Match Point

After a record-breaking 2010, the offseason is in full swing for the Bluffton High School football team — but the honors seem to keep coming anyway.

The latest: Bobcats coach Ken Cribb has been selected as an assistant coach for the 75th Shrine Bowl Game, which will be played Dec. 17 at Gibbs Stadium, the home of Wofford College.

“Just good for our program — maybe it will get our kids a little more recognition,” Cribb said this afternoon. “I’m excited about the opportunity to get to coach that kind of talent.”

Hilton Head High and Battery Creek will wrestle in the first round of the Class 3-A playoffs in less than two hours, and judging by a new SCMAT.com poll released today, it appears they are heavily favored to continue their playoff journeys next week.

The Seahawks, who are No. 9 overall and No. 2 in the Lower State behind Chapin, host unranked Darlington at 6 p.m. tonight. The Seahawks have three wrestlers ranked in the top-five individual rankings, led by top-ranked Nick Bautista at 189 pounds. Campbell Miller is third at 140, and Label Lewis is fourth at 112. Should Hilton Head High win tonight, it will likely travel to face Chapin on Monday.

We're just a couple hours away from the NFL divisional round kicking off today. Before it does, take a look at who The Island Packet/Beaufort Gazette sports staff says will win this week's slate of games and which team will win Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium on Feb. 6.

When you're done looking at our picks, use the comments section to tell us which teams you think will be left standing each week, and which one you like to win it all.

This week's games are Baltimore at Pittsburgh (AFC), Green Bay at Atlanta (NFC), Seattle at Chicago (NFC) and NY Jets at New England (AFC).

SCMAT.com released a new set of state wrestling rankings today, and for the first time in three-plus years, no Beaufort County team is ranked among the top-eight.

Hilton Head High fell from eighth to ninth in the latest poll, making the Seahawks the top-ranked team in Region 7-AAA. Hilton Head High is 2-0 in the region with wins over Cane Bay and Berkeley. The Seahawks will face — on paper, at least — their toughest hurdle toward reclaiming the region with a match against Battery Creek on Wednesday.

Speaking of the Dolphins, they are the lone Class 3-A Beaufort County team to actually make a climb in today's poll. They are now ranked No. 12 after a key region win against Bluffton High School on Thursday night.

Bluffton High School hosts Myrtle Beach in the Class 3-A Lower State championship at 7:30 Friday night at Bobcat Stadium. It is undoubtedly the biggest game in school history.

I sat down with Bobcats coach Ken Cribb to get his thoughts on the miracle season, last week's emotional win at Hartsville and his preparation for Friday's game against the Seahawks.

I decided to go the feature route rather than the standard game preview in this week’s paper, so we have a lot to talk about on the blog today.

Bluffton is traveling to Hartsville on Friday night, and the winner of the game will advance to the Class 3-A Lower State championship. There’s no shortage of importance here — if they win, the Bobcats would actually get to return home and host the Lower State title game, regardless of who wins between Berkeley and Myrtle Beach.

It’s an intriguing matchup Friday night. Like the Bobcats, Hartsville runs a Wing-T and double-wing offense built purely on speed and deception. Both teams have seen the other’s offense plenty just by matching up against their own squads in practice.

We’re down to one. Bluffton High School is the lone public school in southern Beaufort County still playing football in November.

I’ll let that settle in for a moment.

The Bobcats earned the first playoff win in school history last week against Lakewood, which if you’ve been reading the paper at all, you surely know by now.

So let’s look ahead at what the Bobcats (10-1) can do to keep playing football. They have difficult second-round draw against A.C. Flora (10-1) on Friday night. The winner advances to the Class 3-A Lower State semifinals next week.

It’s kind of hard for me to believe that playoff time is already here, but it’s always an exciting time of the season for high school football. And we certainly have some interesting storylines in southern Beaufort County.

Bluffton will be hosting its first playoff game in school history when Lakewood visits Bobcat Stadium on Friday night. The Bobcats have never won a playoff game.

Hilton Head High will be trying to change their recent postseason fortune when they travel to Hartsville. The Seahawks have lost four straight playoff games dating back to 2006.

I covered many of the keys to the game in Friday’s edition of The Island Packet. And I will get into them a bit further a little later in this post.

But first I figured we could discuss something that will probably make Bluffton High School fans cringe — region tiebreakers. There are two big games in Region 7-AAA this week: Hilton Head High at Bluffton in the fifth annual Bridge Bowl and Cane Bay at Berkeley.

If you read Thursday's paper — and why wouldn't you? — you already know that most people at Bluffton High School think Friday night’s game against Berkeley is the biggest game in school history. And you also know that fellow reporter Justin Jarrett and I agree.

So in an effort not to wear out that opinion, let’s move on to discussing exactly how Bluffton can win this matchup of state-ranked teams and take home its first Region 7-AAA championship in school history.