County teams are heating up gridiron

With the first games of high school football in Columbia County now in the record books, the second week gets off to a huge start with all four county teams playing a county opponent this Friday.

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Harlem at Greenbrier

This matchup has been a long time coming. It might be hard to believe, but these two have never faced one another on the gridiron.

It will be the season opener for the Bulldogs and they have to play at the Brierpatch, so they have a couple of strikes against them from the outset. This young Bulldog team will have a difficult time this season, and even a bit of a down Greenbrier team should be able to pull this one out.

Greenbrier 27 Harlem 14

Lakeside at Evans

Unlike the Greenbrier/Harlem contest, these two know each other quite well, having met 16 times since Lakeside fielded its first team in 1988.

Unfortunately for Panther fans, they have not had much to cheer about in the series, with Evans holding a 12-3-1 all-time record over Lakeside. Last season, Evans won going away 37-10. Lakeside's last win in the series was a 30-6 blowout in 2003.

While I think Lakeside could be one of the real upstarts in the area, maybe even a playoff team, they will find the goings tough against a solid Evans club. It should be close, but I give the nod to Evans.

Evans 23 Lakeside 17

Augusta Christian at Fox Creek

The Lions are a top three team in the South Carolina private schools league for a reason: They always field a solid club, and 2008 will be no different. Their ground attack should poke plenty of holes into Fox Creek's line.

ACS 41 Fox Creek 13