County teams face road trips

County teams will have to do it on the road in week six high school football play Friday.

Lancaster continues Region III-AAAA play with a road trip to Rock Hill where it faces Northwestern.

The rest of the county teams will be in action in league openers in Chesterfield County.

Andrew Jackson, 1-4, ventures to Central of Pageland, while Buford, 2-3, travels to Cheraw in Conference VIII-AA action.

Indian Land, 0-5, is also in for a bus ride as the Warriors trek to Chesterfield County to face unbeaten McBee High in its Conference III-A opener.

Lancaster, 2-3, 0-1, has a chore in battling the Trojans, who are 4-1 with four straight wins.

Northwestern, 1-0 in Region III-AAAA play, has earned a No. 10 rating in the latest Class AAAA state football poll.

Northwestern is a fine football team, one of the state?s best with coach Wallace back leading them,? LHS coach Bennie McMurray said. ?Will King does a great job as their quarterback and he's on line to rewrite their passing records.

McMurray said the Bruins? defense faces a ?tremendous challenge.

We have to make plays, especially in the secondary, but at the same time, we need for our defensive line to keep pressure on them,? McMurray said. On the offensive side, we need to keep the ball away from them. We need to put them on their heels.

When we get in the red zone, we need to put points on the board,? he said. ?We also need to deny the big play.

Andrew Jackson also has a tough chore as the Vols face the ninth-ranked Eagles, who are tied for the No. 9 rating with Cheraw.

Our offensive and defensive lines will really have to answer the bell in this game, said Andrew Jackson coach Ernie Hughes. Central is strong on both sides of the football, so we really have to play well against them.

It's also important that we control the football and are able to move the chains, Hughes said. That way we?re keeping the ball away from them and preventing them from making the big play.

Buford High coach Mike Wells said the Jackets will also have a challenge, testing the Braves, a 13-12 winner of Lamar last week.

Cheraw is very good, the caliber of team which has played for the state championship the last few years,? Wells said. They have two outstanding backs in Travis Smalls and Montrell Evans.

Jaron Brown is an outstanding player in their secondary and at wide receiver, added Wells. Brown is a Division I prospect who is outstanding and drawing plenty of attendtion this season.?

Wells noted several keys for the Jackets this week.

Our offense has to produce positive yardage and stay out of long-yardage situations. That means it?s important for us to control the ball and eliminate turnovers, Wells said. ?We can?t help them with poor tackling and give them second-chance yardage.

Indian Land High School coach Mike Mayer said the Warriors have several keys against the eighth-rated Panthers.

We must stop their tailback Justin Bristow. It?s important to stop the run and force McBee into passing situations,? Mayer said.? We must tackle better than we did at Landrum. We have to get a lead and force McBee to play from behind.