By Thomas Grant Jr.
It’s been three seasons since Airport High School has played a significant region game.
On that Sunday at Brookland-Cayce High School, the Eagles defeated their archrival to claim the Region 4-4A title.
This Friday, Airport (5-2, 1-0) can move a step closer towards reclaiming the championship with a win Friday at home against undefeated Class 4A seventh ranked Midland Valley (6-0, 1-0).
“(A win) would make us 2-0 in the region and a win over a Top 10 opponent, first and foremost,” head coach Shane Fidler said. “Also, it’s Senior Night. These seniors have bought into the program that we have here, and they have not questioned things. They just show up every day, ready to work and to get better.
“It would be great to get those guys a win on Senior Night. It would be great to get a win in front of our home crowd here at Airport. It would be great to go 2-0 in the region. We know that Midland Valley is a great, great football team. Coach (Earl) Chaptman’s built a great program in the few years he’s been there. We know that’s going to be an extremely hard challenge to beat those guys with the talent they have.”
“We have definitely come a long way from 2-8 to 5-2 right now,” linebacker Bryant Cherry said. “Definitely have come a long way and I’m really hoping we can beat Midland Valley.”
The Mustangs are off to their best start in school history. Shrine Bowl running back Traevon Dunbar is the catalyst of the offense with 1,273 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Quarterback Preston McNair is a dual threat quarterback with 545 passing yards and five touchdowns and 575 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. His main targets are wide receivers Antrone Butler and Torian Whiteside and tight end Evan Phillips.
The Mustangs are equally formidable on defense, holding opponents to 15.3 points per game. Linebackers Andon Hawkins and Dominic Morgan lead the team in tackles and safety Hosey Dukes leads the secondary.
Placekicker Peyton Waters tied a school record held by his father, Josh Waters, with 11 made kicks in the 77-0 win over Swansea.
“We’ve got to figure out what they’re really, really good at, how we match up against that and how we can stop that,” Fidler said. “That’s been our main focus over the last couple of days. Watching their film is figuring out what their biggest strengths are which they have a lot of strengths, not a lot of weaknesses, not many all. Find their biggest strengths and try to negate them.”
Cherry is one of the leaders on the defensive line tasked with slowing down the Mustangs.
“Stay in the box, stay where you’re at,” he said. “Look at what the offense is going and go from there. Also, tackling is a big thing. We tend to tackle high sometimes, so we’ve got to fix that before this Midland Valley game.”
In Airport’s five victories, the defense has made key stands to preserve the win. Cherry believes his teammates learned as much about themselves in those moments as well as those the blowout losses to Brookland-Cayce and Irmo. They hope to bring those lessons into the “Eagles Nest” against Midland Valley.
“We can just build off our mistakes and our failures and put that into Midland Valley,” Cherry said.
Palmetto State Sports Network will carry the Airport/Midland Valley game. The app is now available for download or visit the website https://network1sports.com/station/pssn
S.C. Prep Football Media Poll
Class 4A
1. South Florence (15) (6-0)
2. Northwestern (4) (5-1)
3. Irmo (6-0)
4. James Island (6-0)
5. Westside (5-1)
6. South Pointe (4-2)
7. Midland Valley (6-0)
8. Hartsville (4-2)
9. Lucy Beckham (5-0)
10. Ridge View (5-1)
Others receiving votes: Myrtle Beach, York, North Augusta, Catawba Ridge, Greenville
