For the first time in over 15 years, the Marlboro County Bulldogs will be traveling to a state championship game.
The last time the Bulldogs visited the title game, it was played in front of a nearly packed house at the then-new Colonial Life Arena in Columbia on a Friday night.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the venue has been moved to USC – Aiken and will played at the highly convenient time of 3 p.m. on a Thursday.  Attendance will be limited and no tickets will be sold at the coliseum.
A total of 700 tickets will be sold for each game, with each school getting an initial allotment of 300.  Any unsold tickets by the schools and the 100 general admission tickets will go on sale at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.
All tickets will be pre-sold at www.gofan.co.  According to the South Carolina High School League, the game will be televised on CW21 of Myrtle Beach.

Scouting the Bobcats
While it has been since 2005 that the MCHS basketball team appeared in the state championship, Seneca will be making its first trip to the title game.
The Bobcats have been playing at a high level for several years, including making the Upper State Title game last year.  They lost to eventual state champion Keenan, 59-45.
This year, the Bobcats struggled out of the gate with star forward E.J. Evett missing time with a knee injury.  However, since the holidays, the Bobcats have been rolling.
Unlike the Bulldogs, Seneca never had the season halted for COVID-19 and has played a full schedule.  They are 16-9 overall and were 9-1 in Region 1-AAA.
When hitting on all cylinders, they are an offensive juggernaut.  For the season, Seneca has averaged 70.8 points per contest.  That includes 120 points against Pendleton and 92 points four nights later against West-Oak.
Evett leads the offense with 20 points a game.  Senior guard Jared Rogers averages 18.5 points a night.  He made 55 three-pointers in the regular season.
Saturday, the Bobcats avenged last year’s loss to Keenan by defeating the defending state champs, 82-75.  Evett led the attack with 26 points.  Rogers had 21.
Seneca is coached by Kevin Padgett.

The match-up
The game is one of opposing styles.  Outside of a preseason tournament smashing of Class A Lamar, the Bulldogs only once scored more than 61 points.
Seneca, since Christmas, has only once scored less than 70 (a 64-58 loss to Greer.)
That would seem to be the Bulldogs’ key to winning the title.  They have to make Seneca grind and work for every basket and not have extended scoring runs.
If the Bulldogs can get it to the final minutes with the score close, they have a decided advantage.  Every game the Bulldogs have played since blowing out South Florence in early December has come down to the final seconds.

It’s been a long time
The Bulldogs last appearance in the title game was at the conclusion of the 2004-05 season.  The Bulldogs lost to Gaffney in the Class AAAA championship, 54-51.
The Bulldogs were heavy underdogs to the Indians, who claimed their third straight title.  However, behind the play of 6’9″ star forward Casaan Breeden, Marlboro was in it until the end.  Breeden fouled out with 2:33 left with the game tied at 49, but without him, the team lost its scoring punch.
Breeden led the team with 15 points.  Colby Poe added 14.
Previously, the Bulldogs had two other title game appearances.
Tymere Zimmerman led the team to the 2001 title with a 65-62 win over Greenwood.  Zimmerman led the offense with 22 points and Chris McQueen had 18.
The previous year, Zimmerman and Cam Newton led the Bulldogs to the championship game for the first time, falling to Lexington, 61-57.  Zimmerman scored 18, Newton 12 and Michael Dease 12.
The school has made three other title games or series appearances in other sports.  The football team won the Class AAAA – Division II championships in 1998 and 2001.  The softball team played in the 2011 championship series but lost to Nations Ford High.