By Lonnie Turner
It was Brayden Hawkins night at Memorial Stadium Friday as the Wildcats won the season’s regular season finale, 49-6. The junior transfer from York, SC, threw only seven times and completed six for a whopping 211 yards and four touchdowns. That runs his season’s total to 101 completions of 151 attempts for a net total of 1,556 yards and 21 TDs.
KaNore McKinnon returned to the Wildcat line up after missing the Loris game and caught three of the Hawkins passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Ty’Quan Porter pulled in a 44 yarder for six points and Jalen Williams got on the scoreboard with a 44-yard reception. McKinnon’s third reception was a 52-yard toss that set up the second score for the Cats.
The rush was not a factor in the game for the Cats with the aerial show going on, in fact the Cats only rushed nine times for a net 29 yards and no first downs, a rarity for a Dillon team that has always made its mark with the run. Johnny Allen, the leading rusher for the Cats with 1,006 yards touched the ball only twice for two net yards, a yard on each carry and two touchdowns. The 52 yard pass to McKinnon set up the first score for Allen from the one. After Jatoreus Manning took the football from running back Caleb Jenerette and returned it to the Aynor one near the end of the first half, Allen was called on again and scored his second TD.
It took only one play to put the Cats on the scoreboard when Hawkins hit McKinnon in the flat and the run went for 44 yards and Drew Covington’s first of six PATs gave the Cats a 7-0 lead with 9:27 remaining in he first quarter.
With the Aynor backfield stacked with three potential ball carriers took their second series and reeled off two first downs, one by a penalty, going from their own 25 yard line and got as close as the Dillon 47, before the Nasty Cat defense bowed its shoulders and shut them down. It was the last time the Jackets would cross mid-field until the waning minutes of the second half. Aynor, with that tight lineup, would snap the ball directly directly to one of the three running backs, so the defensive line just hit anybody who looked like he was carrying the football, on one play tackling two at a time. After leading 42-0 at the intermission, the officials met with head coach Jody Jenerette and the decision was made to cut the time of each quarter remaining to eight minutes instead of twelve and keep the clock running.
Dillon’s third touchdown of the game was a 42 yard pass on the first down of the Wildcats third offensive series to wide receiver Ty’Quan Porter, who caught the perfectly thrown pass in stride from Hawkins for a 21-0 lead. After a three and out series that followed, Hawkins and McKinnon teamed up with the same play that netted the first score with this one going for 17 yards and a 28-0 lead. Dillon scored its 28th point in the second quarter on a 44 yard pass to Jalen Williams.
Manning’s fumble take away ended the first half and the 28 unanswered points gave the Cats a 42 point lead.
With most of the starters on the sideline, Ty Rogers led the reserves with the only score of the second half for the Wildcats on a 5-yard run. The drive that started at the Blue Jacket 27 following a ten-yard punt and the score was aided by two face mask penalties.
Aynor’s lone touchdown came late in the fourth quarter as the running clock clicked down to a few seconds. Jonathan Gause, one of the three backs in the backfield, took a direct snap from the center and burst up the middle for 27 yards and a touchdown to spoil the Dillon shut-out. A run for the attempted two-point play, failed.
The Wildcat defense was led by Zareon Hayes with 10 take-downs, including his third quarterback sack of the season.
The Wildcats will be at home Friday to take on the Hanahan Hawks in the first round of the lower state playoffs.
