By Lonnie Turner
The head coach at Marlboro County tried to do a little of the old Aynor style of play Friday evening, but it still spelled defeat as the Dillon Wildcats coaches adjusted to the slow-down tactic and won going away, 49-12.
The win was the eleventh win of the season and the Wildcats advanced to the next round to face Brookland Cayce of the Columbia area.
The Wildcats took the opening kickoff and ran 12 plays before Chris McCollum bulled his way into the endzone from the one. In his new role as a place kicker, McCollum missed on his first extra point.
Trailing 6-0, the Bulldogs were held on four plays before punting the ball away. The game went back and forth through the first quarter and the Cats led 6-0 until Donnez Alford took a 21-yard pass from Josiah Oxendine to lead 12-0. McCollum was successful with his second try for a two-point conversion run and a 14-0 lead with 6:03 left in the second quarter.
Three minutes later, Ty Martin scored on a one-yard run following a MC fumble out of punt formation at the MC six-yard line. Martin rushed for his first TD of the game, but McCollum’s PAT kick failed, giving the Cats a 20-0 lead as time ran out in the second quarter.
In the third, McCollum, running out of the backfield, scored from 23 yards out and Martin was successful with a two-point conversion to take a 28-0 lead with 5:27 left in the quarter.
Still in the third, Martin broke in the clear from the Dillon 44 and ran a 56-yard touchdown with only 2:48 remaining in the quarter. McCollum was on the money with the point after kick for a 35-0 bulge.
Jamorian Fling and Domonick Felton added touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Fling’s score was a two-yard run and Felton broke a long run of 67 yards for the final Dillon score of the game.
Both conversion kicks were successful and the Wildcats won 49-12.
Ilijah Chalmers scored on a 55-yard pass from QB Timoun Byrd with a minute and a half remaning in the third quarter and Amiri Rivers caught a 70-yd toss from Byrd late in the fourth.
Both tries for the extra points failed.
Martin rushed 22 times for 181 yards, running his 11 game totals to 212 carries for 2,121 yards and 25 touchdowns.