Scores, observations and standouts from Midlands football jamborees

This weekend is the final tune-ups for his school football teams around South Carolina before the regular season begins next week.

While weather ended the Aun & McKay Classic at Chapin and Lexington One Sportsarama early, there were still some matchups that were played involving Midlands teams. Here is a look at which players, teams stood out:

Aun & McKay Classic

Irmo 35, Mid-Carolina 7

Irmo quarterback AJ Brand showed why he has a chance to be one of the area’s top quarterbacks the next few years.

Brand threw a pair of touchdowns and also ran for two touchdowns in the victory. One of Brand’s TD’s was to Telvin Smith, who also returned a punt for a touchdown.

Anthony Wicker had M-C’s touchdown on the team’s first drive after recovering the opening kickoff.

Up Next: Chapin at Irmo; Saluda at Mid-Carolina

Spring Valley 7, Newberry 6

Not much went right offensively for Spring Valley until the final drive of the game.

But the Vikings put together a nice drive capped off by Hector Miranda’s touchdown run with 35 seconds to go. Miranda lost one of his shoes on the run.

Miranda was filling in at running back for injured regulars Evan Javis and KJ Jefferson. Spring Valley played two quarterbacks in Aiden Jones and Keshaun Osby.

Newberry controlled much of the game and took a 6-0 lead with 6:38 left in the first quarter when Bryce Satterwhite threw a TD pass to Kyon Daniels.

The Bulldogs have a new coach in Cedric Jeter, who replaced hall of famer Phil Strickland. Newberry has some talent on offense at receiver and young quarterback in Satterwhite.

Up Next: Westwood at Spring Valley; Union County at Newberry

Gray Collegiate 6, Westwood 0

The defending Class 2A champions looked impressive, taking just 24 seconds to score a TD on the opening drive when Riley Staton hit Zai Offord for a TD.

After the TD, the game went into a lighting delay and was eventually called after heavy rain moved through the area.

The Classic will resume Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Gray will play Chapin for a quarter then play Fairfield Central for a quarter. Chapin and Fairfield Central will play the final quarter.

Admission will be free.

Lexington One Sportsarama

Airport 21, Pelion 0

Kyle Chavis threw two TD passes including one to Duke commitment Apollos Cook. The Eagles scored three times in the first quarter.

Logan Crawford had the other TD catch and Marcus Dwyer had a TD run.

The Sportsarama was moved from White Knoll to River Bluff after rai

Up Next: Swansea at Airport; Pelion at Bethune Bowman

Lexington 14, Batesburg-Leesville 7

Jonah Norris had a TD run and Montrell Byrd returned a fumble for a touchdown in the Wildcats victory.

Lexington is coming off a nine-win season after going 0-6 in 2020. The Wildcats have several key pieces back and have one of the area’s best running games.

Korey Williams had a TD for Batesburg-Leesville, which has a new coach in Greg Lawson.

Up next: Lexington at West Florence; Batesburg-Leesville at Clinton

River Bluff 13, Ridge View 0

Parker Murray had a TD pass to Stephen Collier and Cooper Johns had a TD run for the Gators.

The game was called off because of weather and will not be finished. The final game of the night between Gilbert and White Knoll also was canceled.

River Bluff is coming off a two-win season last year but has shown promise in the preseason and has playmakers on both sides of the way.

Up Next: Blythewood at Ridge View; River Bluff at Lugoff-Elgin

Other Games

Dutch Fork 21, Northwestern 10: Running back Jarvis Green and quarterback Aliam Appler each had TD runs as the Silver Foxes won at Football City Kickoff Classic in Rock Hill.

DF’s Chase Meggett also had a fumble recovery for a touchdown

Up Next: Dutch Fork vs Hough at Memorial Stadium in Charlotte (Thursday)

West Florence 20, Brookland-Cayce 9

Up Next: Brookland-Cayce at Byrnes

Providence 14, Blythewood 7

Up Next: Blythewood at Ridge View

Richland Northeast 7, Chester 7

Up Next: Crestwood at Richland Northeast