By Lonnie Turner
The Dillon Wildcats steam-rolled the Mullins Auctioneers Friday night, 58-6, scoring 37 points in the first quarter. It was the seventh straight win in 2015 and the 30th consecutive win since losing to Marlboro County in the fifth game of the 2013 season.
The Dillon coaching staff used three quarterbacks and seven other running backs in the contest, plus twenty-one defensive players who were in on at least one tackle. It was a long night for the statistician who was responsible for keeping up with every little gain, or loss.
The first minute of the game saw each team scoring a touchdown. The Wildcats scored first, three plays into the game on their opening drive when Avery McCall fired a 41-yard scoring to KaNore McKinnon. Mullins, after taking the ensuing kickoff, took only one play to put six on the scoreboard on a pass from Riyan Gore to Shamar Foxworth that covered 78 yards. The Auctioneers tried to take the lead going for a two-point conversion by Derrick Drawhorn, but he was stopped a yard shy of the goal line. Drew Covington had given he Cats a 7-0 lead with his first of eight extra point kicks.
From that time on in the first quarter, the Wildcats had crossed the Mullins goal line four more times on running plays including touchdown runs of four yards apiece from Zareon Hayes and McCall, plus a 2 yard run by Jamison Chapman after Mullins muffed a kickoff inside the Auctioneer 15. With just 2 minutes left in the quarter, McCall and McKinnon again connected for a 24-yard TD pass. To add insult to injury, J.T. Carmichael and Jermaine McDaniel chased the Mullins quarterback out of the back of the Auctioneer end zone for a safety in the quarter.
Back-up quarterback Austin Moody gave the Wildcats a 44-6 lead four minutes into the second quarter when he hit Diaz Alexander for a 16-yard touchdown.
McCall completed nine of eleven passes in the game for 147 yards and three touchdowns. His third scoring toss was a 9-yard pass to Alexander to cap a 61 yard drive in the third quarter.
With the scoreboard clock running continuously, Alexander became the third quarterback of the game for Dillon, taking over near the end of the third quarter. The 5í5î, 125 pound sophomore, following a holding penalty on the last play of the quarter , ran two plays, one for a five yard gain and the other he carried 25 yards for his third touchdown.
The Dillon offensive unit put up some pretty impressive numbers, rushing for 194 yards and passing for another 183 for 377 in total offense and had 109 yards returns, while the defense, led by McDaniel and Carmichael with eight and 6 put downs respectively, gave up only 6 net yards rushing on 25 carries and 95 yards passing. Chapman had his best night on the field since his knee injury in the Darlington game, totaling 70 yards on just four touches to lead the rushing for the Cats. Alexander added 44 yards and McCall finished with 38.
The Wildcats (7-0) will take to the road again this week, traveling down the road to Marion (4-1) in hopes of maintaining their unbeaten season. The Swamp Foxes have always been a good foe for the Cats, with Dillon leading the series since 1969 with 29 wins and 10 losses.
The last win for the Foxes was in 2006, 38-13, but the game was awarded to Dillon because of an ineligible player.
