

GO INDIANS BEAT THE CAVALIERS!!!!

Until Next Time.