Tyler Smith earned “Best of the Best” honors this week after rushing 32 times for 353 yards and five touchdowns for No. 2 Barnwell in a 41-13 region championship clinching victory over Wade Hampton. The Warhorses are the area’s only team to finish the regular season with a perfect record, and Smith’s rushing statistics are as close to perfect as we’ll ever see. The 6-foot-1-inch tall and 207-pound senior recently became one of seven finalists for the South Carolina Mr. Football award after rushing for 2,262 yards and 37 touchdowns in 10 games. Smith has gained 9.9 yards per carry, and the accounts of his strength (500-pound squat and 360-pound bench press) and athleticism (defending class 2A high jump state champion) have been circulating throughout the state for the entire season.
The South Carolina class 2A playoffs will be hotly contested by area teams as No. 6 Strom Thurmond, No. 9 Saluda and Silver Bluff will all have their say against the best in the state. No. 1 Oceanside Collegiate will be the favorite as its only loss came against class 4A’s No. 1 ranked South Florence. But until a team proves they can slow down Barnwell’s elite rushing attack, the War Horses will have a state championship in their sights.
Honorable Mention
A Region Championship and a School Record
Cam Davis rushed 28 times for 276 yards, two touchdowns and four two-point conversions in a 52-42 win over Calhoun County that clinched a region championship for Wagener-Salley (7-3, 6-0). Davis became the school’s all-time leading rusher (4,487 yards) in his team’s sixth straight win.
“He always seems to find a way to pop out of a pile and find yardage and big plays,” eight-year head coach Willie Fox messaged Saturday. “He is routinely gaining 200 yards on the ground a game this season.”
The War Eagles rushed for 492 yards and scored 52 points without completing a pass Friday. Ian Stroman rushed for 90 yards on 14 carries.
Burke County’s Balanced Attack
Charlie Dorsey rushed 27 times for 161 yards and 2 touchdowns in Burke County’s 37-27 Wednesday night win over New Hampstead.
The No. 6 ranked Bears piled up 491 yards of total offense as senior quarterback Marshall Flowers completed 10 of 14 passes for 159 yards and a 38-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Golphin.
A feature of Burke County’s offense this season has been the diversity and quantity of its offensive weapons, and that trend continued during Wednesday’s win. A’merre Williams rushed 15 times for 78 yards and a touchdown, and he caught two passes for 30 yards. Backup quarterback Jensen Brantley also rushed for a touchdown.
Jack-of-all-trades standouts Donta Williams (fumble recovery, interception and 51 yards returning and 28 yards receiving), Jordan Franklin (81 yards returning), Jeremy Richardson (47 yards combining rushing and receiving and 2 pass-break-ups) and Kelvon Scott (interception) all provided key contributions in the win.
North Augusta and Thomson Clinch in Style
North Augusta capped a 4-0 region championship run with a 48-22 win over Midland Valley. Play-by-play radio commentator and head basketball coach Tony Harrell said the Yellow Jackets played their best and most complete game of the season in a message Saturday.
DJ Curry rushed 26 times for 189 yards and 3 touchdowns. Curry rushed for 1,511 yards and 15 touchdowns during the regular season for the Yellow Jackets (5-5, 4-0), and he rushed for more than 100 yards in nine of the ten games.
Colson Brown, who committed to Georgia Tech last week, completed 14 of 19 passes for 205 yards and 3 touchdowns. Brown also rushed for 48 yards and a touchdown.
Taylon Washington was on the receiving end of five completions for 120 yards and 2 touchdowns. Braelin Jackson also caught a touchdown pass, and Noah Wyatt returned a kickoff for 67 yards to set up a short touchdown run.
North Augusta responded to a 14-7 deficit by running off 41 unanswered points in the victory.
Aquinas’ Fantastic Freshman Jack Rhodes
Aquinas snapped a two-game losing streak in dramatic fashion when Brandon Ross blocked an extra point with less than a minute remaining to preserve a 28-27 victory over Greene County. Underclassmen Jack Rhodes (three touchdown passes) and Buddyrow Garrer (two touchdown receptions), and seniors Malachi Gordon (a touchdown rushing and another receiving) and Kevin Douglas have been among the players who have stepped up to fill the void created when running back Clark Jackson and quarterback Jim Franklin had their season ended by injuries 10 quarters ago.
Further details aren’t available yet from Friday’s win. But the three touchdown passes by Rhodes makes six total in two starts for the freshman Rhodes after a 3-touchdown and 299-yard performance in a 34-26 loss to Washington-Wilkes.
Rhodes also completed 9 of 14 passes for 135 yards in two quarters of relief action during a 28-24 loss to region champion Lincoln County two weeks ago. And during the three-game stretch in which he has been called to lead as the team’s quarterback, Rhodes has also made every one of his nine extra point attempts and all three field goal tries. For the season Rhodes is 5-5 kicking field goals and 27-34 on PATs.
I can’t claim the freshman has been perfect, but I can’t imagine hoping for a better performance from a backup quarterback thrust into full time duty in the most important stretch of the season.
Laney Resilient in Defeat
Beset by ball security problems while receiving kicks and making snaps and handoffs, Laney still managed to come within 51 seconds of a win at Putnam County and a home game in the state playoffs. But a 27-26 road loss made Putnam County the region’s No. 2 seed and Laney No. 3 despite a stellar performance by what I think is unquestionably the area’s most dominant line.
Chance Bush (5-foot,9-inch tall, 280-pound junior), Greg Grace (6-foot, 265-pound senior), Johnathan Ashley (6-foot-5-inch tall, 284-pound senior) and Brenton Potts (5-foot-10-inch tall, 230-pound senior spent the entire game in the trenches, either blocking on offense or firing off the line on defense. Four of Laney’s potential drives either never began, or were ended before they could get started because of fumbles and broken exchanges. But when the ball was secure, Laney’s bruising blockers led touchdown drives of 81 yards, 76 yards and 80 yards.
The Wildcats have room for improvement in many areas, but second year head coach Ronnie Baker has started with the basics and developed an elite offensive and defensive line. This 50-yard touchdown run by DJ Daggett is a work of art as it shows Greg Grace (52), Caleb Middleton (53), Tywann Patterson (44), James Pride (4) and a pulling Chance Bush (56) perfectly executing their assignments to give Daggett a free run to the end zone.
But because of the four fumbles and botched exchanges, Laney’s defense spent 32 of the game’s 48 minutes on the field. All but 3 of Putnam County’s 27 points came on drives that started at Laney’s 34, 25, 14 and 4-yard line. Laney surrendered 188 rushing yards on 40 attempts during the game as 6-4 and 205-pound defensive end Kalon Curry racked up 10 tackles, including two for a loss.
Curry is the only defensive lineman who doesn’t play both ways for the Wildcats. Brenton Potts (eight tackles), Johnathan Ashley (seven tackles, one for a loss), Chance Bush (five tackles, two for a loss) and Greg Grace led a defense that came within 51 seconds of pulling off an incredible feat.
The Wildcats entered the fourth quarter leading 26-20 with Putnam County possessing the ball at their own 20-yard line. After seven plays, Laney forced a punt from midfield that was touched by a Laney player and recovered by the War Eagles at Laney’s 27-yard line. Four plays later, Kalon Curry tackled Tamarion Peters behind the line of scrimmage on fourth-and-two for a turnover on downs.
But after a disastrous three plays from scrimmage, Laney’s offense lost 16 yards and had to punt with its back against the back of its own end zone, resulting in Putnam County assuming possession for the third time in the fourth quarter deep in Laney territory. Despite giving up the game winning touchdown after spending all but 60 seconds on the field during the fourth quarter, Laney’s defense allowed Putnam County only 70 yards of total offense in the second half.
DJ Daggett also played almost every snap on both sides of the ball and rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries. Daggett also recorded 4 tackles (one for a loss) and made the most impressive play I’ve seen this season when he intercepted a pass and shoveled the ball to Walter Jackson for a touchdown to give Laney a 14-10 lead early in the second quarter.
Jackson intercepted a pass himself to go along with the defensive touchdown. And CJ Holmes accounted for 130 rushing and receiving yards combined. Holmes scored the go-ahead touchdown with 21 seconds remaining in the third quarter to set up the 12-minute long test of Laney’s defense.
Claiming a Playoff Spot
No. 4 Thomson and No. 10 Lincoln County each clinched a region championship. Harlem won to set up a region championship game against Morgan County in Madison this Friday. South Aiken clinched a two-seed, and Hephzibah grabbed a three-seed with convincing victories, and Augusta Prep improved its playoff seed with a win at home. Here are some of the standouts from those wins:
Noah Story completed 14 of 17 passes for 292 yards and 3 touchdowns for Thomson (8-1, 6-0) in a 61-0 win over Glenn Hills that secured the region’s top seed in the playoffs for the Bulldogs.
No. 10 Lincoln County (7-2, 4-0) also clinched its region’s top seed with a 34-0 victory over Warren County, but statistics weren’t available at the time of this release.
South Aiken (4-6, 3-1) secured a two-seed with a 63-30 win over arch rival Aiken. Terrence Smith did it again by rushing for 246 yards and 4 touchdowns to go with 43 yards passing. Smith was actually outdone in the touchdown category by his running mate Jevon Edwards, who scored five times and rushed for 197 yards.
In ten regular season games, the dynamic rushing duo combined to gain 3,480 yards and score 46 of their team’s 47 touchdowns in what has seemed like some kind of video game simulation.
Hephzibah (5-4, 2-2) topped Richmond 32-17 to claim the third seed in its region. According to the game’s broadcasters, Telly Johnson rushed for 150 yards and 3 touchdowns and surpassed double digits in tackles. Jalen Patrick completed 10 of 12 passes for 162 yards and one touchdown to go with another touchdown on the ground.
Augusta Prep (4-5) moved up several spots in the class 2A Georgia Independent Athletic Association (GIAA) rankings with a 27-20 win over Edmund Burke. The Cavaliers can improve on their four-seed with a win this Friday over the Georgia School for Innovation and Classics (0-9).
Prep rushed for more than 200 yards and four touchdowns in the win over Edmund Burke. Tyon Waiters scored twice and Bryson Cronan and Sam Connell each found the end zone as well.
A Surprise Defeat
The three-time defending GIAA class 1A state champion Thomas Jefferson Academy (8-1) committed four turnovers in a surprising 35-34 loss to Robert Toombs Christian Academy (5-5). The loss was the first of the season for TJ.
Beans Hunt (103 yards and one touchdown), John Durden (95 yards and 1 touchdown) and Cam Beasley (89 yards and 2 touchdowns) led Thomas Jefferson’s potent rushing attack. Durden also made 11.5 tackles and intercepted a pass.
Augusta Christian (2-8) fell 37-28 to Cardinal Newman in the final regular season game for the Lions. Wilson Donnelly completed 16 of 28 passes for 241 yards and a touchdown to Dallas Carter. Carter logged 4 receptions for 158 yards to go along with 86 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground. Wes Michaelson tallied 18 tackles for the Lions.
Chad Cook is a sports columnist who is known on the field and court as AugBball. Follow him on Instagram @AugBBall
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