By Craig Brown
The Eagles of Scotts Branch High School arrived in Lake View South Carolina Friday night confident they were going to avenge an early season loss to the Wild Gators down in Summerton at the Eagles home field.
After all the Eagles were bigger than the Wild Gators, the Eagles boasted that they had all of their players healthy for this game and that the Wild Gators had lost so many players to injury that this was going to be their night.
But somebody forgot to tell the Wild Gators that they were supposed to lose and for that reason they will not apologize for defeating the Eagles 50-0 on Jewell McLaurin Field on a cool Friday night in Lake View.
The Lake View offense was flawless with Randall Washington pulling off an Al Bundy with a four touchdowns in a single game performance.
The Wild Gator defense gave no mercy and according to Wild Gator statistician, Jimmy Sweat the Eagles were held to 41 yards of total offense.
The win puts the Wild Gators at 9-2 on the season with one of the losses coming from the soon to be four time division 2A state champions Dillon Wild Cats.
At some point in the game the Eagles must have felt they were playing a power house team from one of the upper divisions instead of one of the smallest 1A schools in the state.
The Gators held the Eagles on their first offensive possession and forced them to punt
The Wild Gators put together a time consuming drive of short gains with first downs coming on third and short.
The drive ended with Wild Gator quarterback, Duane Nichols hitting Brandon Acevedo with a seven yard touchdown pass. The point after kick was off leaving the Wild Gators up 6-0 with 4:33 left in the first quarter. The first quarter would end with this score. On a drive that started late in the first quarter, Wild Gator running back Randall Washington picked up his first of four touchdowns on a 14 yard touchdown run.
The conversion failed holding the Wild Gator lead to 12-0 with 11:13 left in the second. On the Wild Gators next offensive possession the drive ended with Washington crossing the goal line from 20 yards out and then running in the two point conversion to increase the Gator lead to 20-0 with 5:04 left in the second quarter.
With 48 seconds left in the first half, Delvon Bethea picked up the Wild Gators fourth touchdown on a four yard run. Bethea ran in the two point conversion to give the Wild Gators a 28-0 lead at the halftime break.
Lake View received the kickoff to start the second half of play and marched down the field with ease with Washington finishing the drive with an eleven yard touchdown run and then running in the two point conversion to up the Wild Gator lead to 36-0 with 9:56 left in the third quarter.
The third quarter would end with this score. Washington picked up his fourth touchdown on an eleven yard run with 10:12 left in the fourth quarter. Hunter Stevens ran in the two point conversion to put the Lake View lead at 44-0. Stevens picked up the final points of the game with a six yard touchdown run with 5:31 left in the game.
The point after kick failed with the final score, Lake View 50 Scotts Branch 0. Wild Gator Head Coach, Daryl King was understandably all smiles after the game and honestly admitted that he did not expect such a lop-sided victory. It was very obvious that Coach King was very proud of his players and coaching staff.
King added that the team has had to overcome so much this season with the numerous injuries but continues to find ways to win. School Principal, Edison Arnette seemed a little worried at the start of the game. He had a little doubt about my 21 point Lake View victory margin prediction but stated he hoped I was right. Principal Arnette began to relax a little after Lake View went ahead 36-0 in the third quarter. Principal Arnette really loves his Wild Gators.
On offense for the Wild Gators, Randall Washington got 115 yards rushing on 15 carries with four touchdowns and ran in two after touchdown conversions, Delvon Bethea got 148 yards on 18 carries with a touchdown and ran in a two point conversion, Duane Nichols was 3 of 4 passing for 42 yards and a touchdown and had 26 yards rushing on six carries, Tyshawn McDaniel got 28 yards on eight carries, Hunter Stevens had 15 yards on four carries with a touchdown and ran in a two point conversion, Josh Floyd picked up 25 yards on a carry and Brandon Acevedo caught a seven yard touchdown pass.
On defense, Xavier Johnson had three tackles, two assists with one tackle for a loss and added a fumble recovery, Connor Anderson had three tackles with an assist and an interception, Tyshawn McDaniel, Brandon Acevedo, Shawn Williams, Chase Watson and Will Arnette had two tackles with two assists each with Arnette’s tackles for losses, and McDaniel adding an interception, Tyler Davis added a tackle with two assists, Stone Spivey, William Hayes, Benji Barfield, Datron Jones, Webb Cardwell, Hunter Stevens, Darius Ford, Tieray Blue, Marshall Powell, Eric Johnson and Johnathon Butler added a tackle each and Keiondre Wheeler got an interception.
Lake View will host Cross Friday night with game time set for 7:30. A good fan showing is expected so come early for good seats.