Week 9 Recap

Dorman 20 Gaffney 0

In a surprising turn of events, the Gaffney Indians offense, which has had its struggles this season, was blanked by Dorman in a game that depending on what happens in a week, may have decided the region 2-5A championship. The Indians’ success on the offensive side of the ball this season has come when they have been able to establish a run game. The Dorman defensive front did not let that happen Friday night, holding Gaffney to just 76 yards on the ground for an average of just over 2 and a half yards per carry. Being made virtually one-dimensional made the turnover margin a bit lopsided.

Banks Bouton was 16 for 28 passing with 212 yards. On paper, that looks good. Even if he did not have a touchdown pass. The glaring problem is that he threw 3 interceptions – in the end the difference in the game.

Dorman’s offense, which has also relied heavily on their ability to run the ball with their three-headed monster running back room that consists of Nick Means, Isaac Tate, and Carter Nash, was able to move the ball with relative ease. The Cavaliers amassed 220 yards of total offense – 170 of which came via the run. Means led the way with 65 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. Nash tallied a score with 47 yards on 5 touches while Tate added 23 on 5 rushing attempts. Slydell added 16 yards on 4 carries to go with a 7-10 passing night for 50 yards.

On the Gaffney side of things, Josiah Hill led the way in the ground game with 87 yards on 13 carries while Chas Smith led the aerial attack with 135 yards on 8 catches.

With Gaffney and Dorman both tied for first place in the region, it all boils down to the regular season finale next week. Dorman will go on the road to Eastside while Gaffney hosts Wade Hampton.

Byrnes 42 Spartanburg 7

If the fact Gaffney was shut out was not surprising enough for you, the Vikings – granted who were without star tailback Trenton Lynch – could only muster 1 non-offensive touchdown in this game. They cracked the scoreboard first, taking the lead on a Christian Davis 27 yard pick 6. It did not take long for the Rebels to get it back as not even a minute of game time later, Tre Segarra busted off an 80 yard touchdown run to equalize things.

Segarra became the story of the night, later giving Byrnes the lead on a 6-yard touchdown run with about 3 minutes to play in the opening quarter, never to look back from there.

The Rebels rattled off 42 unanswered points behind a career night for Segarra – 4 scores and 255 rushing yards on 17 carries – while the Byrnes defense limited the Vikings to just 7 first downs, 48 rushing and 36 passing for a total of 84 yards. On the flipside, the Rebs tallied 356 yards just on the ground. Byrnes had 537 total yards on the night. BHS QB Caine Rogers went 18 for 26 passing for 181 yards with a pair of touchdowns – one to Jacobi Fuller and the other to Nevan Wilkins, though Jackson Buckley and Niq Watson were his leading targets with 47 and 53 yards on a combined 8 receptions, respectively.

Byrnes will wrap up the regular season next week in exactly the same place they did in 2024 – this time as the road team at Boiling Springs while Spartanburg hosts Riverside – who pulled off an upset that may not be very shocking Friday night.

Riverside 27 Boiling Springs 20 (Overtime)

Boiling Springs, sans Jeremiah Favorite, who had season-ending surgery earlier this week, went to a place where strange things tend to happen to them when they have a lot of injuries piled up and their offense is struggling.

The Bulldogs led most of the game – by most I mean up until the final play of regulation. Riverside scored on the last play of the game to tie it after trailing 20-7 heading to the 4th quarter. But, with a chance to walk it off, Taly Labra blocked the extra point, sending the game to overtime.

After receiving the ball first in the free period, Riverside QB Gideon Merhib capped the 20-0 run with a 4-yard touchdown run. The game eventually came down to a 4th and 2 that the Bulldogs were unable to make anything of, securing the huge win for the Warriors.

Boiling Springs had a lot of success in the ground game, amassing 147 yards – led by a combined 139 yards between Imri Logan, Izael Johnson (who had the lone rushing score), and Kyron Tobler. Logan also had a pair of passing touchdowns – one to Hayden Allen from 55 yards out and the other being a 14 yard strike to Jaden Samuel.

The situation is less than ideal for the Bulldogs, who needed to win this game in order to potentially stay in the hunt for a home playoff game. With the loss, they will likely be looking at yet another year taking a long road trip in the opening round.

There was no local action at the 4A level this week as Greer was on a bye. They will close out the regular season with Daniel at Dooley Field on Halloween night.

MVP 55 Broome 12

While the score reads lopsided, for a while this game was not at all. Mountain View Prep drove the ball 59 yards (after back to back holds made for a 1st and 30 from their own 20, they had to gain 80 yards in technicality) on their opening drive – their longest of the game capped by a 34 yard TD pass.

As a matter of fact, of all the Stars’ other scoring drives, only one other was longer than 50 yards, ending in a 52 yard TD pass from Makorean Anderson to a wide open KD Hainsworth in stride over the middle.

After MVP took their early lead, the Centurions answered perfectly, cracking the goose egg with a 56 yard catch and run up the near sideline after a quick pass to the flat from QB Jameson Dearybury to Asher Littlejohn. The extra point fell short, but that 1 point would end up not mattering much.

For a while, both sides exchanged three and outs, but MVP eventually opened up the lead on the big pass from Anderson to Hainsworth early in the 2nd quarter, never to look back. Broome had their chances to seize momentum and pull back to within a score, but each time they crossed the 50, tough luck would find them. The Centurions turned the ball over three times in plus territory – one on a fumble that killed what was a big catch and run that would have set them up in the red zone, another on a Jameson Dearybury strip sack, and one more on a tipped pass right into the hands of a charging MVP defender. While the Stars only turned one of those into points, Broome had other ways to be their own worst enemy.

Two short punts led to 14 more points for the Stars, and eventually Broome, who lost Dearybury for the rest of the season to a broken arm on a 2 point conversion attempt midway through the 3rd quarter, was routed.

With the bounceback win to wrap up their regular season, the Stars secured 2nd place in region 3-3A. They will be on a much-needed bye next week while Broome goes on the road to Chapman to try and lock up third place in the standings.

Woodruff 31 Chapman 10

With the head to head tie breaker and MVP on a bye next week, regardless of what happens next week between Woodruff and Union County, the Wolverines locked up the region 3-3A championship with a win over Chapman at home.

Crescent 45 Chesnee 36

In the Eagles’ final non-region tilt of the season, they played up a classification, hosting the Crescent Tigers, who are 2nd place in region 1-3A behind top-ranked BHP. Despite a tough couple of weeks on offense, Chesnee bounced back – even if in a loss – with a combined 5 rushing touchdowns between Kale Thrift and Evan Reece-Lawter.

Chesnee went up 12-0 with 10:36 to play in the 2nd quarter before Crescent finally got going and devolved the game into a back-and-forth. The Tigers eventually flipped the script from the start of the game by finishing on a 15-0 run to put it away.

Reece-Lawter ran the ball 22 times for 136 yards and a pair of touchdowns to go with his 111 yards on 5 of 9 passing. Thrift added 106 rushing yards and 3 scores on 23 attempts. Braylon Blanton was the Eagles’ leading receiver with 80 yards on 3 catches.

For Chesnee, it all boils down to the annual Highway 11 Rivalry next week, as they host the Landrum Cardinals – who need a lopsided win in order to make the playoffs after getting beat 40-13 by Liberty on Friday night.