State champs! Saluda football makes history with dominant victory in 2A title game.
Saluda coach Stewart Young usually does his best to avoid a Gatorade victory shower but not Friday night.
Young ran toward it as players grabbed the Gatorade container in the closing seconds of the Class 2A state championship game. The players obliged their coach and doused him as Saluda defeated Barnwell, 39-14, to win its first state title since 1963.
“It means everything,” Young said. “We are going to have a party tonight like they ain’t never had before in Saluda. I’m going to tell you that.”
The party started hours before kickoff as Saluda fans arrived in droves to Charlie W. Johnson Stadium in anticipation of the Tigers’ first state title game since Hall of Fame coach Mooney Player was leading the program.
It likely will go into the wee hours of the night and on through the offseason as they celebrate the first championship since integration. As the buses pulled back into the city, fireworks were going off to commemorate the huge night for the town of 3,632.
Saluda quarterback Noah Bell delivered a performance worthy of winning the Mr. Football award. The Mr. Football finalist was 25-of-29 passing for 372 yards and five touchdowns. He also rushed for 98 yards and a TD.
“He is a straight dog,” Saluda receiver Dallan Wright said of Bell. “When we were on the field, one of their linebackers said we never seen a quarterback that can run like that and was so tough like that. Noah Bell is one of the greatest quarterbacks in South Carolina history.”
Bell was trying to soak in everything and was able to high-five his way through the student section and also shared a special hug with his father, Wayne Bell Saluda’s offensive coordinator and former South Carolina football player.
“This is something you won’t grasp until 10 years later, and people will still be talking about it. Then it will sink in,” Bell said. “Beginning of the season, we set out to be the best team in the state, and our best is better than their best. Through trials and there has been a bunch of ups and downs. But we got it done tonight.”
Saluda entered playoffs as underdogs
Wright caught 10 passes for 171 yards and four TDs. One of Wright’s TDs was a leaping catch over a Barnwell defender early in the fourth quarter.
Saluda finished with 523 yards of offense and was 9-of-12 on third downs.
The win caps off a title run that was filled with plenty of ups and downs. The Tigers entered the playoffs as underdogs. Saluda lost to Southside Christian, 16-13, on Sept. 27 and then finished the regular season with losses to Abbeville and Batesburg-Leesville.
But Young said his team simplified things and went back to having fun. It showed as Saluda ran through the playoffs with three blowout wins before knocking off four-time defending champ Abbeville last week in the Class 2A Upper State championship.
Young stressed the importance of putting that emotional win over Abbeville behind them and not losing focus on the title game. Saluda did that emphatically as it scored on its first three possessions, capped off by Bell’s 10-yard pass to Wright to make it 20-0 with 3:58 left in the first quarter.
Barnwell cut it to 20-7, but Bell found Wright on a 9-yard pass to make it 26-7 with 50 seconds left in the second quarter.
After Barnwell got it to within 26-14, it took three plays for Saluda to answer as Bell hit Zaye Bryant to make it 33-14 with 6:24 left in the second.
“We were underdogs the last three weeks, and we came out with a chip on our shoulder, and it was evident from the first snap to the last,” Bell said.
Scoring summary
HOW THEY SCORED
B 0 7 7 0 — 14
S 20 6 7 6 — 39
First Quarter
S — Bell 1 run (Vasquez kick), 9:12
S — Wright 68 pass from Bell (Vasquez kick), 7:05
S — Wright 10 pass from Bell (kick failed), 3:58
Second Quarter
B — Miller 4 run (Clay Pender kick), 5:38
S — Wright 9 pass from Bell (kick failed), 0:50
Third Quarter
B — Craig Pender 10 run (Caly Pender kick), 7:35
S — Bryant 80 pass from Bell (Vasquez kick), 6:24
Fourth quarter
S — Wright 29 pass from Bell (run failed), 10:48
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: B: TJ Miller 7-46; Jamari Chisolm 8-46; Craig Pender 12-29; Dallyon Creech 1-3. S: Noah Bell 23-98; Montrevious Baker 10-52; Dallan Wright 2-9.
PASSING: B: Craig Pender 11-24-0-155. S: Noah BelL 25-29-1-372.
RECEIVING: Barnwell Warhorses-Dallyon Creech 5-67; TJ Miller 2-45; Ena Bynum 1-27; Jakavein Williams 1-9; Jamari Chisolm 1-6; Marcus Robinson 1-1. S: Wright 10-171; Zaye Bryant 5-119; Jervon Whitt 5-56; Keenan Brooks 4-25; Montrevious Baker 1-1.
This story was originally published December 6, 2019 at 7:48 PM.
