PICKENS — For the second season in a row, the Pickens Blue Flame are facing a rematch with the Western AAA champions in the opening round of the playoffs.[cointent_lockedcontent]

TommyMcGaha /seeyourphotohere.com
Pickens senior Gunner Covey gets past a Seneca defender during the Blue Flame’s loss to the Bobcats on Oct. 9. Pickens will travel to Seneca’s Tom Bass Field for the two teams’ playoff opener on Friday night.

After earning an at-large postseason bid as the fifth-place team in the region, the Blue Flame will cross the county line this Friday night to take on unbeaten Seneca.

Although it last played on Oct. 30 in a loss against Belton-Honea Path, Pickens waited more than a week to learn it would play the Bobcats, as the Blue Flame learned their opponent on Saturday morning, the day after a number of Class AAA teams finally finished their regular seasons due to the historic flooding that ravaged the state last month.

Pickens is hoping for a better result this time around than it had in last season’s playoff opener, as the Blue Flame traveled to undefeated region champion Wren a season ago and fell behind 49-0 in the first half on the way to an eventual 56-13 loss.

The Blue Flame are also hoping to improve upon their performance against the Bobcats earlier this season, as Seneca turned a 7-6 halftime lead into a 31-6 win at Pickens on Oct. 9.

First-year Blue Flame coach John Boggs, a former standout lineman under legendary Pickens coach Bill Isaacs, was proud of his team’s fight in the previous meeting between the two teams.

“I was proud of these kids’ effort,” Boggs said after the game. “I thought they laid it out there tonight. They showed a lot of heart and a lot of passion.”

Despite the loss, the contest was part of a strong five-game stretch for the Blue Flame, as they blasted West-Oak (38-0) and Walhalla (44-10) before falling against Seneca. The week following the loss to the Bobcats, Pickens came up one play short of a win over county rival Daniel at Singleton Field, then blew the doors off of Palmetto by a 48-7 final.

There will be familiar faces leading the Bobcats once again when the two teams tangle on Friday, as Seneca is led by former Pickens coach Brett Turner and is quarterbacked by his son, Elijah, who was the starter for the Blue Flame as a sophomore before transferring to Seneca when his father was hired there as an assistant.

Turner’s brother, Bart, is still an assistant coach at Pickens.

Elijah Turner, who was selected last month to participate in the North-South All-Star Game, was sidelined with an injury against the Blue Flame during the teams’ first meeting this season.

Pickens forced the Bobcats into mistakes in that game, but struggled to capitalize. Seneca fumbled twice and threw a first-half interception, but the Blue Flame only scored six points on three red-zone possessions. Pickens had a touchdown catch nullified due to a blocking penalty and lost another possession on a fumbled option pitch.

Shrine Bowl selection Matt Gravely nailed a pair of field goals in the second quarter to bring the Flame to within a point at halftime, but Seneca’s Jacory Benson — half of a dangerous one-two tandem with Braxton Gambrell — exploded for three second-half touchdowns to lead the Bobcats to the win.

With the ground game struggling, the game marked one of the most impressive passing performances of the season for the Blue Flame, as Tanner Stegall finished the game with 159 yards through the air and Adam Thomas hooked up with Isaiah Ferguson for 54 yards on a halfback pass. Ferguson finished the game with two grabs for 107 yards, while senior bruiser Gunner Covey had two catches for 51 yards against the Blue Flame despite managing just 23 yards on 11 carries on the ground.

Kickoff Friday night in the playoff opener is set for 7:30 p.m. at Seneca’s Tom Bass Field.

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