Dutch Fork, AC Flora win big. Blythewood, Spring Valley rally for road wins
A.C. Flora coach Dustin Curtis typically would have a different feel for his football team in the last weekend of September. But as we all know, things are different in 2020.
The Falcons only scrimmaged once in the preseason, so it wasn’t surprising when they started slowly Friday night. But they did have 17 starters returning, and once they got rolling behind a dominating defense that held Westwood to 116 yards of total offense, A.C. Flora opened a COVID-19 delayed season-opener with a 44-6 victory over the Redhawks.
“We’re pretty resilient,” Curtis said. “I knew we could hang our hat early on leadership. We certainly have that. Not having a second scrimmage probably hurt more than we anticipated but we thought, being an older team, we thought we would be OK. The second half we turned it around and were much more productive.”
The Falcons defensive front of Amoree Stephens, Jaylin Brown and Omarion Hammond came in highly touted and didn’t disappoint. They were routinely in the Westwood backfield and were disrupting plays before they reached the line of scrimmage.
They limited the Redhawks to 47 yards of total offense in the first half and added a 59-yard pick-6 by Boyce Bankhead just for good measure. The back seven played as well as the guys up front.
Myles Trull added another score for the defense with a 36-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the third quarter. The Falcons intercepted three passes on the night.
“Everybody talks about the 40-boys (Stephens, Brown and Hammond), and they’re great but I’m going to tell you Myles Trull, Ja’Marion Perkins, Tyrell Green and Max Childress are really good too. They just don’t get the hype.”
Matt Pack led the A.C. Flora offense with 127 yards on 15 carries. The senior ripped off a 68-yard run on the first offensive play from scrimmage to set up a Markel Townsend 3-yard scoring run.
The Falcons put the dagger in just before the half with a two-play, 76-yard drive that was capped with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Ethan Beamish to Carew Bates with seven seconds remaining that made it 18-0.
Beamish, making his first start at A.C. Flora after transferring from Hillcrest, finished 7-of-12 for 142 yards and touchdown passes of 17 and 36 yards. He completed his final six passes after a shaky start.
Terrell Coleman added two rushing scores.
Dutch Fork 66 White Knoll 0
Will Taylor made a big splash in his Dutch Fork debut by throwing four TDs and rushing for another as the Silver Foxes extended their unbeaten streak to 41 games.
The 66 points were the most scored by Dutch Fork in a season opener and most in a game since scoring 70 against Chapin in 2018.
Taylor finished with 307 yards on 14-of-21 passing and also rushed for 31 yards, most coming in the first half.
“We played lights out in the scrimmage last week and played lights out tonight,” Dutch Fork coach Tom Knotts said. “Will made some fabulous plays and we’ve got some real playmakers on the outside.
“And I am really proud of the defense. Those guys will hit. We had some good defenses in my 10 years here, but I don’t know if I saw a defense that could fly around like that.”
Charlotte commit Elijah Spencer caught 3 passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns of 38 and 35 yards. Running back Jarvis Green had 90 yards of total offense and two TDs.
Antonio Williams had three catches for 99 yards and two touchdowns and also returned a punt 72 yards for a TD in the second half.
Blythewood 27, North Augusta 24
Dhani Dixon had a 5-yard TD run with 1:21 left to help the Bengals to a comeback victory.
Blythewood trailed 14-0 after the first quarter and 24-14 with 6:36 left in the third.
Angelo Donato threw a pair of touchdown passes and DJ Hutcherson returned a blocked punt for a score.
Ben Lippen 35, Trinity Collegiate 32
Quarterback Stryker Gandy threw for 168 yards and two touchdowns in Ben Lippen’s first win of the season.
Ben Lippen trailed 24-14 at halftime. Max Drag rushed for 82 yards and a TD and caught two passes for 40 yards.
Wilson Hall 16, Cardinal Newman 6
Graham Van Patten ran for 175 yards and a TD for Wilson Hall.
CN’s Shanye Monsanto rushed for 43 yards and a TD which cut the Barons’ lead to 10-6 in the third quarter.
Tate Sistare put WH up 16-6 with a 3-yard run in the fourth quarter.
Spring Valley 17, Rock Hill 12
DQ Smith hit Jalen Crumpton on a 15-yard pass with 5:42 left to give the Vikings the come-from-behind win.
Rock Hill had a chance to win in the final minute but Spring Valley stopped them inside the 10-yard line.
Smith threw for 162 yards, and Ty’sean Osby had five catches for 80 yards and a TD.
Airport 20, Midland Valley 0
Immanuel Bovain ran for 132 yards and a TD, and Tyler Dasher had a pair of scores in Airport’s win.
Dasher had a 65-yard TD run and also threw an 11-yard TD pass to Gavin Epps.
Northwestern 37, Ridge View 21
Will Mattison threw for two touchdowns and Jaylen Chavis ran for a TD for Northwestern.
Mattison finished with 122 yards passing and Chavis had 118 rushing.
Northwestern built a 37-7 lead before two late Ridge View TD passes from Andre Washington to Jordan Smith.
Washington finished with 264 yards passing with 242 yards going to Smith.
Chapin 47, Lower Richland 26
Chapin rallied from a 26-7 deficit in the first half for the season-opening victory.
Matthew Becker and Zavier Short had TD catches from Hunter Sheppard. Bennett Galloway ran for two touchdowns and Jayden Bradford and Josh Wells each had one.
Sheppard threw for 175 yards and Galloway rushed for 167.
Gray Collegiate 27, Batesburg-Leesville 20
KZ Adams scored on a 4-yard run with 1:21 and added the 2-point conversion to help Gray Collegiate past Batesburg-Leesville.
Adams finished with 288 yards rushing on 30 carries
The War Eagles lef 19-7 before Batesburg-Leesville took the lead on Chris Whitt’s interception return with 1:21 left in the third quarter.
Irmo 63, Richland Northeast 6
Running back Jayon Chambers ran for 214 yards and three touchdowns in the Yello Jackets’ opener.
Irmo quarterback Dylan Williams ran for two touchdowns and threw one and Naahzekial Mays had two scores.
Hammond 28, Laurence Manning 7
CJ Stokes ran for 161 yards and three touchdowns as Hammond moved to 4-0 on the season.
Jack Weston added a TD pass and Cam Scott hauled in five passes for 97 yards.
Gilbert 32, Orangeburg-Wilkinson 13
Colton Mason ran for 166 yards and a TD for Gilbert.
Mason’s TD put the Indians up 25-13 early in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Izayah Whiteside threw for 115 yards and two TDs.
Lugoff-Elgin 35, Dreher 19
Ashton Horton, Scotty Dean and Blease Campbell each had touchdowns for Lugoff-Elgin.
LE’s Tahmaz Gilchrist had a punt return for a touchdown.
Two of Dreher’s touchdowns came on defense, including one my Malik Heyward.
Brookland-Cayce 41, Fox Creek 7
Running back Will Way ran for three TDs and caught a TD pass for the Bearcats on Friday night.
Quarterack Peyton Whitten had the TD pass to Way and Brian Robinson also had a score.
Laurens Academy 64, Northside Christian 14
Quarterback Max McKenna threw two touchdowns (Charlie Compton, Luke Cochran) as Northside dropped to 2-2 on the season.
Saluda 62, Eau Claire 14
Montrevious Baker ran for three touchdowns and Tyleke Mathis caught two TDs as the defending 2A champs won its opener.
Baker finished with 112 yards rushing. QB Jonah McCary passed for 104 yards and 3 TDs.
Fairfield Central 33, Keenan 12
Running back Will Barber and quarterback Stephon Gadson each scored twice in the Griffins’ season-opening win.
Heathwood Hall 41, Porter-Gaud 13
Alex Lewis threw for a TD and ran for one as Heathwood bounced back from its first loss last week to beat Porter-Gaud.
Ronnie Porter and Josh Gary also added TD runs for the Highlanders.
Richard Winn 26, Palmetto Christian 14
B. Baker ran for two touchdowns and had an interception as the Eagles moved to 5-0.
Zack Taylor and Joey Bannister also had TD runs.
C.A. Johnson 21, Lewisville 14
On Thursday, Cecilius Bailey 7-yard run in the fourth quarter put the Hornets ahead as Walt Wilson won his debut as CA Johnson coach.
Bailey finished with 91 yards rushing. QB Isom Harris threw for 190 yards and a TD to Desmond Martin, who finished with five catches for 130 yards.
Newberry 39, Columbia 12
On Thursday, KJ Robinson rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns in Newberry’s season-opening wn.
OT Sims also rushed for two TDs and quarterback Zy Epps added a score.
Jalen Blunt had a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown for the Capitals.
North Central 38, Lewisville 7
On Thursday, Shyheim Shropshire and Kalab Haven each scored twice as the Knights rolled to a big opening-night victory.
Haven finished with 118 yards rushing while Shropshire caught a 48-yard pass from Jesse Bowers and ran for a 51-yard score.
Bowers finished with 133 yards passing and also ran for 16 yards and a TD.
Chester 20, Mid-Carolina 13:
On Thursday, Chester QB Zan Dunham ran for 135 yards and two touchdowns and also threw for 127 in the win over Mid-Carolina.
M-C trailed 13-0 at half but got on board in the third on Jack Livington’s pass to Darian Bookman. Anthony Wicker’s 69-yard TD run got the Rebels to within 20-13. M-C had a chance to tie in the fourth but Tim Brown’s interception at the 50-yard line ended the threat.
Ridge Spring Monetta 26, Pelion 12
On Thursday, Remedee Leaphart threw for 237 yards and three TDs in RSM’s victory.
Tykeem Martin had four catches for 125 yards and Dantrell Weaver rushed for 102 yards and a TD.
Azwan James rushed for 121 yards and a TD for Pelion.
This story was originally published September 25, 2020 at 11:56 PM.
