Rebels' planning pays off

Strom Thurmond saw this coming. The Rebels have won 22 of their past 25 games and face Myrtle Beach on Friday in the quarterfinals of the South Carolina High School League Class AAA playoffs.

This year's success was anticipated because the team returned 24 of 26 juniors from 2004. But it can actually be traced to the kind of fortune-telling you might get at the county fair.

The Rebels felt they could contend for a championship with their current senior class years ago. The potential in Tony Dugar, Coco Hillary, Matt Key, Matt Holmes and Tavine Brannon was there.

So they invested in it when the group was going into ninth grade.

"Coach Dusty Triplett met with them at the two middle schools and came back and said it could be a special group," Strom Thurmond coach Lee Sawyer said. "Just by looking at them all on the hoof and we'd all seen them play each other in middle school."

Sawyer was an assistant and the athletic director back then. Triplett was head coach. The Rebels only had varsity and junior varsity teams at the time.

"So coach Tripplett decided then to start back the ninth-grade program," Sawyer said. "We hadn't had a ninth-grade team for a good many years."

Finances were tight but they found a way to field a freshman team for a seven-game schedule.

The current-day Rebels logged extensive time that season and laid the groundwork for this run.

"These guys have good work ethic and good character," Sawyer said. "But I don't think they would have been as successful in high school without that. It gave them another year playing together."

GAMESMANSHIP: A subplot of Strom Thurmond's 28-7 win against Manning last week was who'd take over the starting linebacker spot from Kenneth Griffin. Griffin was removed from the team last week after being suspended and charged with underage possession of alcohol on school grounds.

Manning coach Robert Briggs put on his thinking cap to try and find out.

"Their coach at the beginning of the game was standing there watching us warm up," Sawyer said.

"He was writing down numbers trying to find out which one of our two (linebackers) were not there. Once he saw us line up, they knew who it was. They began the game running 75 percent of their plays to the side of our new linebacker."

The story is relevant because senior Durrell Martin has that spot for the rest of the playoffs.

"He had that deer in the headlights look in the first quarter," Sawyer said. "And we challenged him at halftime. We said they were running right at him and had singled him out. We wanted to know if he was going to take that from Manning. He responded. He had a nice second half, including a big tackle for a loss."

AIKEN-WESTSIDE: Aiken faces a dominant passing attack this week against Westside. Quarterback Thomas Griffin has thrown for 2,598 yards and 32 touchdowns.

His top target is wideout Moe Brown. Brown, a South Carolina commitment, has 55 catches for 942 yards and eight touchdowns.

Griffin threw for 406 yards in a 28-20 win against South Aiken earlier this year. He's about 85 percent this week with an ankle injury.

He came off the bench last week to complete 13 of 30 passes in a 41-40 win against Boiling Springs in the first round.

"It's a quality matchup," South Aiken coach Dan Pippin said. "Two different styles. Aiken runs the ball real well. Westside throws it real well. Both have real good defenses."

Pippin wasn't sold on the statewide notion that Aiken should win because of a tougher schedule.

"I don't think anyone who lives in Anderson or Aiken really knows who's played the tougher schedule," he said. "You're talking teams who play in different parts of the state. They're about even defensively. Same in the kicking game.

Yes, Aiken has played tougher teams this year and last year than Westside. But only one team in the state throws it better than Westside and that's Byrnes. Aiken hasn't seen that this year. I'd say it's about a toss-up."

Reach Jeff Sentell at (706) 823-3425 or jeff.sentell@augustachronicle.com.