PHOTO GALLERY: Dillon Wins Over Latta, 48-12

Dillon got a 48-12 win over Latta on Monday night. Here is a photo gallery from the game by Johnnie Daniels/The Dillon Herald.

PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Johnnie Daniels/The Dillon Herald
Click once on a photo to bring it into a single screen, and then again to enlarge.

By Lonnie Turner
Jalen Williams scored five touchdowns against the Latta Vikings to lead the Dillon Wildcats to a 48-12 victory in Monday evening’s make up high school football game that took nearly 3-1/2 hours to complete. The senior running back carried the pigskin 27 times on the way to totaling 181 yards and while he was he was doing most of the running, Jay Lester threw 17 times in the first half completing nine and two of three tosses in the second half to net 97 yards and one touchdown. Another reason for the length of the game was the fact that there were 18 penalty flags thrown in the first half alone with Dillon called for eleven compared to seven against the Vikings. The second half was just about as bad with the Wildcats flagged eight times and the Vikings three. A total of 29 flags will make a short game a little longer to say the least
The Vikings scored first in the contest as the coaching staff reached deep into its bag of tricks using an option play involving the quarterback and one of his wide receivers. At the start of Latta’s third offensive series, Dylan Brewer tossed a quick pass to Darius McRae in the right flat and scooted down the left sideline and took a perfect pass from McRae and scooted 43 yards for a 6-0 lead. The try for the extra point was blocked by Zareon Hayes.
Latta’s defense had held Dillon’s first three offensive series to net 35 yards, but on the series following Latta’s score, the Wildcats took the kickoff in good field position after a taunting penalty during the touchdown forced a kickoff from the Latta 20 yard line. Taking over at the Viking 34, it took three plays for Williams to score the tying TD from the 12 yard line and Ahmad Dawad was perfect for the go ahead extra point.
Dillon’s second score came on the heels of one of Latta’s fifth of six turnovers when quarterback Brewer lost the handle of the football near the end of the second period at the Latta 15-yard line. Ahmari Huggins-Bruce ran for nine yards on the first play to the six and Zareon Hayes, running out of the Wildcat formation carried twice before the end of the quarter to the one and on the first play of the second, he bulled his way into the end zone for a 13-6 lead. Following the extra point kick by Dawad, the Vikings drove the length of the field against the Wildcats to pull within a single point with 5:54 remaining in the first half. The big play of the drive was a 61-yard pass from Brewer to Deonte Stanley to the Dillon 8 and four yards were tacked on to the 4 for a personal foul. In two plays Kendall Moultrie was in the end zone. A pass from Moultrie to Dylan Carter was knocked down by Ty’Quan Porter to prevent a tie score.
The Wildcats took a 21-12 halftime lead when they drove from the Dillon 32 in eight plays with the touchdown coming on a 16-yard pass completion from Lester to Williams with 3 minutes left in the half. Zareon Hayes set up the score with a 16-yard run to the 6, but a hold moved the ball back to the 16.
The two teams exchanged fumbles at the start of the second half and the Wildcats took advantage of the one by Brewer at the Latta 47. Williams carried five times in the drive for 24 yards and scored his third TD on a 9-yard run out of the Wildcat for a 27-12 lead. A bad snap foiled the try for the extra point.
With seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, Williams ran 45 yards on the first play following a punt and Dawad kicked the extra point for a 34-12 lead. Two consecutive fumble snaps by the Vikings led to the next two TDs. The snaps were covered inside the Viking 20 both times within three minutes. The first was recovered at the ten and Williams carried the ball twice before going in from the 3 yard line. The second, recovered at the 18, was taken in by reserve running back Quez Manning from the 15 to end the scoring.
The Wildcats amassed 265 yards on the ground and 97 through the air, while the Vikings was led by Brewer with 12 pass completions out of 28 attempts for 163 yards. Chandler Nolan led the Latta ground game with 51 yards on 14 carries.
The Wildcats will have an off week coming up, but will take on the Wilson Tigers the folllowing week at home. Latta will be on the road again at East Clarendon.