4A PLAYOFFS ROUND 2 GAFFNEY @ IRMO

The Gaffney Indians did what the Gaffney Indians do this time of the year, they won. They defeated Wando 28 to 0 in the 1st round of the 4A Big 16 Playoffs, last Friday night at The Reservation. Next up for the Tribe is a Round 2 match-up at Irmo. Lets preview the game.

Gaffney @ Irmo

The Gaffney Indians and the Irmo Yellow Jackets have played on the football field 6 times. The Tribe has won 4 of the six meetings. All of the games between these two teams have been playoff games. Gaffney has won the last 4 meetings. The Indians and Yellow Jackets last met in the 2006 4A Division 1 Big 16 State Championship Game. The Indians won that game 45 to 0 to win Gaffney their 16th State Football Championship.

Irmo comes into this game with a 10 and 2 record and they are 6 and 0 at home. The Yellow Jackets have a great offense, as they have scored 445 points on the season for an average of 37.1 per game. They have not scored fewer than 28 points in any game this season. They are a power running football team that likes to run the ball right at their opponent. They have a big physical offensive line. They have a Sr. RB named Dawan Scott who has rushed for 1,957 yards and 29 TDs. Scott's back-up is Marcus Smith and he has rushed for over 1,100 yards. As you can see by their stats, they are a very potent running football team. They don't throw the football a lot, but they are very effective when they do. QB Cord Love has passed for 1,414 yards and 14 TDs on the season.

The Irmo defense is where the question marks are on this team. They are pretty young and they have given up some points. They have given up 268 points for an average of 22.3 per game. One of their problems is that their offense tends to score lots of points on big plays. They are on the field a lot. Last week in their 1st round playoff win over Spartanburg, the offense scored three TDs in their first 7 plays of the game.

The Gaffney Indians come into this 2nd round playoff match-up with a 9 and 3 record. They have won 8 of their last 9 games, against the states toughest schedule. They have a 3 and 2 record on the road this season. The Tribe has scored 351 points for an average of 29.3 per game. They have averaged 34.6 per game over their last 9 games. The story of Gaffney's season has been turnovers. When they don't turn the ball over they win. In their 3 losses they turned the ball over 11 times. That is more than the other 9 games combined. Gaffney's offense is led by Sr. QB DeEdward Burris, as he has 3,404 yards total offense with 36 total TDs. JR. WR Quinshad Davis has had a monster season, as he has 86 catches for 1,368 yards and 15 TDs. Another big weapon for the Tribe has been SR. WR Khris Brown with 50 catches for 877 yards and 8 TDs. The Indians can score with the big play, or with ball control.

The Gaffney defense has gotten better as the season has gone along. They have had injuries to key players all season, but they seem to be getting healthy at the right time. The defense seems to be peaking here at playoff time. They have given up 198 points for an average of 16.5 per game. They had a very dominant performance in last weeks 1st round win over Wando, as they held the Warriors to 111 total yards.

Keys to the game for Irmo..... (1) Do what they do beat, run the football behind their physical offensive line. (2) Get off to their usual fast start. They have scored a lot of points in the
1st Quarter all season. (3) Their defense needs to force some turnovers. It will be hard for their defense to stop Gaffney with out some turnovers. (4) Win the turnover battle.

Keys to the game for Gaffney..... (1) Do not let the Irmo offense to get off to their fast start. Win the 1st Quarter. (2) Take away the big play from the Irmo offense. Make them drive the football. (3) Win time of possession. Keep their young defense on the field. (4) DO NOT TURN THE BALL OVER!!

Game Prediction..... This game has the potential to be a shootout. I believe that the Gaffney defense will be the difference in this game. They seem to be playing their best football of the season..... Gaffney 35 Irmo 24

TRIBE FACTS..... The Gaffney boys basketball team is ranked NO. 1 in the preseason 4A basketball poll that was released this week.

You can catch the Gaffney @ Irmo Recap on Saturday.

Until Next Time.

GO INDIANS BEAT IRMO!!!!!