By Craig Brown

The Dillon Christian School Warriors lost a 21-20 heartbreaker to the Eagles of Florence Christian School on Friday night in Florence.

The Warriors trailed 21-7 at the half time break with the Eagles holding this lead until late in the fourth quarter. The Warriors scored two touchdowns with four minutes left in the game with the final one coming with 18 seconds left on the clock. The Warriors went for the two-point conversion and the win, but a great defensive play by the Eagles defense knocked the ball out of the Warrior receiver’s hands as he caught the ball in the end zone to give the Eagles the win.

The Warriors are playing without Luke Price, who has a leg injury and will be missed on offense as a receiver and defense at linebacker. No word as of yet on how long Price will be out.

Michael Minges opened the season at quarterback for the Warriors and quickly established himself as a double threat, running for 150 yards and two touchdowns and going 7 of 14 passing for 77 yards and a touchdown. Minges also made four tackles on defense.

Warrior running backs Kelvin Stackhouse, TeShaun Lane and Tyreke Toomer, who are expected to strike fear in division 1A opponents, also proved in this game that they are also to be feared on defense. Jake Boykin and Ethan Shackelford led the defense with big David Williams putting some hard hits on some Eagle running backs.

The Eagles struck first as they marched down the field after taking the opening kickoff to finish the drive with their great running back, Alex James, crossing the goal line from four yards out. Chris White added the point after kick to put the Eagles up 7-0 with 10:36 left in the first quarter.

On the Warrior’s opening drive it looked as if disaster was about to strike as a bad snap got past Minges at the Warrior 30 yard line. Minges recovered the ball and was inside the Warrior 10 yard line before he was able to start forward. Breaking tackles and dodging would be tackles, Minges picked his way the 90 plus yards to put the Warriors on the scoreboard with 8:09 left in the first quarter. Jackson Wolfe’s point after kick evened the score at 7-7.

With one second remaining in the first quarter James picked up his second touchdown on a two yard run. White’s kick put the Eagles back on top 14-0.

Late in the second quarter, James picked up his third touchdown on a 13-yard run with 2:11 left in the first half. White’s kick increased the Eagle lead to 21-7 with the first half ending with this score.

The third quarter was a no scoring defensive battle that continued into late in the fourth quarter with Minges hitting Anthony “Red” Williams with a 20-yard touchdown pass. Wolfe added the point after kick to put the Warriors to within seven points trailing 21-14.

For only the second time in my memory the Warriors recovered an onside kick. With 18 seconds left in the game Minges scored on a four-yard quarterback keeper run. The Warriors try for the win, as mentioned earlier, was halted by some good Eagle defensive play to secure the 21-20 Eagle win.

On offense for the Warriors, in addition to the efforts from Minges, TeShaun Lane had 65 yards rushing on seven carries and caught four passes for 53 yards and a touchdown; Kelvin Stackhouse added eight yards rushing on two carries and caught two passes for 13 yards; and Tyreke Toomer had 23 yards on five carries.

On defense, Jake Boykin had nine tackles, two assists; Ethan Shackelford had eight tackles, three assists; Kelvin Stackhouse had seven tackles, two assists; David Williams had six tackles, three assists; Red Williams had four tackles, four assists with a fumble recovery; TeShaun Lane, Garret Collins, Tyreke Toomer, and Hunter Tyner each had four tackles with two assists; Michael Minges had four tackles; Samuel Coleman had two tackles, two assists; and Connor Hamilton added a tackle with an assist.

The Warriors will play at Christian Academy of Myrtle Beach this Friday night with game time set for 7:30 p.m.