Spartanburg 23 Dorman 7
What better way for high school football to make its return after a 2 week hiatus in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene than to play the City Rivalry?
The annual tilt between the Spartanburg Vikings and Dorman Cavaliers Friday night in Roebuck was one that, like one might expect after 2 weeks off and just 4 days of practice leading in, and as was the case with most all the games played by our local squads this week, was very sloppy.
The Vikings drew first blood on a 12 yard connection from Trey Burke to Calvin Choice with 5:56 to play in the 1st quarter. From there, neither team could find paydirt again until Dorman tied it with 1:22 to play in the first half on a 3 yard TD run by QB Makorean Anderson. Spartanburg answered with a 45 yard fieldgoal from Will Love as the horn sounded to send the game to the half with a 10-7 lead.
The Vikes never looked back from there, scoring 13 unanswered en route to their 4th straight victory in the rivalry series. Burke went 11-20 passing with 116 yards and a touchdown. Zy Williams-Bonds, despite not logging a TD, was the leading receiver with 6 catches for 63 yards. Calvin Choice had 4 receptions for 47 yards to go with his TD. Chris Sutton and Cam Smith each had a rushing TD in the game, but the leader in rushing yards was Trenton Lynch with 114 yards on 17 carries.
On the Dorman side, Makorean Anderson finished 15-24 with 97 yards, with a pair of interceptions. The bulk of the Cavaliers’ 207 yards of total offense came via the ground game, as Nick Means led the way with 86 yards on 12 carries. Enahjay Fowler was the only other to put up double figures with 24 yards on 6 attempts.
Next week, Dorman will host the Wade Hampton Generals while Spartanburg has a big one at home against the Boiling Springs Bulldogs.
Union County 28 Broome 22 (Overtime)
This is one of those games where, on paper, and no offense intended to Union, even with a sloppy/slow start, you expected depth and talent to run its natural course in the 2nd half and make for a runaway blowout. That did not end up being the case in Spartanburg’s Viking Stadium on Friday night.
From the beginning, Broome was aggressive, again as you might expect from a game like this, going down the field and scoring quickly on their game-opening drive by going 61 yards in about 3 minutes, capped by a 30 yard connection from Jameson Dearybury to Reece Waugerman. In even more aggressive fashion, the Centurions kicked an onside kick and recovered it, which led to a 4th and 11 halfback pass to a wide open Greyson Bradley in the left corner of the endzone to go up 14-0.
Sounds like a runaway blowout in the first half, right? Well… Broome did not manage to score again in the game until the waning moments of the 4th quarter.
Credit to Union as they managed to limit Ty’Qwon Booker from being a big factor in this game. He did not score a TD, and ran for 170 yards on 24 carries. They put the game in the hands of Jameson Dearybury, and even so, Broome had some success moving the ball. The flaw for them is that they simply could not finish drives – a lot of which was their own doing thanks to penalties and being aggressive on every 4th down (they turned the ball over on downs 3 times). They had a key touchdown taken off the board by a blindside block and another by a chop block. They also had a couple of personal fouls for words said to refs and unsportsmanlike actions in chippiness.
In essence, the Centurions were their own worst enemy, and that allowed Union County to hang around. The Yellow Jackets’ simple offensive scheme – triple option with 3-4 men in the backfield plus some wildcat snaps, got some big chunk plays when they were able to find a hole or stretch the field to the sideline. They went on to score 22 unanswered to go up 22-14 with around 2 minutes to play in the game.
That put a lot of pressure on Dearybury to drive down the field, needing a TD and 2 point conversion just to tie it. After he settled in, they strung together several nice quick passes to Tre’Sean Suber in the flat, and went down the field, scoring with about 30 ticks on the clock via a 15 yard pass to Suber in the back of the endzone on 3rd and long. After pass interference gave them a 2nd shot at the game-tying 2 pointer, they capitalized as Ty’Qwon Booker took a direct snap and powered his way in.
Union, after nothing on 1st down, was content to let the clock run out and go to overtime. They went on offense first and struck back with a 2 yard TD run, falling short on the 2 point try, making it 28-22. In the end, facing a third and long, Jameson Dearybury was flushed from the pocket and tried to go to the middle of the endzone for Tre’Sean Suber, but was picked off to seal the win for Union – their first region win since October 2021.
Dearybury ended the night 16-29 passing with 204 yards, a touchdown, and 2 interceptions. Suber was the leading receiver with 6 snags for 54 yards and a TD.
Broome will be off next week while Union County hosts the Chapman Panthers looking to make it consecutive region victories.
Gaffney 15 Byrnes 9 (2 OT)
In yet another defensive rock fight of a game, these 2 rivals went toe to toe with Byrnes serving as the home team despite being at the Reservation. Gaffney, after a ruling from the SCHSL, would be without QB Jayvon Gilmore for a half after he served a suspension following an ejection against Boiling Springs. That may have been a key factor as neither offense got much going, finishing the opening 12 minutes scoreless. The Indians finally broke the monotony with a fieldgoal at the 3:23 mark of the 2nd quarter, making for a 3-0 halftime lead.
They added on with yet another fieldgoal with 16 ticks left in the 3rd stanza. It was the Rebels that ended up scoring the game’s first touchdown with just over 9 minutes to play in the game, but the extra point was blocked, leading to a 6-6 tie.
The Indians had a shot to win in regulation, lining up for a walkoff fieldgoal with 2 seconds left on the clock, but it was blocked, sending Gaffney to overtime for the 4th time this season to date. Both sides traded fieldgoals, leading to a second free period. This time, Byrnes missed a go-ahead fieldgoal, setting the stage for Gaffney to win. On the very next play, Jamarcus Smith repeated his feat in overtime against Boiling Springs 3 weeks ago, going 10 yards to end it.
Gaffney has a glorified scrimmage next week as they host Wade Hampton while Byrnes goes to Eastside looking to get back on track after an 0-2 start to their region 2-5A campaign.
Boiling Springs 55 Wade Hampton 14
If there was any team around our area that could afford to get off to a slow/sloppy start and still manage to win big, it was the Boiling Springs Bulldogs. That is precisely what happened as it took the ‘Dogs until the 11:20 mark of the 2nd quarter to finally find the scoreboard when Lincoln Huskey connected with Graham Guest from 53 yards out. That touchdown broke open the floodgates.
Boiling Springs went on to score three more times in the frame – one of which came on special teams with a Jeremiah Favorite 55 yard punt return TD to make for a 28-0 lead at the break. They would add 13 more out of the interval before the Generals found the endzone, making it 41-6 heading to the fourth. .
The Bulldogs outscored Wade Hampton 14-8 in the final 12 minutes thanks in part to a Jeremiah Favorite 41 yard pick 6 for his 2nd interception of the night, and cruised to their first region win behind a 10 for 13, 176 passing yard, 4 touchdown game from Lincoln Huskey and a 5 reception, 100 yard, 2 TD night for Graham Guest.
Boiling Springs will look to make it back to back region wins and consecutive wins in the series with Spartanburg for the first time since the 6-game win streak was snapped back in 2020 next week as they go on the road to Viking Stadium.
Greer 49 Blue Ridge 21
The Yellow Jackets have had a certain method of operation the last few years. Play a tough non-region schedule, even if that means you start off winless, and then use the experience gained to run the table to the region championship.
Their quest to make that happen again got off to a good start with a 63-0 win over Berea the last time they took the field in their region opener. Friday, they had a good chance to make it a 2-0 start to the “games that matter”, hosting crosstown rival Blue Ridge.
The first half was relatively close, with Greer managing to take a 28-14 lead to the intermission. Ultimately, they put the game away with a 21-7 second half.
Running back Nick Holmes had a big night, tallying 124 yards on 19 carries with three touchdowns. Calvin McCoy added 2 more rushing scores on a 9 carry, 84 yard effort. Chance Todd hauled in a pair of touchdown passes from Kaden Rowland, adding to his 4 catches for 95 yards. Mikey Williams caught 5 passes for 83 yards. Rowland was 12 for 15 through the air with 236 yards.
Greer will look to go to 3-0 in the region next week as they host Seneca in their penultimate regular season home game.
MVP 27 Chapman 9
Chapman had a trial by fire to open their region slate. By now, we all know Chapman and Greer shared an approach to their non-region schedules. Play up, lose, but use that to be battle-hardened for region play. But, for Chapman this may have been just a little but more than simply their 3-3A opener.
When Mountain View Prep opened, several players that were on Chapman’s roster during Spring practice transferred out to go join the Stars. So, this had the feel of a rivalry match with a smidgeon of a homecoming attached to it.
The sloppiness that characterized most of the slate of games this week reared its head in this one as MVP was held to their lowest point total all season. They were unable to throw the ball due to a minor hand injury to QB Bryson Drummond. So, they leaned heavily on their run game. Naturally, that created the opportunity for Jaylen McGill to shine.
McGill logged 181 yards on 13 rushing attempts with 2 touchdowns. He was also the Stars’ leading receiver with 2 catches for 35 yards and 2 more TDs. Bryson Drummond was just 4 of 8 through the air with 57 yards on the night as MVP went to 1-0 in region 3-3A and stayed undefeated on the season.
Mountain View will be the home team next week in a matchup that may be the de facto region championship game as they will battle the Woodruff Wolverines at Newberry College’s Setzler Field.
Chapman will hit the road to battle Union County.
Clinton 46 Chesnee 21
The Red Devils jumped ahead early in this one, scoring the first 15 points and keeping the Eagles off the scoreboard until the 8:41 mark of the 2nd quarter when Kjay Proctor punched in a TD from 8 yards out.
Clinton scored 2 more touchdowns before Evan Lawter got the Eagles back in the endzone with a 1 yard rushing score with 11:24 to go in the game. Chesnee would not score again until the final play of the ballgame – a 1 yard rush from Kale Thrift.
The Eagles tallied 233 yards of total offense, mostly via their rushing attack. Evan Lawter was 6 for 14 passing with 78 yards. Keedyn Platt and Paul Martin combined for 69 receiving yards on 4 catches. Jayden Williams led the way in the ground game with 67 yards on 11 touches while Lawter added a TD with his 59 yards on 8 carries. Thrift also added a TD to go with 50 yards on 11 rushing attempts.
Chesnee looks to bounce back as they go on the road to take on the Crescent Tigers next week.
Landrum 28 Blacksburg 6
The Cardinals were all over Blacksburg, continuing what for the Wildcats up in Iron City, has been a tale of 2 seasons. They started off strong and ever since Union County overcame a sizable deficit to defeat them in the 4th quarter, Blacksburg has just not been the same. They have managed to score some points, but their defense has struggled.
The defensive struggles remained the same Friday night as the Cardinals jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first half and didn’t look back. Aj Lindsey scored 3 rushing touchdowns for Landrum as they cruised to the win. But, better than Landrum’s offensive output was the fact their defense held Blacksburg to just 6 points.
Landrum is quietly having a spectacular season at 5-1, and now 1-0 after their first region game. They’ll look to keep rolling with by far their toughest challenge of the season coming up at home against the Clinton Red Devils next week.
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