Week 2 Recap

Greenville 17 Gaffney 14

The Indians have had a 2 quarterback system going to start off the first season under Donnie Littlejohn’s leadership. Banks Bouton, who transferred in after a brief stint in Georgia, and Jayvon Gilmore – the senior Arkansas committed gunslinger.

Each of these 2 signal callers has their strengths. For Bouton, it is running. For Gilmore, despite not having eye-popping numbers even with full control of the offense as QB1 last year, his calling card has been passing. It would seem, if you are one for reading into stats, that Littlejohn has been using these 2 guys interchangeably for the situations that play into their strengths. With the loss of Jaiden McDowell for the season, perhaps they have to. But with a 2 back system that is based on situation, the offense can become one-dimensional and predictable. Through 3 regular season games thus far, that has been the case for the Indians.

To quote an old cliche.. “If you have 2 quarterbacks, you don’t have one.”

In the Indians’ loss on Friday night at Sirrine Stadium, the offense failed to hang any points on the board until the 3rd quarter, scoring 14 unanswered after going into the half trailing the Red Raiders 3-0.

The offensive stats don’t look bad. They amassed 235 yards of total offense and averaged just over 5 yards per play. Gaffney rushed for 175 yards – led by Josiah Hill with 108 on 18 rushing attempts and both touchdowns scored in the game. Bouton added 73 more yards on 10 carries to go with his 36 yards on 4-8 through the air. Gilmore tallied just 24 yards on 3 for 3 passing.

One might say that the most outstanding thing is how they ran the ball with such success in spite of the injury to McDowell. But, the numbers don’t lie – they threw the ball 11 times. The offense was 1-dimensional. They also shot themselves in the foot a ton – getting 16 flags thrown against them for 127 penalty yards.

The defense spent a lot of time on the field in this game, and that led to Greenville putting up 305 yards of total offense, 24 first downs, and 223 yards through the air. That was also a key contributor to the Raiders 14 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to complete the comeback.

While it doesn’t feel there is much to be positive about for Gaffney fans right now, the Indians do get a much-needed bye this coming week to get rested and prepped for the start of region 2-5A play in 2 weeks, which will start at the Reservation against the Boiling Springs Bulldogs. If the Indians can settle on a quarterback and get their offense figured out, they are capable of getting hot and living up to the expectations. The question is whether or not they will be able to.

Greenwood 42 Dorman 41

Instant Classic. That is the only way to describe the battle between top-10 ranked 5A foes in Roebuck last night.

The Cavaliers were hot, having outscored opponents 64-7 over the first 2 weeks of the season. Opponent quality aside, Dorman showed themselves to be very capable of running the ball with Nick Means in the backfield, and Friday night’s contest was no exception.

Greenwood drew first blood early on a 10 yard TD pass from South Carolina commit Triston Lewis to Jay Duncan. It took some time, but after a turnover on downs, the Cavaliers were able to respond with the first of 4 touchdowns from Means – an 18 yard scamper to tie the game at 7 with 3:45 to play in the first quarter.

Early in the 2nd, Lewis connected with Duncan yet again for a 3 yard TD, but would only get 6 out of it when the extra point was blocked. Greenwood later stretched the lead to 13, but Dorman would later pull back within 6 on a 47 yard rushing score from Isaac Tate – the first of 2 from the junior tailback, who joined Means with over 100 yards in the game.

The Cavs trailed 27-14 at the break, but that margin was quickly trimmed when Tate struck again, breaking a tackle with a spin move to bust loose for a 41 yard touchdown. Late in the period, Dorman took their first lead of the night on a Nick Means 6-yard TD rush, going up 28-27 after the PAT and later stretching that advantage 7 more on another Means run – this one a 24 yarder.

In the end, the Eagles came all the way back and forced overtime on a 40 yard TD pass and 2 point conversion with just 3 ticks left in regulation. In the bonus period, Triston Lewis ran for his lone TD on the ground (he had 5 through the air) on 3rd down to take the lead. Dorman responded, and opted to kick the extra point to force a 2nd overtime, but the kick missed wide, sealing the comeback win for the Eagles.

Dorman is on bye this week and will be back in action to start region play on September 19th at home against Riverside.

Boiling Springs 56 Chapman 0

The “Backyard Rivalry”. “The Friendliest Rivalry in Sports”  Whatever you choose to call it, the Boiling Springs Bulldogs hosted the struggling Chapman Panthers looking for a big rebound after a disappointing loss on the road at Mauldin last week. For Harry Cabaniss’ Panthers, it was a short road trip looking to not only beat a 5A team, but also pick up their first win of the season after building some confidence on offense in a close last-play loss to St Joe’s last week.

But, as the score already gave away, it was the Bulldogs that put this one away, and quickly at that. Boiling Springs drew first blood 2 plays into the game on a 39 yard strike from senior Quarterback Josh Kahl to Broome transfer wideout Tre’Sean Suber, which sparked a 21-point first quarter for the Dogs.

In the end, the BSHS defense, even without star linebacker Jeremiah Favorite (dislocated shoulder in practice on Monday), held the Panthers to just 47 yards of total offense and forced 5 turnovers. There was a fumble that Ty’vion Hall scooped and returned 33 yards for a touchdown, and 4 interceptions – one from DJ Leak, another from Hall, the third from Will Gibeck, and the other from Jamarcus Means for a pick 6.

Kahl finished the night 11 for 16 passing with 193 yards and three touchdowns. Nine different players hauled in at least 1 pass in the win with Tight End Jaiden Grate as well as wideout Jaden Samauel logging a receiving score in addition to Suber’s. Kyron Tobler and Izael Johnson both notched rushing touchdowns in the shutout victory.

Boiling Springs will take the momentum gained and hope to build on it during a bye this week before going on the road to face Gaffney in 2 weeks to open their region slate. Chapman will close out non-region on the road at Clinton.

Spartanburg 50 Broome 7

This game, much like Chapman at Boiling Springs, was not close, and was over quickly after a tone-setting first play from scrimmage.

Viking tailback Trenton Lynch busted loose with ease for a 63-yard touchdown run on a handoff – the first of a three score opening 12 minutes for him. With 5:41 to play in the period, Viking backup quarterback Chris Colin, who was making his 2nd start of the young season in place of Trey Burke after an injury in practice earlier this week, threw a screen to Lynch, who took off for a 48 yard catch and run to mark Colin’s first passing TD of the year. With 1:25 to go in the quarter, Lynch struck again with a 20 yard run to make it 20-0 heading to the 2nd after a botched snap on the extra point attempt.

Spartanburg made one more mistake, fumbling a punt to give the Centurions a short field, which led to their lone points of the game – a 7 yard run from Reece Waugerman that made it a 20 point game. The Vikings would go on to score the next 23 unanswered – including a 4th score from Lynch on a 1 yard run, as well as a 63 yard TD reception for Torrean Davis, a safety, and a 63 yard safety kick return from Zeke Bell-Boyd.

Lynch led the way with 155 yards on 8 rushing attempts to go with 48 yards on 1 catch for 4 total TDs. Colin accumulated 153 yards on 6 of 10 passing with 2 scores. On the Broome side, Jameson Dearybury was 7-12 with 65 yards. Devon Brown led the ground game with 78 yards on 12 carries. Tyqwon Booker followed up his player of the week effort against Chesnee with 44 yards on 10 touches.

After the schedule Spartanburg played the first 2 weeks, you can make an easy counter to the argument that there is no benefit to either team to have these 2 play one another. You need a game where you can take it easy, release some steam, and build some confidence with a win. The Vikings did that in picking up their first win of the season and now have a bye week to get healed up some before starting region play.

The Vikes return to the gridiron on the 19th with a road trip to Taylors for a date with the Eastside Eagles. Broome will be back in action next week with Emerald at Royal Stadium.

Byrnes was off this week, and will be back for a short trip over to Dooley Field to take on Greer in their final non-region tune up.

Hillcrest 55 Greer 16

The Yellow Jackets found themselves leading a game in the first quarter for the 1st time this season, taking the lead 3-0 on a 26 yard Parker Burns fieldgoal with 6:47 on the clock. But, that did not last long. The Rams scored the next 20 points in the game, and got outscored 35-13 the rest of the way en route to a lopsided loss.

Greer QB Dawson Fowler was 21-41 with 200 passing yards and an interception to go with 107 rushing yards and a score on 14 carries. Junior running back Calvin McCoy tallied 148 yards on the ground with a touchdown on 21 rushing attempts. McCoy was also the leading pass catcher with 7 snags for 65 yards.

Greer is still searching for their first win of the season, and will have yet another tough non-region test next week in hosting the Byrnes Rebels.

Woodruff 50 Emerald 22

The Wolverines faced some serious adversity this week. They trailed 22-0 before scoring 50 unanswered points for a convincing win over a previously undefeated Emerald team to remain among the ranks of the unbeaten themselves.

The Wolverines have been using the explosive potential of both Aidan Gibson at running back and Kori Moates at receiver to help open their offense for sophomore QB Connor Davis, and it has worked to perfection. After falling down big, it was the dynamic duo of Gibson and Moates that helped the Wolverines charge back.

Gibson added 132 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 18 carries as well as 1 catch for 33 yards. Moates caught 11 of 14 passes thrown his way for 154 yards and a pair of scores. Davis was 19 for 30 passing with 245 yards and 3 TDs on top of 8 rushing attempts for 14 yards and a touchdown.

Woodruff will face off against the Woodmont Wildcats next week in their last non-region game.

Elsewhere in 3A, Union County built up a 14-0 lead against the York Cougars, and led 20-14 late. But following a series of unfortunate events in which their defensive coordinator was ejected to go with multiple personal fouls on one play, the game got away from the Jackets, falling 27-20 in the end. Mountain View Prep hung a crooked number on St Joe’s Catholic School, defeating them 66-27. Union will host the Blacksburg Wildcats next week while MVP will go to Crescent.

Chesnee 33 Walhalla 6

The Eagles hit the road towards the end of Highway 11 for a long trip towards the SC-GA line for a battle with the Razorbacks, looking to blow off some steam from their heartbreaking overtime loss to Broome last week.

Long story short, they did just that, dominating this game from wire to wire, scoring the first 26 points in this game and holding the Razorbacks off the board until the 11:53 mark of the 4th quarter.

Evan Reece Lawter was balanced as a dual threat in this game, passing for 2 touchdowns and running for 3 more. He led the Eagles in rushing with 116 yards on 16 touches on top of going 4-9 through the air with 71 yards. Kale Thrift and Blake Cochran also made a huge impact in the run game – Thrift tallying 77 yards on 12 attempts and Cochran not far off with 75 on 9. Braylon Blanton and Bryce Horton were the top receiving targets for Lawter. Blanton hauled in 2 passes for 36 yards and a touchdown while Horton also had 2 receptions and a TD with 35 yards.

Chesnee will return to the Eagles’ Nest this week to take on border rival R-S Central (NC).

Landrum suffered a 20-12 loss at Ware Shoals. They will host Asheville Christian (NC) next week.