By CT McDonald
Expectations of inclement weather this weekend has caused varsity football games to be rescheduled in the first week of region play for most schools.
Irmo will play at Richland Northeast (RNE) Thursday at 7:30 pm, Chapin will host Lexington at 7 pm on Thursday, and Dutch Fork has a bye this week.
IRMO
The Yellow Jackets (4-1) will start their Region 5-4A games Thursday with only one loss thus far in non-region matchups. A. C. Flora (5-0) is the only undefeated region opponent as the 5-4A schedule gets underway, and this week’s opponent, RNE, stands at 1-4 going into the region.
Irmo will be coming off of a 37-0 win at Airport last week, and, with the 17-14 win against Hartsville the previous week, the Yellow Jackets are at full throttle as they head into region play.
Irmo AD Canady
Congratulations. According to Lexington-Richland School District Five (LR5), Irmo Athletic Director Ray Canady is the 2022 Region 5-4A athletic director of the year.
Canady graduated from Irmo High School and later joined the Irmo baseball program’s coaching staff under then head coach Strother Sligh. After Coach Sligh’s retirement, Canady became Irmo’s head baseball coach, then became assistant athletic director and, more recently, the Irmo High School Athletic Director.
In an LR5 news release, Canady said that he is “just one piece of the puzzle,” and he gave credit to the district and school administration for their support, as well as for the coaches and athletes who make his job enjoyable.
DUTCH FORK
After last week’s 26-7 loss to St. Frances Academy, Dutch Fork will have a scheduled bye this week and get started on its Region 4-5A games next week.
When the Silver Foxes (5-1) take on White Knoll to start the region next week, the Timberwolves will have an updated win-loss count.
White Knoll (6-0) is the only undefeated 4-5A team going into this week’s region opener against River Bluff (5-1), with the Gators having lost their first one last week against Dorman.
CHAPIN
The Eagles evened their record last week with the loss to A. C. Flora and will start Region 4-5A games Thursday at 3-3.
Chapin will open the region against Lexington’s Wildcats (4-1) who are riding a four-game winning streak after their win against Gilbert last week.
Next week will be the Eagles’ bye week, and then they will play at Dutch Fork on October 14.
Earlier this week, the National Weather Service (NWS) forecasted partly sunny and breezy weather for Thursday, with a 30 percent chance of rain late. Sunny and breezy means 16-21 mph winds with gusts up to 31 mph, according to the NWS.
