Photo by Lexington Wildcats
By Thomas Grant Jr.
Hot, humid conditions forced the rescheduling of the Lexington County Sports-A-Rama Friday night.
Instead of four varsity games at Lexington High School, only two scrimmages would take place. The other two scrimmages were moved to Pelion High School.
Despite the cautionary measures, another form of bad weather approached Lexington County and again forced a change of plans.
Play was delayed an hour at Wildcat Stadium. Once it started, River Bluff faced North Augusta with the varsity teams seeing action in the first quarter and the junior varsity in the second quarter.
All of the scoring took place during varsity play. The Yellow Jackets came away with the 10-7 victory, but Gators’ head coach Parks Perry was pleased for his players to get preseason action.
“We only got one scrimmage in because of weather,” Perry said. “So, we really needed tonight to happen so we can fix some things before it counts.”
River Bluff plays host to Cane Bay in The Swamp Friday to open the season.
Two hours after the original kickoff time for the Sports-A-Rama, Lexington took the field to face Airport.
Ian Danson opened the scoring with a punt return TD for the second time this week. He had a special teams score against Dreher on Monday.
Noah Dunn added a 22-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0 with 3:17 left in the first quarter. Airport got on the board on a touchdown reception by Braden Gross.
The second quarter saw the JV Wildcats returned an interception for a touchdown and add another score for the 28-7 win. Afterwards, Lexington head coach Stewart Young said the team has responded well with the “big learning curve” with the various offensive and defensive changes.
“I think I’m more comfortable,” Young said. “I think the kids and the relationships we’ve built through a full year; I think there’s great benefit to it. I think the kids have bought in.”
Lexington opens Friday on the road against Midland Valley.
AT PELION HIGH SCHOOL
The unsafe conditions delayed the scrimmages at Pelion High School for 30 minutes. However, the skies eventually cleared up enough for fans to enter the stadium.
Both scrimmages were split into two quarters for varsity and junior varsity teams. The varsity teams for White Knoll and Brookland-Cayce opened the Sports-A-Rama with a 15-minute first quarter.
The Timberwolves came away with the 27-0 victory over the Bearcats. They scored on the first series as Christian Chisolm took the sweep and rushed in from 16 yards.
White Knoll’s next score came on a long touchdown pass by Braydon Cress to Kentrell Bonnette. Cress is slated as the new starting quarterback, while Bonnette was a former backup moved to tight end.
The second quarter was played with a running clock for 20 minutes. Jayden Black rushed for two scores and Cayden Brown closed out the scrimmage with a 10-yard touchdown run for White Knoll.
White Knoll opens play Friday at A.C. Flora. It’s the season-opener for WACH 57’s Whataburger Friday Night Rivals Game of the Week series.
The games will air on Channel 1250 on Spectrum and streamed on www.wach.com.
“(We have) 18 starters playing their first football game,” first-year White Knoll head coach Victor Floyd said. “We’ve got 18 kids. This will be their first actual football game they’re starting. First-game jitters. We just want to get through it and minimize the mistakes and have success.”
Friday’s second game also featured a first-year head coach. Matthew Bennett led the host team Panthers on the field to scrimmage against Gilbert.
Chandler Guthrie played a role in the varsity team’s two scores. He closed out the opening drive with a scoring run, then turned a screen pass by Swansea transfer quarterback Kenneth Wright into an 84-yard gain.
This set up an 11-yard touchdown run by Murray Smith to put Gilbert up 13-0.
During the JV portion of the scrimmage, Jayden Jones found an open Antwan James for a 60-yard touchdown reception. The Panthers did force a fumble, but were held out of the endzone to end the scrimmage with a 20-0 loss.
“I think we can make a deep run,” said Gilbert head coach Ozzie Exume, who’s in his third year. “We went to the third round that first year, the second-round last year and we were banged up a bunch. So, our biggest thing is trying to make sure we can live out a whole season – 15 games, 16 weeks.
“Our biggest thing is making sure that we’re doing everything that we can, nutrition-wise and in the weight room, to make sure that we’re practicing the smart way to make sure that we can be as good as we can. I’m really excited about where this team is at.”
Gilbert travels to Nation Ford Friday, while Pelion visits Airport.
WEEK ONE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Pelion at Airport
White Knoll at A.C. Flora
Swansea at W.J. Keenan
Midland Valley at Lexington
Ninety-Six at Mid-Carolina
Gilbert at Nation Ford
Cane Bay at River Bluff
Abbeville at Saluda
