The Class 5A Upper State football championship contenders are coming into sharper focus as the second round of the playoffs kicks off Friday night.
No. 3 Byrnes (8-2) hosts No. 6 Hillcrest (5-6) at 7:30 p.m. Friday in a rematch of an Oct. 2 meeting at Hillcrest that Byrnes won 49-21.
The Rebels had a first-round bye last week and come in on a five-game winning streak. Every win in the streak has come by at least 21 points, allowing Byrnes to solidify its perfect 5-0 record in Region 1-5A.
Hillcrest enters the game on a run of its own. The Rams started the season 1-6, then won four straight to get to the second round, including a 40-27 win over Chapin in the opening round last week.
The winner Friday moves on to the Upper State semifinals Nov. 20 against the winner of No. 2 Dutch Fork and No. 7 Fort Mill.
Elsewhere in the Upper State, all Friday at 7:30 p.m.:
- No. 1 Northwestern hosts No. 9 Rock Hill. Rock Hill beat Boiling Springs 45-21 in the opening round.
- No. 4 Dorman hosts No. 12 Spartanburg. Spartanburg beat River Bluff 35-31 in the opening round.
- No. 2 Dutch Fork hosts No. 7 Fort Mill. Fort Mill beat Lexington 58-21 in the opening round.
The winners of the Northwestern-Rock Hill and Dorman-Spartanburg games meet in the third round Nov. 20.
