By Craig Brown
The Dillon Christian School Warriors defeated the Williamsburg Academy Stallions 41-0 Friday night and will play in the SCISA division 1A State Championship game Saturday in Columbia at Benedict University.
This is the Warriors fourth trip to the big show in the eleven years it has had a football program.
The Warriors are 2-1 in championship play and hope to be 3-1 when the scoreboard clock runs down Saturday. The Warriors 12-0 will face Colleton Prep Academy 11-1 Saturday with game time set for 3:30.
Colleton Prep has been a thorn in the Warriors side being one of the few teams the Warriors have never defeated. Many Warrior players vow they will be the briar bush this time. Warrior defensive coordinator Phillip Price had little to say after the big win over Williamsburg Academy and reading between the lines of what he did say could be interpreted as a 12-0 record means nothing if you don’t win the last game. Warrior Head Coach Christian Wolfe was excited about his first trip to the title game.
Wolfe was not pleased with the attitude of some of the Williamsburg County fans and the unusual number of unnecessary penalties committed by the Stallions against his team many of which were not caught by the officials.
The Stallions don’t seem to have any love for the Warriors. Most of the teams DCS play display top sportsmanship attitudes regardless of the score and the Warriors have always pulled its starters to keep from running up the score. Williamsburg is a little different.
I saw fans chase the coach across the field after losing to the Warriors one game. They are the only school that played at Warrior field that the referees insisted that the police attend to fans that were threatening them with bodily harm.
I have seen coaches Wolfe and Price remove a Warrior player and chew them out for losing their cool on the field. I did see some hits on DCS players by WA players that would have drawn the raft of Wolfe or Price had the opposite occurred. A sign was displayed Friday before the game by Williamsburg Academy that was a direct insult to some of the Warrior players that struggle to pay their tuition. To be fair most of the Stallion fans and players are good sports it’s the few that sometimes give the game a bad taste. There were several Stallion players that passed by the Warrior dressing room and congratulated the Warriors and wished them well Saturday.
Friday’s game started out as a defensive battle with the first quarter ended at 0-0 with the Stallions seeming to be getting the best of the Warriors.
The Stallions moved to the Warrior 10 yard line and looked unstoppable until Warrior linebacker Garret Collins tipped pass into the hands of cornerback Diaz Alexander at the two yard line. After this the Stallion fans found little to cheer about the remainder of the game. The Warriors moved the ball 98 yards with quarterback Michael Minges finishing the drive with a six yard touchdown run. Gage Bazemore’s point after kick put the Warriors up 7-0 with 8:12 left in the second quarter.
The Stallions were held to three and out on their next offensive possession and forced to punt. Collins rushed in and blocked the kick recovering near mid field. Minges finished the short drive with a 14 yard touchdown pass to tight end Luke Price.
Bazemore’s kick increased the Warrior lead to 14-0 with 5:41 left in the second quarter. On the Warriors final possession of the second quarter Minges found wide receiver Jackson Wolfe open for a 19 yard touchdown pass with 1:49 left in the quarter. The point after kick was blocked holding the Warrior lead to 20-0 with the first half closing with this score. The Warriors received the kickoff to start the third quarter and had little trouble moving the ball with the drive ending with Minges crossing the goal line on a 35-yard keeper run. Bazemore’s kick was true to up the Warrior lead to 27-0 with 10:34 left in the third quarter. With 3:04 left in the third quarter Diaz Alexander got his first TD on an 11 yard run.
Bazemore added the point after kick to put the Warriors up 34-0. As time expired in the third quarter Alexander put the lights out on the Stallions with a 23 yard touchdown run followed by Bazemore’s kick to give the Warriors a 41-0 lead. The clock was ordered by the referees to run without stoppage at this point.
The Warriors rested as many starters as it could and stopped attempts to run the score up in the short fourth quarter.
After the game the Warrior players were ordered to keep their helmets on and not speak as they did the traditional end of game walk by and shake hands as the coaches feared some temper flare ups.
On offense for the Warriors, Michael Minges was 8 of 15 passing for 153 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 124 yards on ten carries with two touchdowns, Diaz Alexander had 118 yards on nine carries with two touchdowns and caught a pass for nine yards, Luke Price caught three passes for 85 yards and a touchdown, Tyreke Toomer caught three passes for 40 yards and added three yards rushing on two carries, Jackson Wolfe caught a 19 yard touchdown pass, Demontez Alford had three yards on three carries and Gage Bazemore was 5 of 6 in extra points. On defense, Luke Price had twelve tackles, eight assists, Demontez Alford had seven tackles four assists, Michael Minges had seven tackles, two assists with a quarterback sack, Walt Bailey had five tackles, four assists, Ereck Eck had four tackles, two assists, Garret Collins had three tackles Four Assists with a blocked kick, Hamilton Hodges and Dallas Feeko had two tackles three assists each, Jared Ivey and John Rourke had two tackles two assists each, Diaz Alexander had two tackles with an interception, Evan Paul had one tackle with two assists, Tyreke Toomer, Bryan Davis and Mason Bailey added a tackle with an assist each, Corbin Wethibgton, Daniel Camp and Jacob Dubose added a tackle, Barnes Causey had two assists and Andrew Patterson added an assist.
The best directions I can give to Saturday’s game. Take I-95 to I-20. Exit I-20 at Two Notch Road. Drive toward Columbia and the stadium will be on the left five or six miles down. The trip is around 105 to 108 miles. Benedict treats the fans with great respect.
