PHOTO GALLERY: Dillon Defeats Swansea

PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Johnnie Daniels/The Dillon Herald
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By Lonnie Turner
“How did they get into the playoffs?” That’s what folks are asking me!
“They only won two games all year, and that’s all it takes?”
Don’t ask me, that’s the way the playoffs are structured, for the most time, the High School League allows the top four in a league to make the playoffs.
Swansea had only 27 players and not many more fans than that in the stands Friday night.
The Tigers had knocked off the Manning Monarchs a week earlier and the way they came out on the field to do their pregame practice, you’d have thought they were 9-0 instead of 3-7.
It always bothered me to see a school and town represented in post season play and people stay at home and not support the team!
The Wildcats continued to do what they had done all season from the get-go! At the toss of the coin, they said we’ll receive the ball first and go from there and literally, that’s what they did! The Cats scored on each offensive possession in the first and second quarters. The Wildcats scored on six of their seven offensive series.
After taking the opening kickoff, the Cats drove 65 yards in eight plays with Corrian Wright lining up at the Tiger one and running into the end zone out of the Wildcats formation. Malachi Bember’s attempt for the extra point flew wide to the left of the uprights.
Seven minutes later, quarterback Jay Lester called his number and scooted off left tackle to go up 12-0 and he combined with Ahmari Huggins-Bruce for the two-point possession. Bruce had 5 catches in the game for 102 yards, including a 50-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the Cats third series and catching a second two-point conversion pass from Lester.
Lester threw 13 passes and completed 10 for 145 yards in the game to run his season’s total to 105 completions out of 145 attempts for 1,651 yards and 16 six pointers. Huggins-Bruce has caught 37 of those passes for 675 yards and 9 touchdowns to lead the Cats.
In the second quarter, Shamar McCollum recovered a fumble by the Tiger quarterback,Keenan Coates, and returned it 18 yards to the Swansea 38. From there Lester and Huggins-Bruce put the Cats on the Tiger 14 with a 24-yard pass and TyQuan King scored from 5-yards out for a 28-0 lead. King ran 20 yards five minutes later for his second touchdown of the second quarter and Lester’s second two-point pass to Huggins-Bruce gave the Cats a 36-0 bulge at halftime.
With instructions to run the clock continuously to start the third quarter, the two teams ran only 16 plays together and the first time Dillon touched the ball in the fourth quarter, reserve quarterback BoBo McKinnon scored from 2 yards out after freshman Nigel George set up the score with five carries for 60 yards.
The final score of the evening was an 84-yard kickoff return by MJ Reed, who had two other returns that gave him a total of 167 yards, the most for any other player in the game.
The Wildcats netted 238 yards on the ground, plus 145 through the air for 383 yards in total offense, while the Dillon defense was allowing only 157 yards for the game. McCollum made seven tackles to lead the Cats and boosted his season’s total to 61 with 7.5 quarterback sacks.
Coach Jackie Hayes said this week’s opponent, the May River Sharks, of the Hilton Head area, run a formation similar to the Aynor Blue Jackets, but can mix the pass well with the tight run up the middle. No team has even come close to beating them this year. “It’ll be our toughest test of the year. You won’t see a continuously running clock in this one!”
Hopefully, both sides of the field will be full this weekend as the 12-0 Sharks make their first visit to Dillon to take on the 10-0 defending AAA State Champion Wildcats.

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