22 hours Ago
It took Summerville until the fourth quarter to put the game out of the reach, but the Green Wave eliminated its rival. Summerville (11-0) claimed a 36-13 win over the Fort Dorchester (6-6) Nov. 22 at McKissick Field during the second round of the 5A, Division 1 Football playoffs.
The Green Wave, which earned a bye for the first round, advances to host Ridge View (8-4) at 7:30 p.m. Nov.
29 in the third round. The Blazers advanced with a 55-14 first-round win over Spring Valley and a 22-15 second-round win over Cane Bay (3-9). “Ridge View has been good the last few years,” Summerville coach Ian Rafferty said.
“They have really good athletes and are well coached. They played a tough schedule so we will have our work cut out for us next week. Whoever is left in the third round of the playoffs is good so we are going to have to show up and play good.
” Ridge View finished the regular season as the Region 5 runner-up behind Sumter. The Blazers’ losses this season came to Northwestern, Dutch Fork, Camden and Sumter. Summerville closed its undefeated regular season Nov.
1 with a 50-21 win at Fort Dorchester to claim the Region 8 Championship. Early in the rematch, the Green Wave seemed to be on its way to another route. However, facing a 14-0 deficit, the Patriots’ defense stiffened early in the second quarter and held Summerville to only seven points for the next 13 minutes and 45 seconds of game-clock time.
Fortunately for Green Wave fans, the Summerville defense was impressive save a handful of plays and the Wave found the end zone twice in the final quarter. Fort Dorchester’s first six possessions of the game ended with a punt. Later in the game, Summerville gained possession on three interceptions as well as on a turnover on downs.
The Green Wave defense only yielded two scoring drives. “Our coaches put together a good game plan so we just went out there and executed,” Summerville defensive back Jacquez Walker said. “They put us in great positions to make plays so we just make the plays.
We have all the pieces to the puzzle on offense and defense so we are lucky.” Summerville leaned on its running game and scored on its first two possessions. The Wave drove 62 yards to score on a 1-yard run by running back Jayvyn Williams with 5:15 remaining in the opening quarter.
Quarterback Jaden Cummings had a 28-yard run on the drive, foreshadowing how important his carries would be in the game. Summerville drove 69 yards to score on its next drive. Williams and Cummings did most of the work on the drive, which was capped by a 10-yard touchdown run by Cummings.
The Wave’s third drive ended with a Fort fumble recovery that was Summerville’s sole turnover. Williams surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark in the first half to help Summerville to a 14-0 halftime lead. The Green Wave received the second-half kickoff and drove 66 yards to score on a 5-yard TD run by Williams.
Junior running back DJ Grant had 40 rushing yards on the drive and Williams did most of the rest of the work. After the teams swapped punts, Walker made his first of two interceptions in the game. It was a defensive battle from there until late in the third quarter.
Fort Dorchester took over on downs and after some productive runs hit a big play. Patriots’ quarterback Banks Wickersham completed a pass to Malquan Pimentel Jr. for a nice gain.
The receiver was tackled, but landed on his tackler and his knee didn’t hit the turf. That allowed Pimentel to roll off and up to his feet and dash to the end zone for a 63-yard TD reception. Eric Mittag’s ensuing PAT kick made it a two-score game in the final minute of the third quarter.
However, the Patriots’ first possession of the fourth quarter ended with Walker’s second pick. The interception and long return gave Summerville a first and goal at the 2 yard-line. On fourth down, Cummings dove into the end zone for his second scoring carry.
Summerville faked the PAT kick with Cummings tossing a high pass to the back of the end zone that tight end Yasir Smith leaped up to grab for a successful two-point conversion and a 29-7 Summerville lead. Fort Dorchester’s Kameron Maxwell had a 47-yard run on the Patriots’ next possession to move the ball into the red zone. Soon after, Summerville’s JT Williams intercepted a pass and dashed 95 yards into the end zone for a 36-7 Green Wave lead with Bennett Kelley’s PAT kick.
The Patriots drove 55 yards to score on their next possession. Quarterback Kevin Johnson had a 20-yard run and completed passes to Lesley Johnson and Mykell Warthen on the drive, which was capped by a 5-yard TD run by Warthen. A two-point conversion attempt failed, leaving the score 36-13 with just more than two minutes remaining.
“Our goal every week is to go 1-0 so I’m happy,” Rafferty said. “Our defense has just gotten better as the year went along and our kids play hard. I’ve been waiting for a breakout night.
We were a little sloppy on offense. I thought we would have played a little better, but FD had a lot to do with that. They have a good defensive staff and they were prepared.
” Despite the loss, Fort Dorchester coach Shaun Lorenzano is optimistic about the future. “Our expectations are always high and that’s good,” Lorenzano said. “I think we probably could have pulled out a couple more games if we would have executed better, but overall I’m proud of the guys for how hard they worked.
This stings, but I think we will right this ship. I thought our defense played awesome tonight. Offensively, we just need more experience at certain positions.
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