By Lonnie Turner
Dillon High School head coach Jackie said this morning that the Wildcats will scrimmage the Hartsville Red Foxes this coming Friday evening at Memorial Stadium in preparation to take on two jamborees over the next two weeks.
On August 10, (Thursday), the Wildcats will travel to Lumberton to take on the Fighting Scots in the 8 o’clock game of the annual Battle of the Carolinas football classic. Prior to that match-up Latta will play East Bladen at 5, Lake View will lock horns with Fairmont and West Brunswick will play Purnell Swett. After that one, the Wildcats will load up and travel to Bennettsville on the following Friday (Aug 11) to play Lamar in the Marlboro County Jamboree…then it’s on to the regular season. Coach Hayes said rumor was that the opening game with the Pirates of Lumberton would be here in Dillon, but according to him, the game will be played in Lumberton.
Now getting back to the Battle of the Carolinas, the Wildcats will spend time on the field with the Fighting Scots for the first time since 1978. The two schools have played each other twice in the past with Dillon losing on the road at Laurinburg, 14-0, in 1977 and then taking a 10 -0 victory at Dillon in ’78 under the leadership of late legendary Wildcat coach Paul Chapman.
“We will be extremely young this season, but we have some quality kids in the program and they are ready to take their licks on the field and are looking forward to the season coming up,” said Coach Hayes!
The Scots are dressing out three Division 1 players, one being the quarterback and another as a running back, so Coach Hayes is telling Coach Richard Bailey to take it easy on his young squad and likewise, Coach Bailey is asking for mercy also since they open with Mallard Creek, which is a familiar foe of the Wildcats!
The scrimmage with the Scots will be a highly anticipated meeting between the Cats and Scots, so a good crowd from both schools should guarantee a pretty good gate for the folks in Lumberton. It was reported last week that each of the ten schools in the scrimmage will be given 100 advance tickets to be sold for $5 each to the public, but at the gate the price for admission will be $7 and all the money will be split by the schools after expenses are paid!