By Lonnie Turner
Jamison Chapman ran through gaping holes in the Marion defensive line and completely stunned the “Hammer down” defense of the Swamp Foxes Friday night to lead the Dillon Wildcats to a 41-0 blanking at Fox Field in Marion. The 5’9” 185 pound transfer from West Florence at the end of the 2013 season, struck quickly and often for 194 yards and two touchdowns, including a 67-yard romp to score at the start of the second quarter.
“This is a big one for us,” he said. “It means we’ll be at home to start the playoffs and that’s always a plus. When told he only ran for just under 200 yards in the game, his only comment was, “If they hadn’t thrown so many flags, I would have got more than 200 yards.”
Chapman has had to pretty well carry the load in the backfield this season since Johnny Allen suffered a neck injury in a four-wheeler accident and when he suffered a knee injury in the Darlington contest, Coach Jackie Hayes said he had to depend on somebody to step up. “We have a lot of good players and somebody is going to step up.” he said after the Darlington game. He called on Diaz Alexander to fill the void in he backfield and he did a great job while Chapman was out. He is third on the rushing chart with 271 yards while carrying the football 56 times. Now with Chapman back and having a lot of success running behind the great blocking of the front four of the offensive line, the Wildcats are in good shape as they head for the playoffs.
Avery McCall threw two touchdown passes, opening the game with a 27- yard toss to Daeshawn Davis and ended the game hitting KaNore McKinnon in the end zone following 71-yard fumble return by Damario Currie. The Swamp Foxes had just been turned away from the Dillon goal after Marion speedster Janarick Reed took a Hail Mary type pass in the Marion backfield and raced all the way to the Dillon 5 yard line before being downed.
On the second play following the run, quarterback Yamsi Buey mishandled the football and it fell to the ground at the three where Currie scooped it up to go toward the Marion end zone. Seventy-one yards and a few seconds later McCall and company were in the end zone with the final score of the game.
In between, those two pass plays, the Cats let folks know that the interior linemen can make holes. Daeshawn Davis ran for two touchdowns out of the Wildcat formation and Chapman added a 5-yard run to pile up 21 points in the third quarter after leading by a score of 13-0 at the half.
The Wildcats finished the game with 386 yards in total offense and with 124 additional return yardage tallied 510 total yards compared to 236 for the Swamp Foxes.
The speedy backs of the Foxes had trouble solving the defensive savvy of the Cats and were held pretty well in check for most of the game, The longest run from scrimmage came near the end of the game from reserve running back Tylick Vick-Timmons who momentarily broke into the clear for a 39 yard gain. Reed and Buey, the leading rushers for the season, were pretty well held in check with Reed picking up only 46 yards on 19 carries and Buey was shut down for minus 17 yards on just six carries.
Defensively leading the tackle chart were Jermaine McDaniel and Quamel Laurenceau with nine takedowns a piece and Davis, who not only runs the football well from the Wildcat position on offense, but played a solid defensive game with seven solo tackles and an assist from his linebacker position.
For the season Chapman is leading the team in the running game with 571 yards and nine touchdown and Davis has scored eleven time while running 32 times for 304 yards. McCall has 68 completions out of 107 attempts for 1,028 yards and still hasn’t been intercepted going into the ninth week of the season.
He has thrown ten touchdown passes and McKinnon has been his favorite receiver catching 21 for 334 yards and seven touchdowns.
Davis leads the scoring column with 92 points and Chapman is second with 54 points.
McDaniel leads the tackle sheet with 57 tackles (40) solo and 17 assists) and Laurenceau is close behind wit 53 (41 solo and 12 assists).
The Wildcats will be at home this Friday night taking on the Loris Lions.
The Cats hold a 14-0 series lead over the Lions winning nine straight regular season games and two playoff wins since 2006, when the two teams were classified in 2A.
Overall, since 1969, the Cats beat the Lions three times in 3A, once in the 1999 playoffs and twice during the regular season in 1972 and 1973.
