By Lonnie Turner

After falling behind 8-0 to the Lake City Panther Junior Varsity, the Dillon JV Wildcats reeled off 27 unanswered points in the first half and hung on to defeat the visitors, 27-14 Thursday evening at Dillon Memorial Stadium.

Hy-Keen McKoy caught two touchdown passes in the waning minutes of the half and finished the game with six catches for 126 yards to lead the Dillon offense. Avery McCall and Austin Moody shared the job of quarterback, with both throwing touchdown passes to McKoy. McCall completed three of five attempts for 98 yards and Moody was four of nine for 72 yards. Defensive back Malik Manning picked off a Lake City pass and returned it 21 yards for another score.

Isaiah Williams scored the first touchdown for Dillon with time running out in the first quarter from four yards out and Drew Covington kicked his first of three extra points to pull within a point of the Panthers.

Following the kickoff, Manning fielded a tipped pass at the Lake City 21 and went untouched into the end zone for a 13-8 lead with just a minute and a half gone in the second quarter, but on a run for the two-point conversion, Williams came up a yard shy of the goal line.

Lake City attempted a fake punt on the following possession after a three and out series, but was stopped at the Panther 49, setting the stage for Moody’s touchdown toss to a wide open McKoy, who caught the pass in stride for a 19-8 lead. Covington made it 20-8 with 6:55 remaining in the half.

McKoy caught back-to-back passes from McKoy to score the final points for the Wildcats. The first was a 50 yarder that set up a six-yard scoring toss by McCall with 0:46 seconds remaining in the first half.

With about three minutes remaining in the game, Lake City scored on a blocked punt to finish on the short end of the 27-14 decision.

Williams led the Junior Cats with 10 tackles, seven of which were solo put downs, including a quarterback sack.

The JVs will be back at home next Thursday against Marlboro County at 6 PM.