Instant Replay: Playoffs and more heat up Halloween football
Talk about a doozy of a weekend. First, the Game of the Week lives up to all the hype on Thursday. Then a pair of southern showdowns in the Weekend Watch go down to the wire and a two-step of ranked Texas teams go down. It's enough to send the Rivals100 into a serious re-molding, all before the later rounds of state playoffs kick off. Here's how everything shook out:
• No. 75 Franklinton (La.) 35, No. 42 Salmen (La.) 28: Somehow, Franklinton overcame as 15-point second-half deficit against a higher-ranked opponent in a massive in-state showdown to edge ahead at the wire. And the game featured a redemption story, too: Wide receiver Vincent Wilson bounced back from a handful of costly drops early in the game to catch the game-winning touchdown late in the fourth.
• No. 6 Hoover (Ala.) 20, Bob Jones (Ala.) 13: If Friday was going to be the biggest test Hoover would face on its way to the state title, it got a stern one. Bob Jones went so far as to take a fourth-quarter lead against the undefeated Bucs before eventually giving way in Hoover's 20-13 win. The only lingering question from the game was whether Bob Jones really was that good, or the home team's 16-1 penalty flags against ratio was more significant. You be the judge.
• Fishers (Ind.) 17, No. 88 Carmel (Ind.) 14: So much for Carmel's glory run through the playoffs. Instead of a spot at Lucas Oil Field, Carmel will be sitting at home after a dramatic, late fake punt sealed an upset win for Fishers. The early exit will guarantee Carmel misses the Class 5A title game for the first time in five years, something which Fishers could take yet another step toward this coming Friday.
• Abilene Cooper (Texas) 45, No. 60 Abilene (Texas) 28: Oh, the damages done when overlooking a crosstown rival. Abilene entered its annual shoot-out against crosstown rival Cooper and got positively run over, with Cooper claiming a dominant win. With the game serving as a tuneup for the state playoffs, it's Cooper that suddenly looks like a true state title contender.
• No. 27 (Calif.) Centennial 45, Norco (Calif.) 0: There are routs, and then there is the whopping that Centennial put on another potential Califonia contender on Friday night. The final scoreline actually was representative of the gulf between these two teams, particularly when it came to Centennial's defense, which throttled Norco throughout. "That was a great performance," Centennial Coach Matt Logan told the Los Angeles Times. "To beat a tough team like that says a lot about who we are." We'll say it does. Watch out California rivals.
• No. 12 Dorman (S.C.) 21, Byrnes (S.C.) 14: Byrnes may have the bigger South Carolina pedigree, but Dorman answered every single challenge on Friday on the team's biggest game day this season, solidifying their position in the RivalsHigh 100 and as one of the state's two premier teams in 2010, alongside Rock Hill.
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