Kingstree rebounds from slow start

By Dennis Brunson

        hssr.com Associate Editor

        Kingstree – Through its first four games, the Kingstree High School football team was 0-4 and had scored a grand total of 18 points.

           The next two games may have turned the Blazers’ season around. They won both of those, beating Marion 52-16 and Lake City 16-14. More importantly, they were Region 7-AA contests.

           “It’s good to be in first place instead of trying to fight our way back,” said Kingstree head coach Brian Smith, whose team was scheduled to play Manning on October 4.

           The Blazers were able to put together the winning streak by kicking their running game into gear. That can be attributed to Kingstree’s massive offensive line and running back Tyleek Dukes.

           In the win over Marion, Dukes ran for 214 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries. In a driving rainstorm against Lake City on Thursday, September 26, Dukes carried the ball 38 times for 193 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for two 2-point conversions to account for all of the Blazers’ points.

           “He’s been doing everything that you want a prime time running back to do in carrying the team,” Smith said of Dukes, who’d rushed for 861 yards and six scores on 124 carries. “He’s on pace for a monster year in his first year at running back.”

The offensive line has senior Macolm Salters (6 feet, 260 pounds) at left tackle and senior Mycheal Edwards Wallace (6-feet-1-inch, 340) at left guard. The center is junior Ethan Carraway (5-8, 276) with junior Adelgon Archie (6-2, 305) at right guard and senior Dontrell Epps (6-1, 255) at right tackle.

           “There are not many teams that can match our size on the offensive line and our running game when we hold on to the ball,” Smith said. “We’ve gotten a lot better at that.”

           Freshman quarterback Makhi Shaw has thrown the football very little. He has 24 attempts, completing six of them for 107, but for two scores. He is the second leading rusher with 253 yards and two TDs on 68 carries.

           With the exception of a 47-0 loss to AAAA Crestwood, the defense has been pretty stout.

           “We get better each week, and I can’t ask for much more out of those guys,” Smith said.  Everyone is playing both ways, and they get tired sometimes, but they’re giving it all they have.”

           The defense is led by junior defensive end BJ Washington, who had team highs with 34 tackles and five quarterback sacks and shared the lead in tackles for loss with 10 through six games. Epps had 20 tackles and eight tackles for loss at defensive tackle, while linebacker Mark Pickard had eight TFLs and two sacks among his 19 tackles.

           Sophomore outside linebacker Maleek Dukes had 29 tackles, five TFLS and two sacks, senior defensive back Xavier Dukes had 28 tackles and Tyleek Dukes, a junior also starting in the secondary, had 28 tackles. Each of the Dukes have an interception on the season.

           Starting the region 2-0 had Kingstree in position to clinch a berth in the state playoffs in the early going of region play.

           “We just look forward to getting better each week,” Smith said. “We’re wanting to make the playoffs and go from there. The win over Marion gave us a lot of confidence going forward.

“I knew we gad it in us. We were just snake-bitten early on. It wasn’t so much us turning the ball over. It was more bad luck than anything. We’re doing a better job of finishing games.”