In this week’s SK Media Game of the Week presented by Mitchell Enterprises, “Rooney’s Road Dawgs” are flipping the script as they take on St. John’s Christian Academy (4-6, 3-2) in the first postseason football game played at Victory Field since 2018. Greenwood Christian (7-2, 4-1) finished out an historic season on a six-game win streak, including an exclamation point victory over Orangeburg Prep. During that span, the Hawks averaged an eye-popping 41 points per game, proving that they have one of the top offenses in SCISA 2A.
St. John’s, on the other hand, put together an interesting regular season filled with highs and lows. They finished their season on a three-game win streak before falling to Bethesda Academy in their final regular season contest.
With playoff football on the field you can expect a championship atmosphere in the stands. This Hawks team has not ever been exposed to the added fun–and pressure–of playoff football. Rooney’s ability to focus his team on the task at hand and not get distracted by all the pomp and circumstance (pun intended) of playoff football will be key for the Hawks to advance to the next round.
The aforementioned Hawks offense has been explosive with Leland Reed at quarterback and Kade Heaton moving to receiver. Hamp Davis, of course, has been electric all season, racking up 148 yards on the ground, 541 receiving yards, and nine total touchdowns. Bryson Dixon has 334 receiving yards and five touchdowns, followed by Heaton, who has 312 yards with two touchdowns. Heaton has also rushed for 205 yards and four touchdowns, but he will not see as many opportunities on the ground as Brady Wilson (407 yards, seven touchdowns) and Cole Hamby (314 yards, one touchdown) will take most of the reps in the backfield.
Defensively, the Hawks will be tasked with stopping St. John’s running back Dor Reichley. Reichley has rushed for over 1,500 yards and 17 touchdowns on the season and has caught 17 passes for 133 yards and two touchdowns. Reichley is the heart of the Cavaliers’ run-heavy offense and Greenwood Christian’s front seven is going to have a heavy workload in containing him.
That’s where Davis, Cooper Johnson and Holden Poole come in. Despite being the team’s number one offensive weapon, Davis has flown all over the field on defense this season, totaling 58 tackles and 14.5 tackles for loss. Johnson has been in the top 3 for tackles in SCISA all season with 89 and 12.5 tackles for loss. Poole has posted 49 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and three interceptions.
The St. John’s front seven is nothing to play with, either. Linebacker Landen Chipman leads the Cavaliers with 89 total tackles and has added four tackles for loss. Behind him is Sumter Moorer, who totaled 62 tackles, three tackles for loss and two sacks during the regular season. Be on the lookout for these stars as Rooney and crew attempt to deliver a victory in a very special game for Greenwood Christian School.
Prediction: Winning a football game is hard and winning a playoff game is even harder. This game will come down to the ability to maintain an even keel with all the extra playoff pageantry going on all around. It’s called Victory Field and the Hawks will deliver a victory there Friday night. GCS over St. John’s 48-27.