Many talked about the possibility of a Dorman/Byrnes Big 16 title game rematch as the teams left the field at Williams-Brice a year ago.
Some may have doubted that would happen when Byrnes had a bumpy start and seemed to be just a shell of the offensive machine they'd been.
However, there they were on High School Friday Night getting Big 16 semi-final wins in fine fashion about 15 minutes away from each other and now a high noon showdown awaits Saturday in Columbia.
The Cavaliers continue to get great work out of junior running back Raymond Smith, who had 196 yards rushing Friday night. The key for them is the continued impact made by wide receiver Charone Peake, who's been hobbled for most of the season from an early injury but he's really come on in the playoffs.
Byrnes has one of the area's most improved quarterbacks in senior Zach Blair, who has had a consistent target in sophomore Akia Booker but each week seems to come up with someone new to also throw to. The Rebels defense has become opportunistic and scored on two pick sixes on Friday night.
The Greenwood Eagles will play for the state crown for the first time since 2006 when they meet up with unbeaten Northwestern on Friday night.
The Eagles have had a staunch defense this season and each game have forced their share of turnovers. However, they'll try to contain arguably the state's top quarterback in senior Justin Worley and that could be a tall order.
And how about the Abbeville Panthers, whose first year in 1A yields the school's fifth state title.
Their win Friday was a great example of applying their game plan and the two-headed monster of Loquavius Watt and Ashton Heard combined for nearly 400 yards on the ground and scored five touchdowns and early on you never had a feeling the outcome was in doubt Friday afternoon against Bamberg-Ehrhardt.
It was also an impressive run as they won their final 13 games after looking really bad in an opening loss to Chester.
We've got the action of all the area games from High School Friday Night at wspa.com and we invite you to take a look.
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