The region season is finally here in Lexington County as local teams put their work from the past seven weeks to the test in an exciting slate of conference clashes. 

This was the first time since week two that all 15 area schools were in action. Results were mixed as the teams went 7-8 across 12 games. 

Three games featured a local head-to-head matchup. Two of those were from Lexington County’s five-team 5A conference. 

Dutch Fork and River Bluff are off to a 1-0 region start after beating Lexington and Chapin. The Silver Foxes downed Lexington 28-7, and River Bluff beat Chapin in a 34-25 thriller. 

The third local matchup was between Swansea and Airport. Both teams compete in 3A Region 4 and are looking to get their records on the positive side of 0.500. 

The Tigers started their region season earlier than the Eagles, losing to Camden two weeks ago. Swansea evened its record and put Airport in an 0-1 hole, winning the game 48-28.

Brookland-Cayce and Gilbert are also in the same region, along with non-local teams Camden and Lower Richland. Brookland-Cayce won its region opener over Lower Richland 28-21, and Gilbert lost to Camden 48-33. 

The Indians and Bearcats will play each other this week. 

Elsewhere in the area, Gray Collegiate got things started with a 41-0 shutout over Spring Valley. The War Eagles are now 3-4 this season after navigating through a challenging non-region schedule. 

Irmo’s rollercoaster season continued as the Yellow Jackets lost to North Augusta 25-16. This is Irmo’s first season back in 4A, and the Yellow Jackets are there alone as the only local team in its conference. All of their games will be against schools from the Aiken area. 

In the lower classifications, Pelion and American Leadership dropped their region openers to Orangeburg-Wilkinson and Saluda. 

Batesburg-Leesville picked up its second win in a row, thrashing C.A. Johnson 56-18. The Panthers are now 2-4 this season. 

It was a historic night for quarterback Terrance Cook, who set a program record with six touchdown passes in a single game. 

In SCISA, Northside Christian did not play a region game, but the team did improve on its best start in program history by improving to 7-0 with a win over Westminster Schools.

The Crusaders are 3-0 in region and will resume conference play on Oct. 23. The team will play Cardinal Newman next week before going on a bye. The Crusaders ended the season against Florence Christian and Wilson Hall. 

Last week’s top performances 

Terrance Cook threw six touchdown passes and recorded over 300 yards of total offense in Batesburg-Leesville’s win over C.A. Johnson. 

BJ Suits had three rushing touchdowns to help Northside Christian improve to 7-0 this season. 

Quintin Wilson had two touchdowns in Dutch Fork’s win over Lexington. 

Liam Flynn threw a touchdown and made both of his field goal attempts as River Bluff beat Chapin.

Andrew Frick had three touchdown passes as Brookland-Cayce beat Lower Richland. 

This week’s games to watch 

Brookland-Cayce vs. Gilbert

White Knoll vs. Lexington

Irmo at South Aiken

Gray Collegiate at Sumter

Lexington County scoreboard

Dutch Fork: 28, Lexington: 7

River Bluff: 34, Chapin: 25

Ridge View: 46, White Knoll: 14

Gray Collegiate: 41, Spring Valley: 0

North Augusta: 25, Irmo: 16

Brookland-Cayce: 28, Lower Richland: 21

Camden: 48, Gilbert: 33

Swansea: 48, Airport: 28

Saluda: 55, American Leadership: 6

Orangeburg-Wilkinson: 37, Pelion: 7

Batesburg-Leesville: 56, C.A. Johnson: 18

Northside Christian: 27, Westminster Schools: 6