State champs! Perennial power Abbeville upends Oceanside in 2A football title game
One of the state’s storied programs is a state champion again.
Quarterback Zay Rayford threw for a touchdown and ran for one as Abbeville defeated Oceanside Collegiate, 35-20, to win the Class 2A championship on Friday at Charlie W. Johnson Stadium.
It is the Panthers’ 12th state championship and eighth under coach Jamie Nickles. Abbeville’s 12 titles ties Summerville for second most all-time. Gaffney has the state record with 17.
Nickles’ eight state championships are third most in state history for a head coach, trailing Willie Varner and John McKissick’s 10 titles.
“I’m so proud of the coaches, players, community,” an emotional Nickles said after the game. “There ain’t nobody in Abbeville right now. Everybody is down here right now. It is emotional for me because these kids believed in us while we were losing games. But they kept believing in what we were doing.”
Abbeville began the season at 2-2 with losses to Class 3A runner-up Powdersville and Class 5A Westside. But the Panthers finished the season with 11 consecutive wins, scoring 35 points or more in every game.
Abbeville led 21-0 at halftime but turned it over on its first possession of the third quarter. Edward Reidenbach hit Jace Krafchick on a 27-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 21-7. Reidenbach threw for 332 yards and three touchdowns. Krafchick had six catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns.
The Panthers’ lead was 28-13 in the fourth quarter when running back Antonio Harrison scored on a 9-yard run with 2:01 left. Harrison missed most of the season with a torn ACL suffered in June while playing basketball.
But Harrison returned in late October just in time for Abbeville’s playoff run.
“He was our inspiration all year long,” Nickles said of Harrison. “He kept telling me everyday, wait to Tooboo (his nickname) gets back. Well, we go him back and we didn’t run him to the second or third round of the playoffs. He still doesn’t have that Tooboo burst, but he is pretty good.”
Abbeville’s run-oriented offense finished with 283 yards on the ground. Jamel Marshall had a team-high 81 yards.
Karsen Norman had 70 yards, 61 coming on a TD run in the first quarter.
Rayford finished with 103 total yards. He completed just two passes but one of them was a 31-yarder to Javario Tinch to make it 21-0 in the second quarter.
Oceanside had a chance to score right before halftime, but running back Vaughn Blue was tackled at the 2-yard line on the final play of the half. The Landsharks got the ball in Abbeville territory on three other drives in the half but turned it over on downs each time.
Oceanside ends the season at 12-2. It was the Landsharks’ first championship appearance.
“The goal will be to get back here next year and win,” Oceanside coach Chad Wilkes said. “We got a lot of great players coming back. We are going to miss our seniors, who did a great job in my first year buying into what we are trying to do to get to this point. We got to take another step next year to make sure we are the ones celebrating.”
How they scored
First Quarter
A - Karson Norman 61 yd run (Nickles kick), 3:51
Second Quarter
A - Cade 22 run (Nickles kick), 10:50
A - Tinch 31 pass from Rayford (Nickles kick), 0:44
Third quarter
OC - Kraftchick 23 pass from Reidenbach (Mahoney kick), 10:52
A - Rayford 10 run (Nickles kick), 1:14
Fourh quarter
OC: Blue 6 pass from Reidenbach (Kick blocked), 4:36
A - Harrison 9 run (Nickles kick), 2:01
OC - Kraftchick 66 pass from Reidenbach (Mahoney kick), 1:31
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: A: Marshall 10-81; Norman 6-70; Rayford 11-52; Patterson 11-29; Cade 3-29; Harrison 4-27; Hadden 1-1. OC: Blue 19-69; Reidenbach 10-14.
PASSING: A: Rayford 2-6-0-51. OC: Reidenbach 22-37-1-322.
RECEIVING: A: Tinch 1-31; Harrison 1-20. OC: Kraftchick 6-130; Strickler 5-82; Blue 5-68; Bennett 3-22; Hagedon 1-8; Brown 1-7; Johnson 1-5.
This story was originally published December 2, 2022 at 5:15 PM.
