Week 10 Review & Round 1 Preview

Rarely does a championship game live up to its billing, but the AAAA Region 1 Championship did just that. With a season finale that matched two 8-1 teams looking for a region title, the scene was set. After the dust settled, Greenville came out victorious, but the game produced in epic fashion with both teams scoring 21 straight points, one team with a 400-yard passer and a 250 yard receiver and the other team with a kickoff and interception return for a touchdown, both teams show why it all came down to them.

BHP came up just short of back to back region championships, but locked up home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. BHP will face a familiar opponent in Union County and will look to bounce back from their second loss of the season.

Week 10 Review

BHP and Greenville both came into the region championship with only one loss in the season and undefeated in the region. At the end of the game, Greenville became the region champ and gave BHP their first loss in AAAA Region 1. The simplicity of who won and who lost doesn’t explain the epic nature of the game. On the first offensive play of the game, Greenville scored on a 74 yards pass which let Greenville jump out to a 21-0 lead in the 1st half. BHP scored with 17 seconds left in the 1st half to gain back some momentum going into the half. Coming out of halftime BHP showed an air attack that flashed back to the first game of the year. BHP scored 21 points in the 3rd quarter to take back the lead. With 3:40 seconds left in the 4th quarter, Greenville went up 34-31. On the ensuing kickoff BHP took it back 97 yards to regain the lead 38-34. Greenville took over with the 3:22 left in the game trailing by 3 and went 74 yards and scored with 27 seconds left in the game to take the final lead, 42-38.

In a game that felt out of reach, then ours for the taking, and back to slipping away, BHP played a game that is one of the most complete they have played all season. BHP showed a resolve that has been seemingly missing all season. It was also impressive to see the offense being able to pivot when the run game was shut down.

Fast Facts

Greenville ran 83 offensive plays against BHP. This season, BHP’s opponents have averaged 54.9 plays per game.

BHP’s RJ Ellis has 1239 rushing yards this season, the second most since 2014 in 10 games.

Ellis has 15 rushing TDs, tied for the most since 2014.

Since 2014 BHP has averaged 26.3 points per game in the playoffs, while giving up an average of 21.3.

Since 2014 BHP is 4-3 in playoff games.

BHP’s Camden Bratcher passed for 291 passing yards Friday, the most single game passing yards since 2014.

Through 10 games, Camden Bratcher has passed for 1613 yards, only 2 yards behind Kameron Burton last season. Bratcher has 14 passing TDs in 10 games which is the most by a BHP passer since 2014 in the regular season.

Since 2014 BHP has only had 5 games where they threw for 3 or more passing TDs. Camden Bratcher has 2 of them.

BHP’s Lance Jones is 2 PAT makes away from 200 career PAT conversions.

BHP held their opponents to 16.2 points per game which is 2.7 points less than last season.

BHP caused a turnover in 8 of 10 games this season.

In both of BHP’s losses this season they rushed for less than 100 yards.

Greenville’s Davis Beville became the only passer since 2014 to pass for 400 or more yards against BHP.

BHP has gained 10 or more yards on 126 plays, or 22% of plays. BHP has gained 2479 total yards on those plays which is 71% of their total yards.

BHP has given up 96 plays over 10 yards and have caused 90 plays that lost yardage.

BHP has outscored their opponents by 99 points in the 1st half of games this season and by 48 points in the 2nd half.

BHP has only outscored opponents by 6 points in 4th quarters this season.

This season BHP has had 12 scoreless quarters. Last season BHP had 11 through 10 games.

This season BHP has scored 21 or more points in a quarter 6 times. That only happened 4 times last season.

BHP has 63% of their completions and 66% of passing yards in the 1st half of games this season.

BHP has not thrown a TD in a 4th quarter this season.

63% of BHP’s rushing TDs came in the 1st half of games this season.

BHP has a 70.6% completions rate in 1st quarters of games this season and have an average yards per completion of 18.14 yards.

Check out the full stat line at the Week 10 box score

Round 1 Preview

With the second place finish BHP will host Union County in the first round of the AAAA playoffs. Union County finished 3rd in AAAA Region 2. They ended the regular season 2-8 with their wins coming over Blue Ridge and Travelers Rest. Union County was outscored this season by 138 total points.

Even with Union County’s lackluster season record and point deficit, history tells us to be hesitant with this match up. It was only 2015 when BHP hosted Union County in a first round match up and Union County upset the Bears. Also, this season Union County’s losses came to Chapman, Gaffney, York, Spartanburg, Ridge View, Boiling Springs, Eastside and Greer. All are playoff teams and most are perineal powerhouses.

Season Leaders

Individual Totals

Rushing: RJ Ellis – 213 rushes for 1239 yards and 15 TDs

Passing: Camden Bratcher – 193 pass attempts with 112 completions and 4 interceptions for 1613 yards and 14 TD passes

Receiving: Zy Scott – 28 receptions for 503 yards and 6 TDs

Wrap Up

BHP showed the ability to answer the call when they are backed into a corner. They also show some huge talent. However, the high-power offense of Greenville was too much for BHP to overcome. BHP played very well and while they gave a very impressive performance, it is just nearly impossible to play 83 defensive plays in a single game and not come up short. BHP will have to get back to what they do well and mix in those explosive plays they showed Friday night to make a run in the playoffs this season.

We see this match up being closer than the records show, but we see BHP coming out ahead 24-10 at the end of the game Friday.

The game will be at BHP this Friday night, so come out and support your Bears. If you cannot make it, be sure to follow us on twitter @bhp_bears for live updates).

Let us know if you agree or disagree with our prediction in the comments below or on our social media pages (@bhp_bears or /howboutthembears).