Wildcats Defeat Gators 59-6 to Advance to Lower State

By Lonnie Turner

Six different players put six-pointers on the scoreboard Friday night and Tara Grimsley made good all eight of her attempts for the PATs to lead the Dillon Wildcats to a 59-6 walloping of the Lake Marion Gators at Dillon’s Memorial Stadium.

With the victory in the third round, the Wildcats will face the Timberland Wolves, a 34-14 winner over the Loris Lions, this Friday, November 29, for the Lower State Championship and the right to play in the State Championship at Benedict College on December 6.

Anthony Blue ran two touchdowns and returned a punt 32 yards for a third score on his way to an 187-yard night on 12 carries and 1,322 yards rushing for the season. His three touchdowns give the senior tailback 28 for the year with 23 coming on the run.

While chewing up 322 yards on the ground and Avery McCall throwing for 137 more through the air, the Cats netted 459 yards in total offense to run the season total in that category to 4,744 yards, or 395 yards per game.

In the meantime, the Nasty Cat defense has allowed only 73 points all season for a 6-point per game average, while the offense has scored 515 points for an average of 43 points per game. Only Mallard Creek and Marlboro County scored more than two touchdowns against the defensive unit. Lake Marion is the first team in the last seven games to score on Dillon and break a 21 consecutive scoreless quarter run.

“The defense played great tonight,” said head coach Jackie Hayes, who registered his 248th win against only 50 losses during his 22 years at the helm of the Wildcats. It is the 13th consecutive year that his teams have won 10 games in a season dating back to the third round of the 2001 playoffs when the Wildcats were 3A contenders.

The bright spot for the Gators was quarterback Deriente Jenkins, who completed 20 of 35 pass attempts for 205 yards and only one touchdown.

Statistics are always good to relate to the head coach following a ball game, but in this case, stats don’t mean a thing since the Gators were held to only one score. As long as the defensive units keep teams out of the end zone, the opposition could complete forty or more passes and rack up several hundred yards on paper. In that respect, the Cats defense played an outstanding game, led by linebacker Joe Blue and safety Omar McCollum with 11 tackles each. Randall Davis picked off his team leading fifth pass and Justin Cyprien intercepted for the fourth time this season.

The Wildcats jumped out early with Damu Ford running out of the “Wildcat” offense from three yards out to put the finishing touch on a 74-yard drive in five plays. Blue’s 30-yard run on first down set up the score for Ford.

On the next two possessions, the Wildcats put two more touchdowns on the board, but the most exciting was a 23-yard run by Blue that covered more than 50 yards. Taking a pitch to his left from McCall, Blue reversed his field, avoided a would-be tackler in the backfield at the 30-yard line and once again changed direction after going through at least five more would-be tacklers and finally scored in the same corner of the end zone where he would have been if the way had been clear following the pitch. The play won top honors as the top play of the week on WPDE’s End-Zone Show.

Just three minutes later, after holding the Gators to a three and out series and forcing a punt, McCall connected with Jay Johnson on first down from the Gator 42 for a 37-yard gain to set up a 5-yard end-around run by Eri’Reon Hayes for a 21-0 lead.

The Gators finally got on the scoreboard on the following drive when Jenkins went to work to go 76 yards for the only Lake Marion score. The talented signal caller converted on two third down plays and the touchdown came on a fourth and five from 19 yards out.

“We just don’t know how that receiver caught that ball among three of our defensive backs at the goal line,” quipped defensive coach Gerald Reeves.

Drew Covington kicked his fifth field goal of the season with just four ticks remaining on the clock in the half from 23 yards out to give the Wildcats a 24-6 lead at halftime.

The Cats wasted little time putting up six more points as the second half started. Anthony Blue took the opening kickoff at his own 12 and returned it to the Dillon 36 and on the first play from scrimmage his number was called again and was stopped 56 yards later to set up a touchdown run by Johnny Allen from the Gator 8-yard line.

On the next three possessions for the Wildcats, Blue scored another touchdown on a 23-yard run; McCall ran from 32 yards out for a score; and after Lake Marion was forced to punt from the back of their end-zone, Blue picked the ball out of the air at the Gator 32 and raced down the sidelines for the 28th point of the quarter at which time the referee ordered the clock to run continuously until the end of the game.

Justin Cyprien intercepted a Jenkins pass on the second down of the Gator’s opening drive of the final quarter and that set up Nick Williamson’s first touchdown as a senior Wildcat slicing his way for a 21-yard score. The Gators ran one more series but was stopped again to end the game.

Game time for Friday is 7:30 p.m. There should be a big crowd for this important game, so in order to get through the security checks, it would be a good idea to get an early start to make sure you’re in the stadium by kick-off!

Photos by Craig Brown. Click the images below to view at full size!