Another week of high school football has passed in Lexington County, and teams are starting to establish themselves after getting a few games under their belts. 

There were 12 games involving Lexington County teams in week four. None of those featured a match-up between local teams, as everyone played an outside opponent.   

As the season hits its midway point, there is little room left for error. 

Here are some of the biggest storylines from week four of the Lexington County high school football season.

Blowouts rule week of mostly positive results in Lexington County

It was an overall successful week for teams in Lexington County, going 8-4 in the 12-game slate. 

Almost every game from last week’s schedule ended in a blowout. Dutch Fork’s four-point loss to Oceanside Collegiate was the only game decided by two scores or less. The next closest games of the week came from Swansea and Northside Christian’s 18-point wins. 

Six games were decided by 30 points or more, and three were by 40 or more. The largest margin of the week came in Batesburg-Leesville’s 56-7 win over Calhoun County.

Lopsided games have been a common theme in these early non-region games. There have only been a handful of close games this season, with some teams playing in none. 

These blowouts are a mix of wins and losses as well. In some instances, a single team will have a big win, a big loss and a close battle all on its record. Batesburg-Leesville, American Leadership and Brookland-Cayce are examples of that.

With the region season just around the corner, it will be interesting to see if this pattern of blowouts persists when the competition becomes more familiar. 

Dutch Fork drops first game, while B-C earns a win

Entering week four, there were three undefeated teams and three winless teams left. After last week, there is one less of each. 

Brookland-Cayce earned its first victory of the season and started region play 1-0, following a 35-14 win over South Aiken. The win wasn’t just the first for the Bearcats this season, but also the first under the leadership of new head coach Louis Clyburn. 

The Bearcats' offense has gotten progressively more productive as the year has gone on, leading to their season-high 35 points against South Aiken. Quarterback Andrew Frick led the way with three touchdown passes. 

Brookland-Cayce’s defense also returned an interception for six to cap a dominant performance. 

On the flip side, Dutch Fork dropped a close contest to Oceanside 24-20. 

The loss snapped the Silver Foxes' 24-game winning streak, dating back to their regular-season meeting versus White Knoll in 2023. 

Oceanside scored the go-ahead touchdown and then recovered an onside kick in the fourth quarter to kill time off the clock. Dutch Fork got the ball back and marched downfield before an interception with seconds left sealed the game. 

Dutch Fork fell to 3-1 this season following the defeat. The team will take this week off before returning to the Foxes’ Den for the region-opener against Chapin. 

Non-Region slate nears its conclusion 

This week will be the final week of non-region football for most teams in Lexington County. 

How a team does in the region determines where they are seeded in the postseason. There is little margin for error in these games, as even a single loss can be the difference in hosting and traveling for a playoff game.

Teams use the pre-region portion of their schedules to evaluate and work through their kinks before the big games. This will be the last week most of the county gets to do that. 

Three local teams started their region games last week. Brookland-Cayce, Gray Collegiate and Gilbert are part of the eight-team 4A Region-4 conference. Since this conference is larger than others, it starts region games earlier in the year. 

Airport, the fourth local 4A Region-4 team, will begin its conference slate this season after being on a bye last week. 

The six local teams in 5A Region-4 and the three teams in 2A Region-2 will start conference play next week. Lexington County teams won both of those regions last season. 

Last week’s big performances

Dre Dopson threw four touchdown passes for Irmo in the team’s win against Myrtle Beach.

Darius Carter had two touchdown receptions in River Bluff’s blowout victory over Cheraw.

Andrew Frick had three passing touchdowns as Brookland-Cayce earned its first win of the season. 

Tiyon Fanning scored two rushing touchdowns in White Knoll’s win against Cane Bay. 

Week 5 games to watch 

Gray Collegiate vs. North Augusta

Gilbert vs. Aiken

Swansea vs. Columbia

Lexington vs. Laurens

Week 4 scoreboard

Summerville: 50, Chapin: 14

Oceanside Collegiate: 24, Dutch Fork: 20

Irmo: 59, Myrtle Beach: 21

River Bluff: 67, Cheraw: 19

White Knoll: 34, Cane Bay: 10

Brookland-Cayce: 35, South Aiken: 14

North Augusta: 56, Gilbert: 14

Gray Collegiate: 38, Midland Valley: 6

Swansea: 30, Barnwell: 12

Batesburg-Leesville: 56, Calhoun County: 7

Mid-Carolina: 35, Pelion: 14

Northside Christian: 32, Spartanburg Christian 14