By Craig Brown

It was a cold misty rain night in Walterboro. The Dillon Christian School Warriors and the Colleton Prep War Hawks knew they would have to rely on their defenses to keep them in the game. Both teams were about as evenly matched as possible for a playoff game although the Warriors did have the region’s leading rusher in Kelvin Stackhouse.

In the end, the game was not just decided on who made the most mistakes, as both sides were guilty of a few, but maybe more like some bad luck added in for the Warriors. The bad weather affected the Warrior kicking game which also proved costly to the Warriors.

The War Hawks tried to get something going midway in the first quarter and launched a long pass to the end zone but Warrior safety Michael Minges moved into position and made the interception at the five and returned it to the 16. On the Warriors next play, they fumbled the ball back to the War Hawks. The Warrior defense held the War Hawks to the fourteenth yard line, forcing them to go for a field goal. War Hawk freshman kicker Brantley Hudson kicked the 31-yard field goal with room to spare giving the War Hawks a 3-0 lead with 5:35 left in the first quarter with the quarter ending with this score.

The Warriors got a break with a second quarter fumble recovery at their own 40-yard line. The short drive would end with Kelvin Stackhouse taking it in from six yards out for the Warrior touchdown. The extra point kick was off but the Warriors had a 6-3 lead with 4:26 left in the second quarter and the Warriors would take this lead into the half.

The third quarter would be a scoreless defensive battle. The Warrior offense did get within field goal range on one drive in the third quarter but the kicking attempt was off.

With ten minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Warriors punted from their own 27-yard line but the weather as it was resulted in a 12-yard punt, giving the War Hawks the ball at the Warrior 39. The Warrior defense gave up 11 yards on the next three downs and looked to be settling down. The War Hawks had not broken any long runs against the Warrior defense all night and some of the Warrior defenders got caught out of position as a War Hawk runner broke loose for 27 yards to the Warrior one. On the next play, War Hawk quarterback Tanner Crosby took it in from one yard out for the touchdown to give the War Hawks the lead. Hudson’s kick gave the War Hawks a 10-6 lead with 8:38 left in the game.

The Warriors mounted one late drive and threatened on the ten yard line. With 51 seconds left in the game, the Warriors ran out of luck and fumbled the ball away to the War Hawks.

There are always a lot of what-if questions in a game when you lose but the fact is, both sides were given opportunities to score. Dropped passes plagued both sides as did fumbles and bad weather. In the end, the Warriors just had some bad luck. They played a great game, they were well coached, and their fans loved them.

On offense for the Warriors, Kelvin Stackhouse carried 38 times for 184 hard fought yards and a touchdown; Jim Carr was 4 of 10 passing for 84 yards; Will Brown caught three passes for 57 yards; and Ellison Rourke caught a pass for 27 yards.

On defense, Luke Price had eight tackles; Jake Boykin had seven tackles with a QB sack assist; Ben Boykin and Mark Minges had six tackles; Mathew Price and Thomas Evans had five tackles each; Hunter Tyner had four tackles with a QB sack assist; David Williams, Michael Minges, and Ellison Rourke had three tackles each with Williams adding a QB sack assist and Minges adding an interception; and Will Brown, Heath Frietas, and Anthony Williams had two tackles each.

The Warriors finish the season at 6-6 with seven players named to the all-region team, three players selected for the North South All-Star Game, and two coaches selected to coach the game. Not a bad year for a very young team that had to play a lot of non-region games with larger division 2A teams.