By Betsy Finklea
The Dillon Wildcats defeated Fairfield Central, 21-6, to win the Class 2A Division I State championship title at Benedict College on Friday. This is Dillon’s third state football title under Coach Jackie Hayes.
In the first quarter, the Wildcats were the first to put points on the board when quarterback Avery McCall completed a 24 yard pass to Ereon Hayes for the touchdown and a 6-0 lead. Tara Grimsley, the second female player to be on a state championship game, successfully kicked the extra point bringing the score to 7-0.
Fairfield Central also scored in the first quarter on a 16 yard run, but failed to get the extra point. This brought the score to 7-6.
In the second quarter, McCall completed another touchdown pass for 38 yards to Anthony Blue. Grimsley kicked the extra point giving the Wildcats a 14-6 lead.
Shortly before halftime, Dorian Davis intercepted a Fairfield Central pass. The Wildcats offense took advantage of the interception and scored the third and final touchdown when McCall completed an 18 yard touchdown pass to Ezra Lighty and Grimsley kicked the extra point to bring the score to 21-6 before halftime.
No points were scored in the second half of the game. Dillon had 423 yards of total offense compared to 271 yards for Fairfield Central.
