By Craig Brown

The Dillon Christian School Warriors avenged an October 14 loss to the Holly Hill Academy Raiders on Friday night at Warrior Stadium by defeating them 30-20 in the first round of the SCISA Class A upper state playoffs.

The win puts the Warriors at 6-5 on the season with the loss ending the Raiders season at 5-6. The Warriors travel to Walterboro this Friday night to face Colleton Prep for the Upper State SCISA Class A title. Colleton Prep won an earlier season matchup by a touchdown but a controversial call by a referee resulted in a Warrior touchdown taken off the board in that game. Since then, the Warriors have greatly improved on offense and defense.

On the Raiders’ first offensive play, Warrior safety Mark Minges intercepted a Davis Hutson pass at the Raider 36-yard line. Kelvin Stackhouse, with back to back 18-yard runs, crossed the goal line for the Warriors with 10:33 left in the first quarter. Will Brown kicked the extra point to put the Warriors up 7-0. The first quarter would end with this score.

Raider tailback JB Casey got past the Warrior defenders on his way to a 53-yard touchdown run with 11:46 left in the second quarter. Ryan Dial evened the score at 7-7 with his extra point kick. Casey added his second touchdown on a 16-yard run with 8:44 left in the second quarter. Dial’s kick upped the Raider lead to 14-7.

On the Warriors’ next possession, quarterback Jim Carr hit wide receiver Will Brown with a 43-yard touchdown pass. The extra point was off, leaving the Warriors trailing 14-13 with 7:17 left in the second quarter. Kelvin Stackhouse put the Warriors out front again with a 14-yard touchdown run with 44 seconds left in the second quarter. Brown’s kick gave the Warriors a 20-14 half time lead.

With 8:32 left in the third quarter, Will Brown kicked a 33-yard field goal to increase the Warrior lead to 23-14. The Raiders closed the gap when Davis Hutson hit his wide receiver Charlie Carpenter with a 28-yard touchdown pass. The extra point kick failed and the Warriors held on to a 23-20 lead with 3:52 left in the third quarter.

Stackhouse got his third touchdown of the game on a 47-yard run with 11:32 left in the fourth quarter. Brown’s kick finished the scoring for the night, giving the Warriors the 30-20 win.

Warrior Head Coach Christian Wolfe stated after the win that he was very proud of his coaches and players.

“We had 14 penalties in this game for 145 yards that cost us one touchdown,” Coach Wolfe added. “We played with great intensity against the Raiders and we must keep up this level of play next week without the penalties.”

Coach Wolfe was happier than I have ever seen him after a game and he again stated how proud he was with his team.

On offense for the Warriors, Kelvin Stackhouse carried 24 times for 218 yards and three touchdowns; Jim Carr was 4 of 9 passing for 78 yards and a touchdown; Will Brown caught two passes for 58 yards and a touchdown; Anthony “Red” Williams carried eight times for 37 yards; and Ellison Rourke caught two passes for 20 yards.

On defense, Luke Price had 15 tackles, two assists; Ben Boykin had nine tackles; Mathew Price had eight tackles, four assists; Thomas Evans and Jake Boykin had five tackles, two assists each with Boykin adding a QB sack; Michael Minges had four tackles; Hunter Tyner had three tackles with two assists; David Williams had two tackles with two assists and a QB sack; and Will Brown, Ellison Rourke, Mark Minges, and Anthony “Red” Williams had two tackles each with Brown and Minges adding an interception each.

Game time for Colleton Prep is 7:30 p.m. with travel time around two and a half hours.

Photos by Craig Brown. Click the images below to view at full size!