‘Hats off to Lower Richland’: Defense shines as Diamond Hornets top Flora, win region
Lower Richland went from 1-4 at the end of September to Region 4-4A champs at the end of October.
Senior quarterback Jamison Ganzy threw for three touchdowns and ran for another and the Diamond Hornets defense forced six turnovers for a 32-20 victory over A.C. Flora on Friday night at Memorial Stadium. Coupled with Orangeburg-Wilkinson’s loss to Crestwood, Lower Richland wins the region and will have homefield advantage for as long as they continue to win in the Class 4A Lower State playoffs.
“First and foremost, to God be the glory,” Lower Richland Rodney Barr said. “It was a rough September, came back, fought back and at the last of October be in a position to win the region championship. It’s a testament to these young men and coaches for continuing to believe.”
The Diamond Hornets defense was spectacular from the beginning. They recovered three fumbles, had two interceptions, recovered a pooch kick on a kickoff and blocked a punt.
“I’m super proud of them (the defense),” Barr said. “They’ve been playing well the last few weeks. We’ve been averaging getting two or three turnovers, so they put us in position that we had to win the game tonight.”
Ganzy was the offensive catalyst. He stayed calm in the pocket against a huge A.C. Flora defensive front. He threw for 181 yards and ran for 141 more while accounting for the three scores.
“Everybody doubted us early in the season when we were 1-4,” Ganzy said. “We came into the region and got to 3-0 and now we’re 4-0 after tonight.”
Lower Richland (5-4, 4-0) trailed 7-0 at the end of the first quarter, but Ganzy connected with Travis Reese on a 78-yard scoring strike on the first play of the second quarter to pull the Diamond Hornets within 7-6 after the missed extra point.
Lower Richland then blocked a punt and recovered at the Falcons 5-yard line before scoring on a 3-yard run by Jeremy Barney for a 12-7 advantage. LR later added a safety for a 14-7 lead.
The Falcons then ran a two-minute offense to perfection and tied it with 15 seconds remaining in the half thanks to a 1-yard TD run by Dontorian Best, his second of the night.
The second half belonged to Lower Richland. They took the opening possession of the second half and scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Ganzy.
On their next offensive series, Ganzy connected with Fred Archie on a 22-yard scoring pass that came on a fourth down conversion.
“We felt like he could have been a North-South guy. He’s showing what he can do now,” Barr said.
Wise Segars brought A.C. Flora within a score late in the third quarter with a 14-yard scoring toss to Eriq Rice but that was as close as the Falcons would get.
The turnover bug is something that has plagued the Falcons (8-1, 3-1) the last two weeks. They have 11 turnovers in those two games and this time it came back to hurt them. The Falcons also played most of the game without leading rusher Matt Pack, who went to the sideline after re-injuring his ankle on the second play of the game.
“Hats off to Lower Richland. They outplayed us,” ACF coach Dustin Curtis said. “They took care of the ball and had explosive plays and we didn’t. That’s 11 turnovers in two games for us. It wasn’t a problem for seven games, but turnovers put points on the board for the other team. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around it.”
LR 0 14 12 6 - 32
ACF 7 7 6 0 - 20
HOW THEY SCORED
1st Quarter
ACF – Dontorian Best 7 run (Fordham kick) 3:33
2nd Quarter
LR – Travis Reese 78 pass from Jamison Ganzy (kick failed) 11:42
LR – Jeremy Barney 3 run (pass failed) 8:58
LR – Safety, sack in end zone
ACF - Best 1 run (Fordham kick) 0:15
3rd Quarter
LR – Ganzy 1 run (pass failed) 8:47
LR – Fred Archie 22 pass from Ganzy (pass failed) 6:36
ACF – Eriq Rice 14 pass from Wise Segars (kick failed) 1:15
4th Quarter
LR – Archie 47 pass from Ganzy (pass failed) 11:04
This story was originally published October 26, 2019 at 12:31 AM.