Irmo shuts down run and rides the running of Jaden Allen-Hendrix to 35-21 win over Hartsville
Yellow Jackets limit Hartsville to 24 yards rushing while Allen-Hendrix picks up 193 yards and scores four TDs
Kelleytown – Top-ranked Hartsville High School entered its football showdown with No. 6 Irmo on Friday averaging over 430 rushing yards per game and 10.3 yards per carry – as a team.
Those numbers have changed demonstrably.
The Yellow Jackets limited Hartsville to an unofficial 24 rushing yards on 26 carries and rode the 193-yard, 4-touchdown performance of running back Jaden Allen-Hendrix to a 35-21 victory to spoil the Red Foxes’ homecoming on Kelleytown Stadium’s Billy Seigler Field.
Irmo will definitely be making a jump up in the High School Sports Report Sweet 16 AAAA poll after improving to 4-0. Hartsville, which just moved to the top of the poll this past week, fell to 4-1.
On their first three offensive plays of the game, the Red Foxes got a pair of 7-yard runs from running back Carmello McDaniel and a 4-yard run from running back Hakeem Watters. The longest run for Hartsville after that was just two yards and five of their remaining 23 rushing plays went for losses.
Jackets head coach Aaron Brand said his team took advantage of a bye week in preparing for the Foxes’ vaunted Wing-T offense.
“We had two weeks to prepare for them, and we thought we had a pretty good game plan,” Brand said. “Being able to control Watters and not let both of them get going North-South (running the football) was very important. We were able to tackle them a lot running East-West and that's what you've got to do.”
Irmo limited McDaniel, who came into the game averaging 176 rushing yards, to 19 yards on 12 carries. Watters was averaging over 155 yards a game after running for 192 yards and four TDs on 17 carries in last week’s 51-34 triumph over Dillon. He had five yards on eight carries.
The Red Foxes are now averaging around 350 yards a game and 9.0 yards a carry.
“All week long, we knew we had to stop the run,” said Yellow Jacket senior linebacker and team captain Jylil Favor. “We knew that was their main goal because that's what they do every week.
“Our focus was stopping the sweep. That's their main thing, the sweep and the counter. That was our main goal.”
Hartsville played the game without injured senior quarterback McKendrie Douglas, but head coach Jeff Calabrese was offerning no excuses.
“They played exceptional on defense is what they did,” Calabrese said of Irmo. “They have really good players, and their players executed flawlessly. We had a hard time blocking them, and when we did block them, we had a hard time sustaining it. All credit goes to Irmo and their coaching staff. I was very impressed with that football team and they deserved it tonight.
“We have to play on Friday night at 7:30. I have to put a football team on the field. There are no excuses. We didn't play well enough to win, period. We have to be a better football team.”
Irmo set the tone from the outset with the 6-foot-2-inch, 230-pound Allen-Hendrix running behind their big offensive line. The Yellow Jackets went 64 yards in six plays. Allen=Hendrix’s first four runs went for 18, 6, 14 and 12 yards before finishing it with a 3-yard scoring run. Junior quarterback AJ Brand had a 16-yard completion to wide receiver Terin Bowman on the drive as well.
Placekicker Jose Villanueva added the extra point to make it 7- 0 with 9:13 remaining in the first quarter.
Hartsville got a first down on its first three runs of the game. That would be the only first down of the first half for the Red Foxes.
Irmo’s second touchdown was set up by a short field as Hartsville had to punt from its end zone. The Yellow Jackets started at the HHS 29-yard line. They needed five plays to score, the final three coming on a run by Allen-Hendrix. Villanueva’s PAT made it 14-0 with 9:59 left in the second quarter,
Coach Brand said Allen-Hendrix was wanting the football in his hands throughout the game.
“Jaden did a great job of just calling for the ball,” he said. “He was moving the chains. Jaden is 6-2 and 230; if he's calling for the ball, I'm going to give it to him.
“We did a great job of not turning the football over and being able to sustain some drives. We had some long drives that sort of took the air out of them, especially in the first half.”
Hartsville quelled Irmo’s momentum for a short time as Da’Marion Coe took the ensuing kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown. Placekicker Brayden Smith added the extra point to make it 14-7. The Red Foxes then forced the Yellow Jackets to punt and took over at the HHS 45. However, Hartsville could not move the football and turned it over on downs at the 45.
A holding penalty on Irmo put it behind the chains and in a punting situation. AJ Brand is the regular punter, and he rolled to his right and appeared as though he was ready to punt. At the last second he saw an opportunity, pulled the football back in and went 27 yards for a first down at the 15. Allen-Hendrix scored from two yards out with 3:30 left in the first half to make it 21-7.
Irmo really took control of the game when it forced the Foxes to punt on the ensuing possession and took over at the HHS 43. Wide receiver Donovan Murph got in behind the secondary, and a scrambling Brand hit him with a 30-yard touchdown pass with 16 seconds left to make the halftime score 28-7.
“He's a playmaker,” Coach Brand said of his son, who completed 8 of 14 passes for 83 yards and the TD while rushing for 41 yards on five carries. “The last 14 games he hasn't committed a turnover. When you can control the ball like we have been able to do and not turn it over, you’re going to be successful.
“AJ has done a great job just manning the team. This is his team. He’s an outstanding player, and he has some outstanding player, and he takes advantage of it.”
Hartsville received the second-half kickoff and scored to make it 28-14. A 46-yard completion from quarterback Marcus Johnson to wide receiver Keon Hickson to the Irmo 3 set up a 1-yard TD run by McDaniel.
Irmo matched it though with an 8-play, 53-yard scoring drive that took over four minutes off the clock. Allen-Hendrix scored on a 7-yard run to make it 35-14.
Allen-Hendrix carried the football 29 times, 17 of those coming in the first half when he rolled up 120 yards. He ran behind the offensive line of senior left tackle Elijah Williams, senior left guard Bryant Ham, senior center Marquis Daniels, sophomore right guard Bryson Moore and sophomore right tackle Vernen Hairens.
“That’s what we wanted to do coming in here,” Coach Brand said. “We know this is a tough, hostile place to play. We felt like if we started doing all of this crazy stuff, trying to throw it around the yard so much, we'd be in more of a dogfight. We felt we had more of an advantage at the line of scrimmage and in the backfield with Jaden trying to punish That was our game plan and we were trying to stick with it.”
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