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

Going into the season with a schedule that featured back-to-back games with Hartsville and Myrtle Beach to start region play, the Bulldogs knew that they would have to play outstanding football to avoid an 0-2 conference record. They also need those two highly-ranked opponents to make a few mistakes.
The Bulldogs played great defensively for the first half against Hartsville but fell apart in the second half. Against Myrtle Beach, the defense played well but could not

After falling from the ranks of the undefeated, the Marlboro County High football team faces another tough challenge.
"This will be something of the proverbial gut check for us this week. It isn't so much about winning or losing but about playing our best football for 48 minutes," said head coach Dean Boyd.
Last week against Hartsville, the defense kept the game close for a half but the flood gates opened after intermission. With the offense struggling, the defense could not maintain the pressure on the Red Foxes.

After defeating South Florence handily last Friday, the Marlboro County High football team has wrapped up the non-region segment of the season undefeated at 4-0. Last season at the same juncture, the Bulldogs were 2 and 3 and struggling.
So what is the biggest difference?
“It has to be the turnover ratio. Turnovers by our defense and our offense protecting the ball has been a key to our success so far this season,” said head coach Dean Boyd. “Creating turnovers is mainly a result of a defense that is causing chaos with an offense, penetrating into their backfield and not letting them operate comfortably. That's what we have been doing.”