Fort Mill High School and Catawba Ridge High School will both play at home Friday, Nov. 6, when the South Carolina High School League football playoffs begin.
Fort Mill is the No. 7 seed in the Class 5A Upper State and hosts No. 10 Lexington. Catawba Ridge is the No. 8 seed in the Class 4A Upper State and hosts No. 9 Fountain Inn.
Both Fort Mill School District teams would face a top two seed on the road in the second round Nov. 13 if they win Friday.
Fort Mill Faces Lexington
The Fort Mill and Lexington winner advances to play at No. 2 Dutch Fork, which earned an opening round bye. Dutch Fork is the top half of that quarter of the Upper State bracket, with the Hillcrest, Chapin and James F. Byrnes games on the other side. Those teams would meet in the third round Nov. 20.
Fort Mill sits on the opposite half of the 5A Upper State bracket from top seed Northwestern of Rock Hill. The two could meet only in the Upper State final Nov. 27, the day after Thanksgiving.
Catawba Ridge Faces Fountain Inn
The Catawba Ridge and Fountain Inn winner travels to No. 1 Gaffney for the second round.
That quarter of the bracket also includes Indian Land. If Catawba Ridge and Indian Land each win their first two games, the neighboring schools would meet in the third round Nov. 20.
Other Area Teams in the Playoffs
Six other York and Lancaster county teams are in the Class 4A and 5A brackets.
In Class 5A, Northwestern is the Upper State No. 1 seed and has an opening round bye. Rock Hill, the No. 9 seed, plays at No. 8 Boiling Springs on Friday. A Rock Hill win would send it to Northwestern on Nov. 13 for a crosstown playoff game.
In Class 4A, South Pointe is the No. 3 seed and has a bye. No. 6 Lancaster hosts No. 11 Clover on Friday, with the winner traveling to South Pointe on Nov. 13. No. 5 Indian Land hosts No. 12 Greenwood, and the winner plays at No. 4 T.L. Hanna in Anderson.
Higher Seeds Host
Under SCHSL bracket rules, the higher seeded team hosts every game through the semifinals unless the league assigns a neutral site.
State Finals Schedule
The Class 4A state final is set for 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4, and the Class 5A state final is set for 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5. The Lower State team will be the designated home team in every state final.
The second round is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 13. Brackets and results are posted on the South Carolina High School League website at schsl.org.
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Thomas Hyslip lives in Tega Cay with his wife and daughter. After 27 years in the U.S. Army and Federal Law Enforcement, he retired to pursue his passion for teaching. Tom is now an Associate Professor of Instruction at the University of South Florida. In 2 short years he has won 10 awards from the South Carolina Press Association, including first place in column writing, education beat reporting and best podcast.
