By Lonnie Turner
The Dillon Wildcats continued to operate in Cruise Control in Friday night’s 42-6 thumping of the Lake Marion Gators for the South Carolina High School League Class 2A Division I Lower State Championship.
With the Lower State Title under their belts, the Wildcats will now face the Newberry Bulldogs in a rematch of the 2014 State Championship at Benedict College in Columbia in Friday night’s lone championship contest with the scheduled kickoff at 7 o’clock.
The Cats rode the arm of Avery McCall and the running of Jamison Chapman and Zareon Hayes to coast to a 14-0 first quarter lead and 35-0 at the halftime break.
The Wildcats entered this years playoff as the Number 2 seed behind Bishop England, a team that the Gators defeated in the first round, which gave Dillon home field advantage throughout the remainder of the playoffs.
The Wildcats won the toss and elected to go on offense to start the game and took only five or so minutes to drive 58 yards in 11 plays for the lead that was never challenged. Sophomore running back Zareon Hayes, running out of the wildcat formation scored from 5 yards out with 7:04 showing on the scoreboard and Drew Covington hit on his first of seven PATs. Hayes finished the night with 24 yards on just five carries, all coming in the first half.
Before the dust could settle, the Cats were back in the end zone after the Gators failed to get anything going on their first possession. Following a chop block penalty on Emmanuel Walker’s first punt, Dillon took over at the Gator 36 and in five plays Hayes again powered into the end zone for a 14-0 lead.
“They just played their game,” said head coach Chris Carter, “and did what they have been doing all year…score points. They have a great program in Dillon and it would be great to build one like they have, but that will take time. It was especially good for our younger players to participate in a program like they have and know what ours can become.”
McCall threw a couple of 33-yard touchdowns to KaNore McKinnon on the way to an 87 yard total on 5 of 7 passes and early on rushed six times for 38 more yards while Chapman rushed for nearly 100 yards for the second straight week netting 91 on 8 carries and a touchdown.
Coach Jackie Hayes, whose teams since taking over in 1992, with the win over the Gators, has compiled 277 wins against only 50 losses for a phenomenal 84.7 winning percentage and has registered 36 consecutive wins dating back to a loss to Marlboro County in 2013.
Hayes continues to give credit to his offensive line for opening lanes for the running backs to take and has much regard for his defense.
“We were able to wear them down a little bit tonight.” We dressed out 92 players so we were able to rotate a lot of people in and out when we needed to,” he explained.
The “Nasty Cat” defense allowed only a net gain of 18 yards rushing with their leading rusher netting only 15 yards on 7 carries. Davondre Robinson, the number two man running out of the backfield all season, was held to just 8 yards on 9 carries and completed one of three pass attempts to start the game. The 6’1, 205 pound junior has been selected to play in the 2016 Army Bowl game in Texas with Dillon’s McCall.
Dillon built a 21-0 lead on McCall’s first TD throw of the game to McKinnon for 33 yards. The play followed the longest drive for the Gators in the first half which started at their own 40. The drive, which took 13 plays, fizzled out at their own 39 following three penalties and one of five sacks in the game.
After another three and out series, the Cats were once again on the scoreboard with Hayes running in from 5 yards out to give the Wildcats a 28-0 bulge with six minutes remaining in the first half.
Covington’s ensuing kickoff set up the final score of the half. The ball was momentarily fumbled at the three yard line and the hard charging Dillon defense stopped return specialist James Davis at the 7. With the Cat defense holding the gators to yet another third an out, punter Walker kicked the ball straight up and was downed at the Lake Marion 1-yard line for a minus 6-yard kick. Chapman went over from there and Covington’s kick gave the Cats a 35-0 lead with four minutes remaining in the half.
McCall connected again with McKinnon for their second 33-yard touchdown just 2 minutes into the second half, at which time the officials on the field advised the electric clock operator to keep the clock running.
Lake Marion finally got on the board with a 12 yard pass from Dontre Gilliard to Robinson, but the point after kick fell short of the crossbar.
The defense was led by Quamel Laurenceau and Jermaine McDaniel with eight tackles each. McDaniel had a career night with his eight tackles, 1-1/2 quarterback sacks and two knocked down passes. Also recording sacks were Daeshawn Davis with two, Josh Cousar, with one and J.T. Carmichael recorded a half sack.
There were also five other passes knocked down, including two by Skeeter Graves and one apiece by Carmichael, Xavier McMillon and Laurenceau.
PHOTO GALLERY
PHOTOS BY JOHNNIE DANIELS/THE DILLON HERALD
Click once on the photo to bring it into a single screen. Click a second time to enlarge.
VIDEO GALLERY
VIDEOS BY JOHNNIE DANIELS/THE DILLON HERALD
