Friday’s Class 5A boys soccer final at WC Hawkins Stadium at 7:30 pm is guaranteed to have 1 Chronicle Country participant.

Region 5-5A rivals Lexington and Chapin played for the Class 5A Lower State final this past Tuesday at Cecil Woolbright Stadium. The contest took play prior to presstime and the result available at www.lexingtonchronicle. com.

A 3rd win this season over the Wildcats would send the Eagles to their 1st state title match since 2018. That year, Chapin completed its run of 3 straight titles.

A Lexington win would send it to the state titles for the just the 2nd time in school history. The Wildcats last played for a championship in 2013, a 1-1 (4-3 on penalty kicks) loss to Irmo in what was coaching legend Phil Savitz’s last game for the school before he went to River Bluff.

The Brookland-Cayce boys were also playing Tuesday for a berth in the Class 3A title game at 1 pm Saturday. The Bearcats traveled to Bishop England for the Lower State final, seeking their 1st championship appearance since 2014.

On Monday, Gray Collegiate visited Christ Church for the Class 2A Upper State final looking to play for the title at 7:30 pm Thursday in Irmo against Andrew Jackson.

Instead, the War Eagles fell 1-0 in a hard-fought contest.

BASEBALL, SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS

The post-season brackets for the SC High School League league playoffs were just about completed at presstime.

This past Thursday, Dutch Fork defeated Lexington 10-6 to win the Region 5-5A title.

Clemson University signee and Major League Baseball prospect Will Taylor belted 2 home runs and drove in 4 runs to rally the Silver Foxes from an early deficit.

They will open the Class 5A playoffs at home 6:30 pm Friday against Ashley Ridge, while Lexington travels to Summerville.

Dutch Fork seeks to win its 2nd state baseball title in 3 years. In the case of Taylor, who led the football team to its state-record 5th consecutive championship back in December, it’s an opportunity to put himself in rare company in school lore.

“It’s special,” said Taylor, who ESPN has projected as going as high as 19th overall in the 1st round of the MLB draft in July. “The only other guy I know to do that is (former Dutch Fork quarterback and Clemson University freshman pitcher) Ty Olenchuk. Hopefully, I can do it and it takes a team to do it. 1 man can’t do it. We’ve got a pretty good, special squad this year. So hopefully, we can put together a special run in the playoffs and have some fun.”

In Class 3A, Gilbert clinched playoff berths in both baseball and softball. The Lady Indians are region champions with Swansea and Fox Creek looking to settle 2nd place this week. Meanwhile, Gilbert baseball played Strom Thurmond Tuesday at Pelion High School to determine the top seed.

Other Chronicle Country teams who’ve alao qualified for the playoffs are:

BASESBALL - Airport, Gray Collegiate and Batesburg-Leesville

SOFTBALL - Lexington, White Knoll, Gray Collegiate and Pelion

See the updated brackets at www.schsl.org .

WIlDCATS WIN LOWER STATE

The Lexington High boys golf team won the Class 5A Lower State tournament this past Monday in Conway. It finished 8 strokes ahead of 2nd place Chapin and River Bluff placed 6th.

The top 7 teams qualified for the 2-day state title tournament starting Monday at the Country Club of Lexington.