THURSDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

Non-region play for most Chronicle Country teams ended this past week.

Undefeated River Bluff and Gilbert battled for 48 minutes in The Swamp before the Gators won 48-40.

Lexington’s 44-27 win over Spring Valley and Dutch Fork’s 49-0 rout of Northwestern gives Region 5-5A a 24-3-1 mark in non-region games. Idle White Knoll still has an Oct. 18 non-region contest against Spring Valley.

For the most part, Chronicle Country teams can now turn their attention to region foes.

The 2 Region 5-5A matchups this Friday are undefeated White Knoll traveling to Lexington and Dutch Fork, now ranked 24th in the USA Today Super 25 rankings, visiting Chapin.

Other region matchups include rivals Abbeville and Batesburg-Leesville, Swansea at Gilbert, Midland Valley vs. Airport, Brookland-Cayce vs. North Augusta and Spring Valley at Irmo.

These games will determine playoff seeding and who has the best shot at state championships.

TEAM OF THE WEEK - Pelion

The Panthers defeated Columbia 24-8 for their first win. This leaves W.W. King as the lone winless Chronicle Country team.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK - Braden Walker (River Bluff)

The Shrine Bowl running back opened the highly-anticipated contest with Gilbert with a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. He later put the Gators ahead with a 9-yard TD and clinched the win with a 60-yard TD with 22 seconds left. Walker finished the game with 154 rushing yards.

WEEK 5 GRIDIRON GIANTS

Will Way (Brookland-Cayce) - 203 yards, 2 TDs

Roger Pedroni (Chapin) - 302 passing yards, 4 TDs; 2 rushing TDs

Zavier Short (Chapin) - 9 receptions, 201 yards, 4 TDs

Jake Hames (Chapin) - 10 tackles, sack

Jon Hall (Dutch Fork) - 193 rushing yards, TD

Ty Olenchuk (Dutch Fork) - 214 passing yards, 4 TDs; 75 rushing yards, TD Elijah Spencer

(Dutch Fork) - 4 receptions, 114 yards, 2 TDs

Tyrik McDaniel (Dutch Fork) - 93 total yards; 8 tackles

Jy Tolen (Gilbert) - 413 passing yards, 4 TDs

Dre Harris (Gilbert) - 140 receiving yards, TD

Alec Holt (Gilbert) - 118 receiving yards, 3 TDs, 97 rushing yards, TD

Ahmed Bynem-Scott (Lexington) - 182 rushing yards, 2 TDs

Elijah Ogden (Lexington) - 105 passing yards

Alex Reed (Lexington) - 195 total yards, TD

Jackson Stone (River Bluff) - 120 passing yards, 2 TDs

Riley Myers (River Bluff) - 110 rushing yards, 2 TDs

Pryce Whitten (Swansea) - 132 passing yards, TD

STREAKS CONTINUE

Dutch Fork has extended its undefeated streak to 31 games. The Silver Foxes have also won 20 road games, the same number in region play as well dating back to Oct. 13, 2015 when they lost to Ridge View 28-21.

BY THE NUMBERS

Region 5-5A teams are 24-3-1 in non-region play...Gilbert quarterback Jy Tolen has thrown for 2,039 yards...Lexington running back Ahmad Bynem-Scott has rushed for 770 yards...Swansea running back Will Way has rushed for 681 yards... Gray Collegiate Academy quarterback Hunter Helms has throw for 1,993 yards and 18 TDs and wide receiver Omarian Dolleson has 43 receptions for 862 yards and 11 TDs...Abbeville holds a 22-21 advantage over Batesburg-Leesville in the head-to-head series dating back to 1951 and have won the last 4 meetings...Swansea has a 25-13 advantage over Gilbert, but has lost the last 3 meetings...W.W. King has lost 6 straight games since 2018.