By Lonnie Turner
Dillon’s #3 Anthony Blue breaks into the Lake Marion secondary behind good blocking from the Wildcat line. (Photo by Craig Brown.)
Freshman quarterback Avery McCall, for the second straight week subbing for Thomas Grossetti, riddled the Gator defense for nearly 200 yards with 13 completions out of 15 pass attempts in the first half that netted 192 yards and a touchdown. In the final regular season game last week with the Waccamaw Warriors, he threw for 199 yards and one touchdown.
Dillon used the pass and the running of Blue to score 41 points in the first half while the Nasty Cat Defense allowed only three net yards rushing for the Gators. Sophomore quarterback Deriante Jenkins, who had thrown for 3,227 yards on 179 completions out of 300 attempts this season with 16 pass interceptions, completed 12 of 25 in the first half for 134 yards and ended the game with 181 yards, while the Gator running game managed net minus five yards with leading rusher Eric Griffin finishing with only four yards on 14 carries to his credit.
After the Wildcats fumbled the ball away on their first possession, Sam McLean leaped in front of Clemson committed receiver Mike Williams for the first of four picks in the first half. That led to Dillon’s first score.
Blue caught a flair pass from McCall at the Dillon 26 and ran 48 yards for a first down and a face mask penalty took the ball to the Gator 11-yard line. Tyreek Hayes caught a pass at the ten and literally drug a defender all the way to the one foot line to set up Blue’s first touchdown of the game.
Pete Ingram’s first of two interceptions resulted in the second score for the Cats. Blue ran a ten yard touchdown to cap a 57-yard drive in nine plays and Tara Grimsley’s second PAT gave the Cats a 14-0 lead at the end of one quarter.
In the second twelve minutes, Blue scored three more times including a 96-yard romp up the middle after the Wildcats held the Gators at the one yard line in a great goal-line that eventually pushed them back to the 9-yard line. Following an off side penalty that moved the ball back to the four, Blue took a handoff and darted through a gaping hole made by the Dillon offensive line and outran two defenders on the way to his longest touchdown run of the season. Blue also caught a 19-yard scoring pass from McCall earlier in the quarter that produced three more touchdowns. Joe Blue got into the scoring column with an 8-yard run out of the “Wildcat” formation with five minutes left in the half.
Thomas Grossetti went in at quarterback in the second half and rushed seven times for 62 yards and two more touchdowns and to add insult to injury, Joe Blue, who had seven tackles in the game, caught Jenkins in the end zone for a safety. Blue also partially blocked a punt for his second block.
Anthony Blue finished the night with 245 yards on 20 carries and caught three passes for 85 more yards. All totaled, the Wildcats netted 439 yards in the first half and finished with 526 compared to Lake Marion’s 176 yards.
The seven pass interceptions broke the record of five against Wilson High School in 1981. They included one from Sam McLean, two from Pete Ingram, two from Damu Ford, and two from last year’s backup quarterback Malique Gregory.
The win, coupled with a 56-0 blowout of Battery Creek by the Loris Lions, sets up a rematch in Dillon on Friday at 7:30. In week nine of the regular season, the Lions jumped out to an early 14-0 lead over the Wildcats, but the Cats roared back to claim a 21-14 win in Loris.
