Marlboro County High's boys entered the final two games of the regular season with their playoff fate in their own hands.  
If they won at Myrtle Beach on Friday and at home against Wilson on Tuesday, they would be invited to the postseason.  A win in either one of those games might get them in, depending on the results of other region contests.
Neither happened and for the first time in over a decade the Bulldogs are taking up the equipment before the playoffs begin.
Tuesday night, the Bulldogs got off to a fast start, only to fall apart in the third quarter.
After trailing the Tigers 15-10 with two minutes left in the first quarter, Wesley Brown hit a basket to start a 14-4 run by the Bulldogs.  Marlboro took a 30-25 lead into the locker room at the half.

Arkansas State senior and former Marlboro County Bulldog Ronheen Bingham has been named the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
Bingham helped lead the Red Wolves to an 8-4 overall record and a berth in the Arizona Bowl, where they will play The University of Nevada.
This season Bingham, a defensive end, finished the regular season with 65 total tackles and nine quarterback sacks.  He also had 19 tackles for lost yardage.
His sacks and tackles for loss lead the conference.

The Marlboro County High football team faces another important Thursday night game.  Their contest with North Myrtle Beach has been moved up a day to avoid heavy rains that are predicted for Friday.
"It is always the home team's call as to when the games are played.  Coach Reel (North Myrtle Beach head coach Matt Reel) consulted with me and we agreed to play on Thursday," said MCHS head coach Dean Boyd.
"A rainy night would make our offense hard to run, so in that sense it is an advantage to play on Thursday.  North Myrtle runs an option-based attack that is difficult to prepare for, so losing a day of practice is a disadvantage," said Boyd.
Many schools throughout the state have rescheduled their Friday night contests to Thursday or Saturday.  Steady rains are predicted to move through the state beginning Thursday night and continuing throughout Friday.
"This game will decide the playoff fate for three teams, so we want it to be as unaffected by weather conditions as possible.  Regardless, we need to go out and play well," said Boyd.
In hopes of missing the rain, kickoff has also been moved up a half hour to 7 p.m.

Marlboro County High School celebrated homecoming last week.  The school’s girls took to the field Wednesday night in the annual powder puff contest.  Friday the homecoming parade rolled through downtown Bennettsville (right, bottom).  At halftime of Friday’s football game, the homecoming court was announced.  They are (l to r) Kenyatta McLaughlin, Mr. Senior, Kayla Chaplin, Miss Sophomore, Denali Jackson, Miss Junior, Breyonda Lowery, Miss Homecoming, Kamiyah Adams, Miss Senior, Katijah McRae, Miss Freshman and Larone Evans, Mr. Homecoming.  The Bulldogs blasted Darlington 41-6 in the game.  Demarkus Hicks (right middle) rushes through the Falcon defense in the first half of the contest.  The Bulldogs (5-2, 1-2 in region) will travel to Florence to face Wilson in a Thursday night game.  They will wrap up the regular season next Friday at North Myrtle Beach.
Photos by Makayla Hicks