By Lonnie Turner

Since the days of the legendary Paul Chapman, the Dillon Wildcats have always been known for their defense, and on Friday night, his protégé Jackie Hayes and his defensive coaches and players proved again that the Cats are still a force to be reckoned with when the opposition has the football.

In the ‘Cat’s 8th shutout of the season, 14-0, the Timberland Wolves had to work very hard to break the 100-yard total offense plateau and did that by one yard, 101, with 21 on the ground and 80 through the air.

Linebackers Justin Cyprien, Joe Blue, and Damu Ford kept the Timberland runners at bay up the middle and defensive ends Jalen Washington and Ja’Monte McGill cut off the outside with leading rusher V.A. Harmon registering only 26 yards on 15 carries. As a team, the Wolves could muster only 21 yards on 37 attempts.

Quarterback Matt Gabel, who also punted for the Wolves, was minus 23 yards on two plays, dropping a snap from center in punt formation for a 10-yard loss and was guilty of intentional grounding for another 12 yards. The defensive secondary tipped six passes in the game with safety Omar McCollum and cornerback Que Bethea knocking two each to the ground. Bethea also recorded his fourth pass interception of the season that netted 10 yards and Eri’Reon Hayes picked off his second of the year.

“It’s just great to be making another trip to Columbia to play for another state title,” Coach Jackie Hayes said. “Every year, that’s our goal. I’m just so proud of the team and all the coaches. It’s not easy to get this far and the players know it takes a lot of work to get here.”

During the first half of play, neither offense was able to get anything going against two stubborn and physical defenses and the score was knotted at 0-0 at the end of two quarters, marking the first time it had happened to the Wildcats.

Following the fumbled snap on the punt attempt by Gabel in the third quarter at the Timberland 26, Anthony Blue had three consecutive runs to set up an 8-yard run by Joe Blue at the 4:42 mark of the quarter. Displaying good hands holding for kicker Tara Grimsley, Austin Moody was able to snatch a ball off the ground and place it just in time for Grimsley’s record shattering 39th consecutive PAT kick of the season.

Anthony Blue is one of the most outstanding runners in the state. With most of the games in the conference usually over by the start of the third period, he played most of the time for just two and maybe a part of the third quarter. The chance of a season injury always loomed, but the 5’10, 165-lb. speedster still managed to run for 1,510 yards and scored 24 touchdowns through the Timberland game. He was always good for one of his talented long runs during the season and on Friday night, he broke one for 43 yards in the fourth quarter for the second score of the game. Grimsley made it 40 in a row with her kick for the extra point, elapsing Carlos Trejo’s mark of 31during the 2011 season. Trejo still has the record for a season with 75 coming in 2011.

The passing game was off for both teams Friday. Gabel hit only 6 of 25 attempts for 80 yards and Avery McCall completed only 6 of 19 tries for the Wildcats for only 39 yards. After the first half when there were only 110 net yards on the ground between the two teams, the Wildcats turned it up a notch to rush for 157 in the second and finished with 253. Timberland was held to 7 yards on 16 carries in the second half.

The Wildcats will play for the state title this Friday, December 6, at Benedict College in Columbia at 8:30 p.m. Dillon will face Fairfield-Central for the state title. It will be the second year in a row that the Wildcats have met the Griffins for the state title. Last season the Wildcats defeated Fairfield-Central 21-6.