By Lonnie Turner
The Rebels of Strom Thurmond High School have won the last two games by a combined score of 79-20 with the biggest win coming in the last regular season game with Swansea, 79-20. Last Friday Wade Hampton fell to the Rebels, 23-0. To date, Strom Thurmond has won 7 and lost 4 on the schools march to a possible showing in Columbia. The next stop for the Red, white and blue clad Rebs will be at Memorial Stadium this coming Friday night to take on the 10-1 Wildcats, a 62-7 winner over Hanahan.
The Rebels are led by a talented quarterback, senior Tyrece Nick, who can do it all. When he can’t find an open receiver, he will run. This season he has thrown for 983 yards and 12 touchdowns and rushed for 1,093 yards with 12 more TDs to his credit. His favorite receiver is senior wide out Rashad Bryant, who has caught 37 passes for 592 yardson the year for 10 touchdowns. His second go to receiver is junior Williams, who has caught 12 aerials for 196 yards and only one TD. Senior tailback Mitchell Settles will also do some of the running out of the backfield. His numbers include 61 carries for 544 yards and six scores.
The Wildcats will counter at QB with Drayton Hawkins, who has thrown for 1,768 yards through eleven games and has accounted for 23 touchdowns through the air and running for the Cats is the dynamic duo of Johnny Allen and Jalen Williams, who have rushed for 1,121 yards and 545 yards with 19 and 11 touchdowns respectively.
The Cats will depend on the punting and kicking of senior Drew Covington, who averages 30 yards per punt and can consistently inside the opponent 10 yard line. He has kicked 56 PATs out of 62 attempts and has two field goals to his credit.
The Rebels counter with junior Lawson Reel, who has 48 of 50 PAT tries and has knocked down 6 field goals.
The last time the two teams met was a Rebel win, 35-7 in 2005. Pror to that, the Wildcats swept the first two contests in 1998 and 1999 by score of 27-21 and 26-0. Should be a good crowd coming in from the Johnston area, so Coach Hayes and all the players on the Wildcat squad are looking for a good crowd yelling your support!