By Lonnie Turner

In 2009, the Marlboro County Bulldogs beat the Dillon Wildcats 28-0 at Dillon Memorial Stadium and the Wildcats went on to win its second straight evasive State Championship that year. Since that time, the Wildcats reeled off 29 consecutive regular season wins before losing a defensive struggle 16-9 in Bennettsville Friday night.

An estimated 5,000 fans filled McAlpine Stadium to watch the Cats and Dogs do battle in what turned out to be a defensive classic. The Bulldogs intercepted Dillon quarterback Thomas Grossetti on five different occasions, but none as big as the final one by Jaquan Cole with 22 seconds left on the clock. The underthrown pass was fielded at the Bulldog 46 and returned 54 yards for the score that sealed the game for the home team.

The Bulldogs were also bitten by the turnover bug, losing two of three fumbled and an interception by Randall Davis in his debut as a starting cornerback.

The Bulldogs scored first after Grossetti’s second pick bounced off his receiver’s hands and into the hands of Jamal Stanton at the 50-yard line. Stanton returned the ball to the Dillon 40 and a face mask penalty gave the Dogs a first down at the 33-yard line. Still another face mask penalty resulted in a half the distance walk off to the 11, where the Dillon defense dug in and forced a 30-yard field goal by place kicker Andrew Cook to put the Dogs up 3-0 with four minutes remaining in the first half.

The Wildcats missed an opportunity to score on the first play of the second quarter following one of the two first half fumbles by the Dogs at the Marlboro County 23-yard line. A personal foul penalty moved the Wildcats back to the 26 after recovering an Anthony Blue fumble at the 11 on a first and ten play. On third and ten, Grossetti hit Jay Johnson at the five as time ran out in the first quarter. The Cats went for the touchdown with Anthony Blue, but the junior running back was stopped for a one-yard loss.

After controlling most of the third quarter, the Wildcats went up 7-3 with a four-yard run by Anthony Blue with 3:23 remaining. The 52-yard drive took eight plays with the key play being a 22-yard pass to Ezra Lighty to the Marlboro County 19-yard line. Tyreek Hayes caught another pass good for 14 yards for a first down at the four where Blue tucked the ball in and got through the Bulldog defense into the end zone for a 6-3 lead. Tara Grimsley hit her 20th consecutive extra point and the Wildcats enjoyed their first lead of the game.

On the third play of the fourth quarter, Adams threw a pass down the Marlboro County sideline to Stanton, who leaped high in the air between two Dillon defenders, caught the ball, and ran 69 yards for the go ahead touchdown. The kick by Cook gave the Dogs a 10-7 lead with 10:54 remaining in the game.

Marlboro County held onto the football for five minutes of the remainder of the quarter and stalled at the Dillon 24-yard line. The Wildcats took over and managed to get to the Dillon 40 before Cole picked off his second interception and returned it for the final score.

“We just made too many mistakes tonight,” said Dillon Head Coach Jackie Hayes. “There were too many dropped balls. We just didn’t execute.”

The Wildcats edged the Dogs in total yards, 231-199, but fell nine points short on the scoreboard where it really counts. Anthony Blue led all rushers with 113 yards on 29 carries and Adams completed five passes for 133 yards for the Bulldogs, who rushed for only 66 yards on 29 carries.

The Wildcats will travel to Aynor this week for a 7:30 game and Marlboro County will take on a red hot Hartsville team.