By Lonnie Turner
The Dillon Wildcats used two sets of Blues and Hayes to grab a share of the Region 8-2A lead Friday night in Aynor by whipping the Blue Jackets, 47-12.
Anthony Blue, who is wide open after just one step, ran behind some of the best blocking of the season to score touchdowns of 35, 42 and 23 yards runs on the way to a 176-yard night, while Joe Blue notched his tenth six-pointer of the season with a 39-yard romp. While that tandem of Blues put points on the board with the running game, Tyreek Hayes found himself on the scoring end of a 59-yard pass from senior quarterback Thomas Grossetti.
With the offense racking up four touchdowns, the defense also had its day. In the first quarter, Shy’keem Blue made a one-handed, over-the-shoulder grab of a Nathan Peeples pass and returned it 54 yards to pay dirt to give the Cats a two touchdown lead and not to be out done, Ereon Hayes scooped up a fumble and rambled 26 yards for the final score of the evening with only a minute left on the clock that had been running continuously since Joe Blue’s touchdown run at the 11:07 mark of the third quarter gave the Cats a 40-6 lead.
Aynor running back Hunter Windham, who had been averaging over 100 yards per game through the first five weeks, was held to just 33 hard yards on 8 carries by the Nasty Cat defense. The Blue Jackets started the second quarter with an 83-yard touchdown pass to Ronique Smith and scored it’s second with the fourth quarter half gone. The Dillon defender jumped high into the air to knock the pass away from Smith, but the ball was thrown just out of his reach and Smith took it in stride and went the distance on the 3rd down and 13-play from the Aynor 17-yard line. Running the patented Aynor tight wedge, back field “funnel” formation that has spelled success for the Blue Jackets this season, Louis Taylor ran the final 13 yards of a 50-yard drive to score Aynor’s second TD of the game.
The Wildcats ran only 25 running plays and threw three other times in the game, but totaled 359 yards of offense, while the defense allowed 118 yards on 40 rushing plays and 114 through the air on three completions of 8 pass attempts, which included the 83-yard scoring throw.
Anthony Blue put the Wildcats up, 6-0, on the second play of their opening series, when he darted through a hole in the line and went 35 yards for the touchdown. Tara Grimsley’s 29 consecutive PAT streak came to an end when she pulled the kick to the left.
After the Blue Jackets picked up two first downs on the ensuing possession that started at their own 16, Shy’keem Blue reached back over his shoulder to pick off a pass at the Dillon 46 and put the Cats up by two scores with seven minutes gone off the scoreboard clock. Joe Blue, running out of the Wildcat formation, made the 2-point conversion to give the cats a 14-0 lead.
After holding Aynor to a three and out series on their next series, Thomas Grossetti took advantage of short punt to score an apparent 28-yard touchdown, but the senior signal caller lost a fumble in the end zone.
The long scoring toss by Peeples came on third down and long after the Jackets started at their 20 following the fumble recovery, but a run for the 2-point conversion was stopped by the middle of the Dillon defensive line, with help from linebacker Damu Ford, who topped all Dillon defenders with 13 tackles.
Anthony Blue scored on the next two times that the Cats had the football in the first half on runs of 42 and 23 yards and a wide open Tyreek Hayes ended the scoring before the intermission with a 50-yard pass reception for Grossetti.
With the coaches from Aynor in agreement with the game officials, the clock continued to run after Joe Blue bulled his way into the end zone to take a 40-6 lead.
Linebacker Hishawn Blue registered 10 tackles and Joe Blue, who also was at linebacker added 8 to lead the Wildcat defense along with the Shy’keem Blue’s interception return and Ereon Page’s fumble return for touchdowns.
The Wildcats will return to the friendly confines of Memorial Stadium on Friday for a match-up with the Mullins Auctioneers at 7:30.
