Brookland-Cayce head football coach Rusty Charpia said his team will ready to play No. 1 seeded Hartsville, Friday. But it did take a couple days to recover from the Bearcats’ 31-30 win over Beaufort in round one of the state 4A state playoffs.

“We got home at 4:30 a.m. Saturday,” Charpia said. The BC-Beaufort gamed was delayed after a strong storm blew through the area. The monsoon was a break that may have been critical to victory.

“We were gassed,” said Charpia of his team. “I don’t know if we would have won without the break because of the weather.”

With the win, BC advances. It’s the fourth consecutive year the Bearcats have advanced to the second round of the playoffs. BC also has wins over two No. 1 seeds, in the last four years, including a win at No. 1 ranked Bluffton in the 3A playoffs two years ago. But the Red Foxes will be a formidable foe. Hartsville is 11-0, and coming off of a 57-7 drubbing of Crestwood in last Friday’s first round playoff game. The Red Foxes feature Tiyon Evans the team’s heralded quarterback

“On paper Hartville is supposed to beat us,” Charpia said. “But if we slow them down, and put some defense on their star quarterback, maybe we have a shot.”

Charpia said his team is playing together and the players have faith in each other. He also said he feels his job this week is to build spirit during practice, not to run his players too hard, physically.

“It’s the playoffs,” said Charpia. “They have been through the grind. It’s a good group. Physically they are in shape so we won’t practice long, but we have to mentally prepare them for a big game.”