Chris Chestnut
By Lonnie Turner
Dillon, the Region 2-A Champion, gets the first round bye next week so will to take the week off to prepare for its first game in the playoffs. The Cats will have to wait until after the Battery Creek at Wade Hampton contest is played next week in the first round of the AA, Division I state playoffs. All but two of the AA teams in the state will make the playoffs this season. The Wildcats have played Wade Hampton only once and defeated them in the 2010 second round playoffs, 56-7, but Battery Creek and Dillon have never met on the gridiron.
Anthony Blue, who was recognized by Marlboro Electric Cooperative representative Christy Overstreet as Dillon’s selection to play in the newly named Touchstone Energy Cooperative Bowl at Myrtle Beach on December 14, scored the first two touchdowns, both in the first quarter. Formerly known as the SC North-South game, the name was changed after the state’s Energy Cooperatives became the sole sponsors of the game that has been played at the beach since 1945.
Blue’s first six-pointer came on the second play of the game when he took a handoff from Avery McCall, cut to his left, and outran the Warrior secondary for a 50-yard run. Five minutes later he was in the end zone again with a 22-yard scamper that came as a result of a 15-yard punt that settled on the Warrior 36-yard line. This time it took only three plays for the senior running back, who rushed ten times in the first quarter for 113 yards.
Johnny Allen, who has become the regular tailback when Blue exits the game, scored on the next turnover by the Warriors. Halfback Walter Reid was stripped of the ball at the Waccamaw 28-yard line on a first and fifteen play. Allen scored on the eighth play of the drive to give the Cats a 14-0 after Tara Grimsley’s PAT was perfect through the uprights.
The Warriors dodged a bullet after fumbling at the 17-yard line, forcing the Cats to go three and out, but quarterback Jalen Simmons was picked off by cornerback Randall Davis at the Warrior 27 which resulted in a touchdown, and with only two minutes remaining in the first quarter, the Cats were out front by a 28-0 score.
Another short punt of 21 yards gave the Wildcats a first down at the Waccamaw 43-yard line. Avery McCall completed only his second of six passes up to this point for a 15-yard first down to C.J. Sowells and Sowells came right back, throwing to Jay Johnson on a halfback option pass to go up 34-0 early in the second quarter. The try for the point after failed when the snap from center was mishandled. Dillon’s Austin Moody entered the game in favor of McCall at that point and along with Blue, the two starters watched from the sidelines as the defense continued to shine against the running of the Warriors, allowing minus 19 net yards, no passing yards, and no first downs. In the meantime, the Wildcats netted 105 yards on the ground and 49 through the air.
The game officials, after conferring with the Waccamaw coach and Dillon’s Jackie Hayes, instructed the scoreboard operator to set the clock at 8 minutes at the beginning of the second half and run it continuously, and with no time remaining in the third quarter, the game would be called.
Drew Covington’s second half kick was returned from the 20 to the 24 and after three runs netted minus two yards, punter Collin Floyd had his kick blocked by Isaiah Williams and Zack Wilson scooped the ball up and went 14 yards for the final score of the game. Covington kicked off again to the Warrior 32 yard line and after two running plays, the clock ran out and the game was called. The Wildcats did not run an offensive play in the eight minute second half and with the 32 minute minimum time reached, the game was ruled a complete one.
There were not many stats to record for either team, but the Cats netted 105 yards on the ground and 49 through the air, while the Waccamaw runners could muster only minus six yards on the ground and none passing. Simmons attempted only one pass and that was the one returned for a touchdown by Davis in the first quarter.
Photos by Johnnie Daniels/THE DILLON HERALD. Click the images below to view at full size!
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