Chesnee is tough draw for Pendleton

To open the playoffs this week, Pendleton (8-2) gets a rematch with the team that took the steam out of the Bulldogs’ annual visit to the third round.

Chesnee (6-4) comes to P-town for the first time since 2007 when the Eagles beat Pendleton in the first round, a loss that was especially surprising since Pendleton looked to get past the third round of the playoffs for the first time in four seasons.

Only a weekend after winning at Crescent 14-6, Pendleton’s hoping to reset its playoff expectations.

“It’s a tough draw for us, heck it’s playoff time too,” coach Paul Sutherland said. “We’ve got to get back to the point where we expect to get deep in the playoffs.”

Pendleton will try to use the kind of game plan it did against other high-powered offenses like Abbeville and D.W. Daniel: control the clock by keeping the ball.

In the summer, Sutherland said he was concerned about his young defensive secondary outside of senior Anthony Eubanks. After 10 games, Sutherland said those defensive backs have played well and haven’t been out of position much.

“The problem with Chesnee is you can be in position and they’ll out-athlete you,” he said, adding Chesnee’s spread offense with six potential playmakers presents as big a challenge to Pendleton’s defense as any opponent this season.