Fast Break

The Whale Branch boys basketball team is already in Florence, resting up before practicing tonight at an area school. The Warriors face Carvers Bay on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. for the right to go to the Class 1-A title game March 2 in Columbia.

It might turn out Summerville is not having the off year some might have thought, that by the end of the Region 8-AAAA schedule, the Green Wave emerge as a force to be dealt with in the Class 4-A playoffs.

Watching Summerville jump on Beaufort High last week, you might not have guessed the Green Wave had a losing record. But the Eagles didn’t have much time to analyze what hit them. They have no more breathing room in their quest to return to the playoffs, and coaches treated this week with the urgency Friday’s game with Ashley Ridge requires.

This might be Beaufort High School’s biggest game of the season.

After big losses on the road at Goose Creek and Bluffton High School, the Eagles (3-4) return home with a chance to finish the season strong. None of the Eagles’ remaining opponents currently have a winning record. And Beaufort High, trying to avoid missing the playoffs for a second consecutive season, should contend in all of them.

Beaufort High School football coach Mark Clifford doesn’t say much you could consider inflammatory, probably by design. And he stuck to the script this week before the Eagles travel to Bluffton High School.

Clifford has had what could be considered sharp words for region rival Fort Dorchester in the past, but that was after several heated contests. And a week after state and now national power Goose Creek ran away from the Eagles, any urge to instigate this week was probably tempered even more.

Buckle up. Beaufort High and Battery Creek face a couple of brick walls tonight.

Battery Creek has won consecutive games for the first time in almost a decade. The reward? Defending Class 2-A state champion Bishop England.

Region 6-AA has been kind to the Dolphins through two games. That ends tonight. The Bishops are 4-1, have won their past three games and scored more than 40 points in each of those victories.

Beaufort High School welcomes Carolina Forest on Friday. The Eagles are 2-2 after their comeback fell short in a loss to Cane Bay last week. The Carolina Forest game marks the end of a four-game home stretch for Beaufort High, which travels to Goose Creek and Bluffton High School the next two weeks.

For the scoop on the Panthers, I asked Ian Guerin to answer a few questions.

Battery Creek is fired up for its home game with Hilton Head High.

Part of it is the Dolphins’ hunt for victory No. 1. And part is because the game will be televised by WHHI.

Despite the 0-2 start, Battery Creek has played with a competitiveness that might have been lacking in 2011. And Dolphins coaches have worked to keep players confident. After a Week 2 loss to Whale Branch, one of the points of pride was that Battery Creek did not allow the Warriors a pass completion a week after senior Dee Delaney torched Hilton Head High.

Is it too soon to press the panic button on Beaufort High School’s season? Probably. But, man, a 37-0 loss at Wando didn’t spawn much encouraging talk online or at the water cooler.