WEEK 4 (2011) GAFFNEY @ BYRNES

The Gaffney Indians got off to a slow start last week against Union County, but turned it on in the 2nd quarter and went on to win in a blowout 62 to 10. The competition gets a lot stronger this week, as they travel down to Nixon Field in Duncan, South Carolina to take on rival Byrnes. Let's look at this game.

Gaffney @ Byrnes

The Tribe beat the Rebels last season 26 to 16, to snap a 3 game losing streak to them. Byrnes had their 70 game home winning streak snapped two weeks ago against Myrtle Beach. The Rebels have a 2 and 1 record this season with wins over Ballard (KY) and Bayside (FL). The Byrnes' offense is led by RB Shakeem Wharton and a trio of playmaking WRs in Colton Korn, Akia Booker and Tavin Richardson. The Rebels starter at QB is Soph. Shuler Bentley. The Byrnes offense is averaging 48.3 points per game.

The Byrnes defense has been very good this season as well. They are led on defense by DL Rashad Dillard and DB Davon Terry. They mix their defense up and bring a lot of pressure to try and force mistakes by their opponents offense. They are giving up an average of 10.0 points per game.

The Tribe's offense continues to roll, led by the pinpoint passing of QB Joey Copeland. He has a 72% completion percentage. Quinshad Davis leads their talented receiving corps with 25 catches and 6 TDs. The Tribe has averaged 47.8 points and over 500 yards per game.

The Tribe's defense has been very dominant, as they have given up an average of 11.3 points per game. They have given up only 45 points in 4 games as a team, but the starters have only given up 24, for an average of 6.0 per game. They will have a major test on Friday night against Byrnes.

Keys To The Game For Byrnes..... (1) They need to jump on the Indians early to get their crowd in the game. The Rebels have a history of killing an opponents morale by getting them down early. (2) Force Gaffney's offense into mistakes. (3) Play a turnover free football game.

Keys To The Game For Gaffney..... (1) Slow down the early and 2nd half Byrnes runs. The last couple of times the Tribe has played here they have been beaten in the 1st quarter with fast starts by the Rebels. (2) The Tribe's offense needs to get off to their usual fast start. They have scored on their first possession of every game this season. (3) Handle adversity in a good way. The Tribe has everything pretty much go their way this season. They have not been behind at all.

Game Prediction..... This is the biggest game in the state by far and one of the biggest games in the Southeast. To storied programs with 26 State Championships between them. Gaffney the NO.1 team in the state of SC and NO.5 team in the nation by Rivals.com against the defending 4A Division 1 State Champs Byrnes Rebels. NUFF SAID..... Gaffney 28 Byrnes 21

TRIBE FACTS..... Byrnes has won eight of the past twelve meetings in this series, but Gaffney leads the overall series 12 to 10.

You can check out my Gaffney @ Byrnes Recap on Saturday.

Until Next Time.