River Bluff defeated Cane Bay 24-13 in the opening round of the Class 5A Division I playoffs in The Swamp.
Darius Carter caught three touchdowns from quarterbacks Brayden Moore, who completed 5-10 passes for 116 yards, and Davis Taylor and Liam Flynn hit a 35-yard field goal for the Gators (7-4).
Hayden Myers had a team-high 156 rushing yards and Reece Hufstetler led River Bluff with 14 tackles.
Up next for River Bluff is a second-round matchup at Berkeley.
Gray Advances
The return to the post-season for Gray Collegiate Academy Friday saw it open against a familiar opponent.
Brookland-Cayce looked to avenge a 56-0 shutout a month earlier to the War Eagles.
Despite the Bearcats getting an early lead, the margin of victory remained the same. Gray Collegiate scored nine unanswered rushing touchdowns in the 63-7 win in the Class 4A playoffs.
Trevon Williamson scored all four of his touchdowns in the first half. Nate Dixon accounted for three rushing touchdowns in the second half, while Royce Williamson had two scores with his father and former University of South Carolina and NFL player Troy Williamson seated in the stands.
“They did their job tonight,” said Williamson about the offensive line. “They made the holes way easier so all I had to do my gap and go. Those runs are because of them.”
“Those boys upfront they do what they’ve got to do,” Williamson said. “They get the job done. They’re tough. So it makes it easy for me and Trevon to do what we have to do.”
The game opened with trickery on the part of Brookland-Cayce. Placekicker Campbell Parsons lined the kickoff downfield that hit off a War Eagle player and was recovered at midfield by the Bearcats.
Quarterback Andrew Frick then found Bennett Plane for a 34-yard touchdown to put Brookland-Cayce up 7-0.
Gray Collegiate Academy (9-2) punted on its first series. It was the only time it did as the War Eagles’ offensive line opened holes for Williamson to put together several long runs.
His first touchdown run of 15 yards tied the game at 7-7. He then added scoring runs of seven, and two yards in the second quarter to push the lead to 21-7.
Williamson followed with two touchdown runs of 10 and two yards to make it 35-7 at halftime. After Brookland-Cayce was stopped on downs, Williamson was back in the endzone on a 20-yard run.
The second half belonged to Dixon as he pounded away against the Bearcats for three touchdowns.
Brookland-Cayce ended the season with a 3-8 record. Despite the victory, Gray Collegiate Academy head coach DeAngelo Bryant scolded his team for inconsistent play and not playing with the same focus compared to other games against Dutch Fork, Midland Valley and North Augusta.
Such a performance will not suffice against second-round opponent Hartsville.
“The guys know that I’m disappointed,” he said. “They know that they didn’t play well. So we know we’ve got to go back to the drawing board. We’ve got to roll up our sleeves and get back to work Monday.”
OTHER PLAYOFF RESULTS
Marlboro County 49, Swansea 13
Liberty 35, Pelion 14
Pinewood Prep 50, Northside Christian Academy 13
