One is staying at home, while one is hitting the road.
Both Catawba Ridge and Nation Ford football teams found out on Saturday their playoff fate.
The Copperheads will be hosting the Woodmont Wildcats in their first ever 5A playoff game on Friday, Nov. 15. Woodmont comes into the first-round match-up with a 3-7 overall record and will be an 11th seed out of 12 Upper State seeds.
Catawba Ridge is a sixth seed and finished the regular season at 7-3. If the Copperheads can get past Woodmont, they will be on the road to TL Hanna in Anderson County on Nov. 22. TL Hanna, being a region winner, received a first-round bye.
Woodmont is a run first type team and has rushed for nearly 2,900 yards as a team this season. They have 24 rushing touchdowns compared to just five passing scores. The team has less than 700 passing yards for the season.
Nation Ford will be on the road in the first round traveling to Simpsonville to face the Hillcrest Rams. Hillcrest is a five seed and Nation Ford is the last team in from the Upper State as a 12th seed. The winner of their game will travel to No. 4 seed Greenwood on Nov. 22.
Hillcrest finished the season at 7-3, while Nation Ford is 2-8 and coming off a win over rival Fort Mill, which cost the Jackets a playoff spot.
The Rams are a high-powered offense that is an evenly balanced. They have passed for 1,800 yards, but also ran for more than 1,700 yards. They have thrown for 18 touchdowns and rushed for 21.
Fort Mill missed out on the playoffs this season and officially finished at 1-8 on the year. They did have a bump in RPI after Friday night’s football game for Easley. Fort Mill was off, but moved to 49th in strength of schedule over Easley, but neither team would make the playoffs for the Division II Upper State bracket. Easley lost their season ending game to Greenville to finish 1-9. Greenville, at 2-8 like Nation Ford, made the playoffs.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
