By Lonnie Turner

Well, with two weeks left in South Carolina high school regular season football, the showdown for the Region 8-2A crown happens this coming Friday night at Memorial Stadium when the Loris Lions come to town.

If you folks recall, in the game at Loris last year the Wildcats found themselves behind at halftime, 14-7, but after taking the opening kickoff of the second half, a 41-yard touchdown run by Anthony Blue capped a 65-yard drive that pulled the Cats to within a single point of tying. The extra point failed when quarterback Thomas Grossetti was stopped short of the goal line. With 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Cats put together another drive with Blue again getting into the end zone on a 9-yard run. Loris mounted one last attempt to tie the game, but the Wildcats secondary knocked down three of quarterback Mickel Soles passes near the end zone to seal the win and the 2012 Championship. The two teams met again in the second round of the playoffs and Dillon won that one 21-7.

Evers since that time the Loris seniors have looked forward for a rematch and that time is this week. There are eleven seniors and one junior back off last years team and have shut out every Region 8 opponent this season while piling up 146 points in offense. The Lions beat Waccamaw, 54-0, dropped Marion, 55-0 and last week drubbed Mullins, 47-0.

Levi Moody, a 5’10 junior is the leading rusher so far this season with 856 and 6 touchdowns, compared to Anthony Blue’s 701 yards and 14 TDs. The difference is that Blue has been used only in the first half for all games, except in the Mallard Creek and Marlboro County contests.

“They play the entire game,” said Dillon coach Jackie Hayes. “The starters seldom come out.

Senior quarterback Bennett Winslow has thrown for over 1,000 yards and 11 scores with his favorite receiver, Ryan Bellamy catching 22 passes and has scored on five of them. Eri’Reon Hayes and Jay Johnson have caught 18 and 17 respectively for ten touchdowns together. Hayes has 9 catches for touchdowns and Johnson has recorded only one 6-pointer.

It would seem that Dillon would have the advantage with three experienced quarterbacks going into the game Friday. Avery McCall has returned to call the signals for the Wildcats and has a 63 percent completion rate for 612 yards and 8 touchdown throws. Through the last two games he has thrown for 423 yards and 6 touchdowns with one interception. While he was recuperating from the shoulder injury in the first game of the season, Malique Gregory completed 63 percent of 38 passes for 381 yards and 6 scores and sophomore Austin Moody quarterbacked the entire Aynor game completing 9 of 19 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, Loris is led by senior linebacker, who is not that big, standing at 5’7, but the 225 pounder has 75 solo and 30 assisted tackles, while Malik Vereen has recorded 70 total tackles. The Wildcats are led by linebackers Damu Ford and Joe Blue with 60 and 53 total tackles respectively.

The Cats have the punting advantage with Randall Davis averaging 40.1 per punt on 15 attempts. Brian Alou has averaged 31 yards on 7 punts for the Lions.

The Lions will probably have one of their biggest followings in Dillon this week, especially with the chance of getting revenge for last year’s two losses to Dillon, plus knowing that they will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs should they pull the upset. The only loss for the Lions came at the beginning of the season to a very good North Myrtle Beach team, 17-13, and fans will certainly follow a winner.

Just to be on the safe side, it might be good to get an early start to the stadium this week, especially with the security measures that the school has had to make this year. Game time will be 7:30!