Football Friday Rewind: Irmo shuts down White Knoll; Westwood wins OT thriller
Irmo football stayed perfect as it moved closer to its end-of-season showdown.
Junior Maleek Miller scored two first-half touchdowns as the top-ranked Yellow Jackets defeated White Knoll, 14-3, on Friday night at WC Hawkins Stadium
With the win, Irmo moves to 8-0 and is two weeks away from the much-anticipated showdown with its city rival, Dutch Fork. The Yellow Jackets face Chapin next week.
“We put ourselves right in the driver’s seat,” Irmo coach Aaron Brand said. “There is still a chance to play for a region championship here at the house.”
The game was an anticipated matchup for Irmo defensive tackle Tyrone Jennings, who played the last two years at White Knoll before transferring to the Yellow Jackets’ program. Jennings came up in pregame with a blue White Knoll T-shirt on and has had the game circled since the summer.
Jennings was a key factor on defense along with Division I prospects Jaiden Bryant and Yale commit Major Taylor. The Yellow Jackets stifled the Timberwolves’ offense, shutting them out in the final two quarters.
“We homies at the end of the day and are still friends,” Jennings said. “The defense played fast, physical with a lot of energy and loved how the linebackers, d-line and secondary played. We did everything we had to do.”
Brand said, “I think the MVP of the night was the defense. We held a pretty good offense down and held them to three points and that was off a turnover. I’m super proud of those guys and the whole team for being resilient and taking care of business.”
Offensively, Irmo was efficient and was able to grind out long drives on offense, including one in the second half as it ate up more than six minutes in the fourth quarter before turning over the ball on downs at the 14. Quarterback Dre Dopson made a couple of key conversions on that drive and was solid after throwing an early interception.
Dopson was 9-of-15 passing for 107 yards and also carried it 14 times for 83 yards.
“I can’t say enough about the way Dre Dopson managed the football game,” Brand said. “He used the clock, doing what he is supposed to do and keeping us in front of the chains.”
Amire White added 73 yards rushing for Irmo. Miller had 10 carries for 45 yards.
Irmo scored on the opening drive of the game as it held the ball for 8:12, capped by Miller’s 18-yard run to make it 7-0.
White Knoll got deep into Irmo territory on its first two possessions but only managed a Brayden Briscoe 32-yard field goal to cut the lead to 7-3 with 7:10 left in the second.
After the two teams traded turnovers, Irmo capitalized on WK’s miscue as Miller scored on a 3-yard run to make it 14-3 with 1:52 left in the second quarter.
It was White Knoll’s second straight loss to a ranked opponent. Dutch Fork beat the Wolves last week. With the two losses, White Knoll is almost guaranteed the third spot in the region but has a good chance at a first-round bye in the Class 5A Division II playoffs, where it could meet Irmo again.
The two teams played in the 5A Division II championship last season, with Irmo winning, 29-25.
Dutch Fork rolls past Wildcats
Jaxon Knotts threw for 264 yards and accounted for three touchdowns as Dutch Fork defeated Lexington, 49-0.
Running back Sheldon Shine added 82 yards and two touchdowns. Kyle Henry and Brayden Johnson also had TD runs. Receiver Stone Furrey had four catches for 75 yards and a TD.
Dutch Fork’s defense held Lexington to 14 yards of offense.
Westwood wins in wild finish
Josiah Henryhand hit Tyrek Jenkins on a touchdown pass and Westwood stopped Lugoff-Elgin at the 2-yard line to defeat the Demons, 34-28 in double overtime.
Lugoff-Elgin looked like it had the game won in regulation. But Westwood’s Jayden Boyd took a hook-and-ladder and went 89 yards on the final play of regulation to tie it at 21.
It was Boyd’s second touchdown of the game. The senior also caught a 65-yard TD pass from Josiah Henryhand in the third quarter.
Lugoff-Elgin scored on the first play of overtime on quarterback Zach Williams’ TD run. It was Williams’ third TD run. He also had a TD pass. Westwood answered with a run by Angelo Rios to tie it at 28.
In the second overtime, Henryhand hit Jenkins, who made a diving catch in the corner of the end zone, for the 8-yard TD. Westwood missed the extra point.
Lugoff-Elgin picked up a couple of penalties to move its drive back to the 25. The Demons got it to the 5-yard line. On fourth down, Williams scrambled and got it to the 2-yard line before Justin Washington made the game-saving tackle.
Swansea’s perfect season ends
Swansea was handed its first loss of the season as Silver Bluff defeated the Tigers, 37-28.
Jordan Williams threw a 32-yard pass to Trellis Riley with six minutes left in the fourth and added a safety to defeat Swansea for the second straight season.
Dante Caldwell had two touchdown runs for Swansea.
Around the Midlands
Ridge View 29, West Florence 7: Bijon Virgo threw a TD pass to Khristian Jackson and Spencer Bobian had a TD run as the Blazers stayed in a first-place tie with Sumter in the region standings.
Virgo also had a TD run and Jaiden Brown returned a fumble for a touchdown.
AC Flora 48, Dreher 0: Roper Wentzky threw three touchdown passes to Josh Davis in the Falcons’ win.
Jalen Simmons also had two TD runs for ACF, which defeated its rival for the 18th time in the last 19 meetings.
Gray Collegiate 44, South Aiken 7: The War Eagles won their fifth straight and stayed in first place in the Region 5-4A standings.
Quarterback Xavier Wright threw for 238 yards and had three TD passes, two to Royce Williamson, for the War Eagles. Williamson finished with 79 receiving yards. Corey Gleaton led GC with 103 yards receiving. Williamson and Gleaton also had interceptions on defense.
Trevon Williamson ran for 152 yards and two touchdowns and JP Sweat returned an interception for a TD. Kaleb Berry had a TD catch.
Camden 57, York 17: Graysen Rimpf threw four touchdown passes in the Bulldogs’ region win.
Navier Boykin had two TD runs and Tylin Drakeford had a TD run and caught a TD pass.
Isaiah Smith had an 83-yard touchdown run and 70-yard catch.
River Bluff 33, Chapin 7: Davis Taylor threw two touchdown passes to Darius Carter and Hayden Myers had two TD runs in the Gators’ win.
Liam Flynn kicked a pair of field goals for River Bluff.
Cooper Derrick had a TD pass for Chapin.
Keenan 28, Fox Creek 21: Transfer Cam McMillon threw a TD and ran for one as the Raiders rallied past Fox Creek.
Keenan trailed 21-14 in the fourth quarter before scoring two touchdowns in the final five minutes. It was McMillon’s first game since transferring from South Pointe last month. McMillon had the go-ahead TD run with just over three minutes left in the game.
Hunter O’Neal had a TD run and Tyreik Davenport returned a fumble for a touchdown.
Gilbert 30, Brookland-Cayce 19: Kitt McLauchlin threw two touchdowns to RJ Kearse in the Indians’ win.
Wynn Meetze also had a TD run for the Indians.
Avery King had two TD runs for B-C. Andrew Frick threw a TD pass to Bennett Plane.
Ninety-Six 28, Saluda 27: Carver Davis ran for two touchdowns, including the go-ahead score with 6:17 left as Ninety-Six held off the Tigers.
Saluda made it 28-27 on Tristan Daniels’ 12-yard run with 3:25 left but failed on a two-point conversion.
Davis finished with 128 yards and Joe Moore had 105.
Daniels finished with 157 yards. Brayden Williams threw for 127 yards and three touchdowns.
Fairfield Central 49, Eau Claire 20: TyQuarius Shannon had four touchdowns in the Griffins’ victory.
Er’Dreus Walker, Kenyon Douglas and Kaden Diggs also had TDs for FC.
Lower Richland 27, Lakewood 0: Zayair Yates had two rushing touchdowns and Solomon Kelson had one in the Diamond Hornets’ win.
Sumter 47, Blythewood 34: Cleveland Pinckey and Frank Richardson each rushed for more than 200 yards as Sumter racked up 559 yards on the ground.
Pinckey rushed for 262 yards and three scores. Richardson added 233 and four touchdowns.
James Veasey threw four touchdown passes in the loss for Blythewood.
CA Johnson 20, Great Falls 16: Terrell Golson scored three touchdowns, including the go-ahead one with 1:32 left, to help the Green Hornets rally past Great Falls.
CAJ trailed 16-6 at halftime before Golson scored on a 56-yard run to cut the lead to 16-12. In the fourth quarter, the Green Hornets converted on a 4th-and-33 and then Golson scored on a 10-yard run to make it 20-16.
Batesburg-Leesville 63, American Leadership 0: Amadre Wooden rushed for 242 yards and three touchdowns in Batesburg-Leesville’s win.
KD Whitt also caught two touchdowns for the Panthers.
Clear Dot Charter 33, Augusta Christian 3 (Thursday): Lucas Tejada threw for 300 yards, rushed for 86 and had four total touchdowns in Clear Dot’s win. Malachi Jackson added 133 yards rushing while Dillon Hughey led the team with six catches for 113 yards.
Next week’s schedule
All games at 7:30 p.m.
Friday
Airport at Gilbert
American Leadership at Ninety-Six
Andrew Jackson at North Central
Batesburg-Leesville at Pelion
Ben Lippen at Hammond
CA Johnson at Lamar
Camden Military at Heathwood Hall
Cardinal Newman at Porter-Gaud
Chester at Mid-Carolina
Clear Dot Charter at Anderson Cavaliers
Dreher at South Pointe
Eau Claire at Columbia
Florence Christian at Northside Christian
Fox Creek at Swansea
Gray Collegiate at Aiken
Irmo at Chapin
Lancaster at Camden
Laurens Academy at Richard Winn
Newberry at Keenan
Newberry Academy at WW King
North Augusta at Brookland-Cayce
Richland Northeast at York
Ridge View at Sumter
River Bluff at Dutch Fork
Saluda at Strom Thurmond
South Florence at Lower Richland
Spring Valley at Lugoff-Elgin
White Knoll at Lexington
Westwood at West Florence
This story was originally published October 17, 2025 at 11:48 PM.
