PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Johnnie Daniels/The Dillon Herald
Click once on a photo to bring it into a single screen, and then again to enlarge.
By Lonnie Turner
After the Aynor Blue Jackets took the opening kickoff and drove 70 yards on 16 plays to take an early 8-0 advantage over Dillon in Aynor, people were beginning to believe that this was to be another typical ball-control offense that the Blue Jackets have become over the past three seasons.
On their next possession, the Wildcat defense forced a fumble at the Aynor 23 and turned it into 8 points to tie the game as the second quarter began, using the run and pass on five plays with Senior quarterback Jack Grider running into the endzone for the touchdown.
The Wildcats took a page out of the legendary Dillon Coach Bull Lee playbook to tie the game with a “Mill Hill Special” pass from Grider to wide receiver Charles Brayboy.
The Wildcat defensive squad bent a little on the third Blue Jacket possession as the Aynor offense’s tight formation was able to run off 12 plays to the Dillon 39, but the Nasty Cats held and took over at that point allowing one yard in three plays.
The Wildcats put together five running plays and three passes to take a 14-8 lead with only 23 seconds left in the first half.
The big play in the drive was a 33-yard pass completion to wide out Donnez Alford that set up a five yard scoring run by Nemo Squire. The Wildcats returned the favor to Aynor to start the second half running off eleven plays and scoring with a little over five minutes gone with Squire taking a pass from Grider to take a 20-8 lead.
The Aynor offensive front and backfield get so close together that a wet blanket could be thrown and completely cover them. That is why they are so effective with the ball control rush, but Dillon forced a punt for the first time midway through the third quarter on a 3 and out series.
The two teams exchanged touchdowns on the next three possessions with the Wildcats taking a 27-8 lead scoring first on a 9-yard run by junior wide receiver/running back Ty Martin on the heels of the Aynor punt.
Blue Jacket quarterback Garrison Gasque followed with a 6-yard run, but failed on a run for the two-point conversion.
At 9:39 the Cats held a 27-14 lead, but that would soon change when Dillon covered an on-side kick at the Dillon 41
Squire scored the final touchdown for the Cats on a four-play series going in from 6 yards out for a 33-14 final.
He had 113 yards on 17 carries and three touchdowns and Grider completed 11 of 13 passes for 153 yards and a touchdown.
