2 weeks Ago
COLUMBIA 15, WAGENER-SALLEY 0 WAGENER -- Wagener-Salley head football coach Blaze Gillespie wasn't going to fault his team's effort Friday night. Were there frustrating moments, times where there were some lapses in character, especially late in a difficult, close Week 5 game? Sure, that's football. And in football, as Gillespie reminded his team after the game went final, someone has to win and someone has to lose.
It just so happened that, once the clock hit triple zeroes this time, the other team had more points on the board. Visiting Columbia proved to be a rude guest to the War Eagles' Homecoming party, shutting them out in a 15-0 victory as they enjoy the program's first 4-1 start since 2008. It was a game that was up for grabs nearly until the end, and Gillespie wasn't going to let a non-region loss discourage his shorthanded team as the War Eagles (2-3) head into their bye week before beginning Region 3-A play.
"Your backups and the guys that are going in are playing with strictly heart," said Gillespie, in his first season as head coach. "They're going in there and fighting for their brothers and trying to be their brothers' keepers as much as we can. That's what I'm preaching to them, man, is just continue to be one.
We fought to the end in that game. We were down 7-0 for, what, the last 7 minutes, maybe? Just playing until the final zeroes and knowing that one score doesn't mean that one score can't change everything. Just helping them get through that adversity.
" It was the last 10 minutes and change that the War Eagles trailed after the teams were scoreless through the first three quarters. Columbia dialed up a little bit of trickery, lining up for a 36-yard field goal before splitting out wide. Malachi Butler lofted a short pass to Myles McDuffie, who took it 20 yards to the end zone to put the Capitals ahead 7-0 with 10:21 to play.
The War Eagles made a couple of stops after that, and Ra'Shan Staley recovered a Columbia fumble to give Wagener-Salley the ball back at its own 30-yard line with four minutes left on the clock. Going 70 yards in one drive against a Columbia defense that held them to 116 for the game was going to be a tall task, and soon the War Eagles were facing a fourth-and-8 at their own 32. The Capitals sent the house, sacking Rayv'on Chandler and then relying on their power run game to tack on another score with 30.
5 seconds left on the clock. Wagener-Salley limited Columbia to 119 yards of total offense on 44 plays with Staley's fumble recovery, another by Emory Murray and Honest Howell's interception. Any team would take a night like that from their defense and feel good about their chances of winning, but this one didn't go the War Eagles' way - and a couple of scoreless trips into the red zone in the first half certainly didn't help.
Columbia threw a variety of different formations at the Wagener-Salley defense - on some plays they'd have two additional linemen in the backfield as lead blockers, and on others they'd have three skill players bunched together with each one ready to receive the snap. Gillespie credited his team's attention to detail in film study, and they matched backers to backs as well as they could to limit Columbia to 106 rushing yards on 31 carries - with eight different players getting at least one rush - and a combined 2-for-13 passing from three different passers. "They sure didn't have that kind of size, but they did well.
They played extremely well against it," he said of his defense. "They might have marched the field a little bit, but ultimately I think we clamped it up. I think they got us with the water bucket (for the first touchdown).
We had a backup safety in the game, and once that dude went into motion he didn't know to go with him. That's on coaches. That ain't on players.
That's our job to get him a rep there in that situation, like we did everybody else in practice. That's on us. That ain't on them.
" Gillespie wasn't willing to make excuses about the injuries, but that's the reality at the Class A level with 32 players on the roster. It's even more difficult when the injured players include guys like Rayfield Bell, the South Carolina Football Coaches Association's reigning Lineman of the Week in the Class A Upper State. He earned that honor despite playing with a brace on his shoulder that limits his motion, then was banged-up with a knee injury Friday.
Kyree Tyler, who made a fourth-down stop in the backfield late in the first half and added a sack in the second, also missed time due to injury. That didn't stop them from trying to get back onto the field before ultimately being removed. Zamien Capers, who led the team in rushing with 60 yards on 23 carries and also made several tackles for loss and is no stranger to playing as many snaps as physically possible, was another who gutted his way through the game while obviously hurting.
And they weren't the only ones, which is another reason why Gillespie was encouraging despite defeat. "They play with emotion and they care about this game, and they're extremely, extremely, extremely built with grit and heart. They really are," he said.
"They've got a ton of athleticism and talent, but their heart is extreme. It's a good thing to know that a majority of them are freshmen, sophomores and juniors. .
.. Seeing them in those moments where they're willing to come sacrifice their body to go get a play for their brothers, man, just shows that they're their brother's keeper and they're trying to do the best thing for the team even if coming back in may hurt us, and that's why I pulled some of them a couple times.
" Up next is a much-needed week off to rest and recover for the War Eagles before they begin the always-volatile Region 3-A schedule. It's the deepest and most competitive region in the state in Class A, and every team wants to be as close to an all-hands-on-deck roster as possible heading into the games that count toward playoff seeding. Wagener-Salley begins region play Oct.
4 at home against Hunter-Kinard-Tyler. "My main message coming into next week is simple, man. It's get healthy and look within," Gillespie said.
"Look within. We don't need to look ahead. We've got a week to get healthy.
We'll probably end up watching some of H-K-T because we're going into region, but ultimately this is all a warm-up for the region. Every game was a warm-up. In the end, yeah, they're on your record but they don't really, truly matter.
We need to go win the region, and we need to put our efforts toward our region opponents." C 0 0 0 15 -- 15 WS 0 0 0 0 -- 0 SCORING SUMMARY Fourth Quarter C - Malachi Butler 20 pass to Myles McDuffie (Edmund Moultrie kick) 10:21 C - Darius Cunningham 1 run (Butler pass to Rondrecus Peterson) 0:31 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing C - Malachi Butler 4-39, Tyquan Sanders 7-27, Elyjah Rosenbough 2-16, Umar Muhammad 5-15, Justin Wright 7-10, Chris Kershaw 1-3, Darius Cunningham 4-(-2)-1, Daqon Booker 1-(-2). Totals 31-106-1.
WS - Zamien Capers 23-60, Rayv'on Chandler 2-7, Honest Howell 4-4, Jabari Amos 3-4, Kaiden Washington 1-(-7). Totals 33-68. Passing C - Malachi Butler 1-1-20-1-0, Justin Wright 1-11-(-7)-0-0, Darius Cunningham 0-1-0-0-1.
Totals 2-13-13-1-1. WS - Rayv'on Chandler 4-12-48-0-1. Receiving C - Myles McDuffie 1-20-1, Malachi Butler 1-(-7).
Totals 2-13-1. WS - Zamien Capers 1-25, Quentin Sims 1-11, Jabari Amos 1-10, Honest Howell 1-2. Totals 4-48.
Interceptions C - Malachi Butler. WS - Honest Howell..
