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Dutch Fork rolls past Gaffney 35-10 to advance to AAAAA upper state final

Worthy Evans Special Contributor • Nov 18, 2023

Defending state champion Silver Foxes will play host to J.L. Mann on Friday

Irmo -- As head coach Tom Knotts said, Dutch Fork High School football loves to play in November.


"In their third-round matchup in the AAAAA playoffs against upstate rival Gaffney on Friday, the

Silver Foxes routed the Indians 35-10 at Dutch Fork Stadium.


“This is our time of year,” Knotts said. “We’re clicking right now. We think we’ve got the pieces

put together. I don’t know who we play next week (J.L. Mann)  but I’m used to playing on Thanksgiving, I

love playing in my favorite week of the year. I just appreciate these seniors and the team for

allowing me to get a Thanksgiving practice again, there’s nothing better.“


It was Dutch Fork’s second straight win over the Indians in the postseason. Gaffney beat the

Silver Foxes 22-19 in the AAAAA state championship game in 2021, but the next year Dutch Fork

knocked off the Indians 51-28 in the playoffs enroute to its seventh state championship last year.


“They were certainly the better team tonight,” Gaffney head coach Dan Jones said. “You don’t

go to a playoff game and score three points on offense and expect to win.”


Dutch Fork (8-5) plays host to J.L. Mann (11-2) in the upper state final ON Friday. The Patriots eliminated Hillcrest (10-

3) 21-13

.

Ethan Offing, starting at quarterback for Jon Hunt, who was out for a second week with a pulled

hamstring, rushed for two touchdowns and passed for a third. Offing was 17-for-28 in passing for

188 yards. He also ran 18 times for 51 yards.


“Ethan was a little bit inconsistent but as a sophomore quarterback I’m very pleased with him,”

Knotts said. “I think he’s only going to get better.”


While Offing and the Dutch Fork offense scored when they needed to, the Silver Fox defense

shut down quarterback and former Gray Collegiate standout Riley Staton and the Indians

offense.


Staton, who came into the game passing for 2,683 yards and 13 touchdowns, had a 59-yard run

but was otherwise rendered ineffective. He had just 54 yards passing on the night.


“We hadn’t run the quarterback that much and he just pulled it on the inside zone and took off

with it,” Jones said. “Later on we needed him to pull the trigger a little more and instead of

worrying about running it, but evidently they weren’t open and they were putting pressure on

him early.”


Jaden McDowell, who rushed for 1,282 yards 13 TDs this season, had just one yard on one

attempt.


“I thought we controlled the ball like we needed to, we hit some big passes, made some runs

when we needed to, but defense won the game,” Knotts said. “Lights out, got down here and

held them to field goal (tries) and they missed one, but that’s a good quarterback (Staton) and a

good overall wide receiver group as there is in the state, and we shut ‘em down.”


the only time Gaffney (9-4) saw the end zone was when Crysstaan Ellis scooped up a blocked

punt and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown in the first minute of the game.


The Silver Foxes may have opened with a blunder, BUT they had three long scoring drives in the first

half and a pair of red-zone gut checks that led to two of those touchdowns.


When Dutch Fork got the ball back after the Gaffney score, Offing led an 8-play, 65-yard scoring

drive that he capped with a 17-yard touchdown run.


That drive seemed to get the Silver Foxes back into the game plan and gave the defense

something to fight for.


Gaffney drove inside the 20-yard line on two straight possessions, but netted only one Jake

Spadavecchia field goal, a 23-yarder.


With the Indians leading 10-7, Dutch Fork faced a fourth-and-1 at the Gaffney 11-yard line.

Justin Welch was on the field preparing for a 28-yard field goal try, but Dutch Fork called a timeout.

When they lined up again, Offing was under center. He took the snap and ran into the end

zone untouched for the go-ahead score.


Another fourth-down situation happened when the Silver Foxes had the ball at the Indians’ 30-yard

line. Rather than try for a short punt, Dutch Fork called another timeout on fourth-and-15 and came back

into play with Offing under center again. This time, Offing took the snap, scrambled and found Jacob

Hamilton for a 16-yard gain. Five plays later, Maurice Anderson bulled into the end zone from one yard out

to make it 21-10 Silver Foxes.


“I was just going to get the points (field goals) and everybody screamed at me,” Knotts said

about the two fourth-down situations. “I’m too old to be screamed at, so I said, 'Well, go for it. But

you better freaking get it though.' "


With that score coming at the 1:56 mark of the second quarter, Dutch Fork’s defense pestered the

Indians on the last possession and didn’t have a chance to respond with a score.


Neither offense could find a rhythm in the third quarter, but by the fourth quarter Dutch Fork’s

running game wore down the clock. Most of Trent Lodge’s 72 yards came in the fourth quarter,

and the running back caught a touchdown pass and ran for a touchdown to close out the win.


Noting Dutch Fork’s dominance over the Indians, Knotts said this team has come a long way

from its 2-5 start to the season.


“We couldn’t get out of our own way at the beginning of the season,” he said. “It didn’t matter

what we did. I was bad, they were not as good as what I usually would like. It lasted a lot longer

than I thought that it would, but we still believed that we thought we’d be here in November.”


Gaffney 7 3 0 0 – 10

Dutch Fork 7 14 0 14 – 35

First Quarter

G – Crysstaan Ellis 25 blocked punt return (Jake Spadavecchia kick) 10:54

D – Ethan Offing 17 run (Justin Welch kick) 8:11 

Second Quarter

G – Spadavecchia 23 field goal 11:48 

D – Offing 10 run (Welch kick) 6:44

D – Maurice Anderson 1 run (Welch kick) 1:56

Fourth Quarter

D – Trent Lodge 11 pass from Offing (Welch kick) 7:57

D – Lodge 2 run (Welch kick) 2:37 

GHS DF

First downs 9 22

Rushes-Yards 21-112 34-155

Passing yards 54 188

Att-Com-Int 24-7-0 28-17-0

Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 7-56 7-60

Punts-Avg 6-27.7 3-20.7

INDIVIDUAL

RUSHING

G-Riley Staton 8-80, Jaiden McDowell 12-31, Zion McBeth 1-1. D-Trent Lodge 8-72, Ethan

Offing 18-51, Maurice Anderson 7-28, Trey Starks 1-4.

PASSING

G-Riley Staton 7-23-0, Jaiden McDowell 0-1-0. D-Ethan Offing 17-28-0.

RECEIVING

G-Jamarcus Smith 5-46, Emazon Littlejohn 1-7, Jaiden McDowell 1-1. D-Leyton Shuler 3-56,

Trent Lodge 3-42, Jacob Hamilton 3-25, Boykin Bickley 2-31.

Clarendon Hall Uses Five Run Second Inning to Defeat Colleton Prep 6-1, In Game One Of SCISA AA Softball Best-of-Three Championship Series

By Billy Baker • 14 May, 2024
By Billy G. Baker Publisher Summerton — Softball championships are not always won just by the plays of the moment; they are won by the players on championship teams who prepare on a year-round basis, through summer ball, fall ball, outside instruction, and a total commitment to the sport. In Clarendon Hall’s 6-1 win over Colleton Prep (18-5-2) in Monday’s first game in the best- of- three SCISA AA state title series, observers could see the aforementioned on full display as a relaxed and well-trained team from Clarendon Hall played error free softball. Pitcher Calli Yount had 11 strike-outs, and the Saints produced timely hits with runners in scorer’s position.  It was the third time the two teams had meet this season and it was the third win for Clarendon Hall. The two previous wins were 8-0 and 6-0 so Colleton Prep improved by scoring a run this time. They hope to score even more as the two teams (weather permitting) get ready to play game two at 5 p.m. at Colleton Prep today. After the game Clarendon Hall head coach Jeffrey Bays , told the HSSR, “We definitely got some timely hits today but we didn’t hit the ball like we usually do,” said Coach Bays. “You do have those games where you are not as strong as you usually are at the plate, and we tell our girls to be patient and wait on their pitch. “Getting some walks, mixed in with a few timely hits, proved to be a game changer for us, said Coach Bays. “I was really proud of how the girls responded to the challenge today. I can’t think of an error we made, and that is really important, and we have played very clean ball most of the year. “Our pitcher tomorrow will be a game time situation,” said Coach Bays. “Calli had a good outing today but we do have several pitchers who can throw strikes so we’ll just have to wait and see.” Colleton Prep head coach Tiger Martin told the HSSR , “They scored six runs total and five of them came in the second inning and then they got a solo home run later and made some errors and gave them some walks that helped them score the six runs,” said Coach Martin. “More games are lost then ever won. The team that makes the fewest mistakes usually comes out on top and they played a cleaner ball game then we did tonight. “It didn’t help that we had four backward K’s and we need to swing the bats more,” said Coach Martin. “We have to lay off her riser ball that was coming in high today and it can be virtually unhittable. Hopefully, we will have an umpire today that likes them thrown a little lower. We have to hope she can bring the ball down a little.” The Saints pushed across five runs in the bottom of the second inning. Yount led off with a single and then Colleen McIntosh drew a walk. Lacey Corbett singled to score Yount for a 1-0 lead and a throwing error on the throw in allowed both runners to advance to second to third. Two batters later, Macie McIntosh drew a one-out walk to load the bases. Brynlee Brewer , the only new starter on the team this season, reached on an error allowing two runs to score to make it 3-0. Two batters later, Macie McIntosh , drew a one-out walk to load the bases. An RBI ground-out RBI by junior Mandy Wells made it 4-0. The Saints 5 th run scored on a passed ball. In the CP 4 th inning, Ava Murray led off with a double down the third base line. She was brought in on a two-out single by Hannah Strickland to close the deficit to 5-1. CH added an insurance run in the bottom of the 5 th on a solo home run by Yount over the left field fence. Yount had three hits in the game including a home run. Clarendon Hall had six hits for the game and they benefitted from several CP errors and five walks they were issued. Yount gave up five hits in the game with two walks to go along with her 11 K’s. Senior Sydney Stivender pitched all six innings for CP. She recorded four strike-outs in taking the loss.

SCISA BASEBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUNDUP

By Staff reports • 14 May, 2024
Hilton Head Christian, Augusta Christian, Dorchester, Richard Winn take openers

SCISA SOFTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES ROUNDUP

By Staff reports • 14 May, 2024
Laurence Manning, Pee Dee, Clarendon Hall, Jefferson Davis win openers

Cardinal Newman wins fifth consecutive SCISA boys soccer state title

By Dennis Brunson hssr.com Associate Editor • 14 May, 2024
Cardinals beat Hammond 4-0 to finish as undefeated AAAA champion

SCISA Softball and Baseball Championship Scores

By Larry Gamble • 14 May, 2024
Scores from around the SCISA universe from Game 1 Monday. SCISA SOFTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Best-of-3 series AAAA Monday Laurence Manning 5 Hammond 4 Tuesday Hammond at Laurence Manning, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday At Neutral Site if Needed AAA Monday Orangeburg Prep 0 Pee Dee Academy 3 Tuesday Pee Dee at Orangeburg Prep, 6 p.m. Wednesday At Neutral Site if Needed AA Monday Colleton Prep 1 Clarendon Hall 6 Tuesday Clarendon Hall at Colleton Prep, 5 p.m. Wednesday At Neutral Site if Needed CLASS A Monday Cross Schools 0 Jefferson Davis 4 Tuesday Jefferson Davis vs Cross Schools, @ Bluffton High School Wednesday At Neutral Site if Needed SCISA BASEBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Best-of-3 series AAAA Monday Augusta Christian 3 Cardinal Newman 1 Tuesday Cardinal Newman at Augusta Christian, 6 p.m. Thursday At Neutral Site if Needed AAA Monday Hilton Head Christian 3 Pee Dee Academy 1 Tuesday Pee Dee at Hilton Head Christian, 6 p.m. Thursday At Neutral Site if Needed AA Monday Calhoun Academy 2 Dorchester 6 Tuesday Dorchester at Calhoun Academy, 6:30 p.m. Thursday At Neutral Site if Needed CLASS A Monday Richard Winn 8 Holly Hill 2 Tuesday Holly Hill at Richard Winn, 6 p.m. Thursday At Neutral Site if Needed

SCISA softball, baseball state championship series set to begin on Monday

By Dennis Brunson hssr.com Associate Editor • 13 May, 2024
Five of eight series will have teams trying to defend titles

Day Two Of SCISA Softball Tournament Establishes Final Two Teams In All Four Classifications For State Title Starting On Monday

By Billy Baker • 13 May, 2024
By Billy G. Baker Publisher Sumter — The good news was that no rain fell on Sumter’s Patriot Park on May, 11 providing for some great games in the annual SCISA softball playoffs with 8 teams qualifying to compete for AAAA, AAA, AA and Class A state titles starting on Monday. Game two will be played on Tuesday at the opposite site of the home team on Monday. If a third game is needed it will be played at a neutral site on Wednesday. One notable highlight from the games on Saturday was junior Mandy Wells of Clarendon Hall hitting three consecutive home runs in her team’s 15-0 win over Calhoun Academy to advance the Saints to the AA finals on Monday against Colleton Prep . Wells hit her two home runs to dead center field and her second homer was a base clearing grand slam. Her third home run was a line drive over right center field. Wells came into the SCISA tournament batting .481 with 28 RBI’s. Game one between Clarendon Hall and Colleton Prep is schduled for 6pm on Monday in Summerton. Laurence Manning defeated Hammond 5-3 to advance to the AAAA finals. The lost sent Hammond to the loser’s bracket finale against Wilson Hall and Hammond the defeated the Barons 14-4 to earn the right to play Laurence Manning for the title starting on Monday at 6 p.m. in Manning. “We started out hitting the ball right at people and Hammond gave us a great game,” said LMA head coach Buddy Truett . ´We didn’t like having to get up at 7 a.m. to get over here by 9 a.m. and it took us awhile to get going. We are excited to playing for a state championship. It should be a very competitive series and having finished runner-up the past two seasons we are focused on winning it all this year.” LMA trailed Hammond 3-3 going into the bottom of the 6 th inning. Lily Welborn led off with a single and made it all the way to third on a throwing error. An RBI single by Kaylee Avins scored Welborn to tie the score at 3. The difference in the game was a two- run homer from 8 th grader Karly Bjork the next batter up for LMA. “I told her after she hit the home run that I didn’t think I could love her anymore but I do now,” said Coach Truett. “I am very proud of the girls. We made some errors early in the game we do not normally make but we came back from being down and I very proud of all of them. ”We know that Pee Dee has good pitching and they are a solid hitting team also so we are expecting quite a series against them,” said Coach Kinard. “We went over there last year and kicked the ball around a bit. Our goal is playing better defense against them. Defense wins championships.” In Class AAA action, Orangeburg Prep defeated Thomas Sumter 15-0 to advance to the AAA finals. The Class AAA championship games for Pee Dee and Orangeburg Prep start Monday in Mullins at 6pm. Pee Dee Academy head coach Wes Eskridge told the HSSR after his team’s big win over John Paul II Saturday: “We have been fortunate to win three state titles in a row and we are competing in the finals for the 7 th straight time and I could not be prouder of this team,” said Coach Eskridge. ”Jo Jo Perritt is just a sophomore and she gets the job down in the circle for us. “Orangeburg Prep is a tough team and the key for us is for us to play our game and not theirs,” said Coach Eskridge. “We know we have to keep working hard.” In Class A action Jefferson Davis Academy will compete against Cross Schools , who defeated Laurens Academy 4-3 to advance. Jefferson Davis earned the right to play for a Class A title by defeating Cross School 7-1 on Saturday. Head JDA head coach Bart Owens told the HSSR , “Regan Still did a great job pitching all three games in the tournament and she is headed to Florence-Darlington Tech to play next season,” said Coach Owens. “We beat Wardlaw 16-3 and Laurens Academy in our other two tournament games ”Regan is an outstanding pitcher and she is the best that I have ever had at JDA,” said Coach Owens. “Super proud of the whole team today. Or goal now is to win the state championship next week.” The Class A championship series starts Monday at JDA game time is 6pm.

Christian Academy wins SCISA AA boys soccer state championship

By Dennis Brunson hssrl.com Associate Editor • 13 May, 2024
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PHOTOS: SCISA Super Softball Weekend 2024

By Larry Gamble • 12 May, 2024
Larry Gamble Photo Editor, HSSR SCISA Softball Tournament play kicked off in Sumter, SC with teams from around the state playing an intense two days of games to determine the top teams in each class to challenge each other for the final championship that will decide each Class' State Champion later this week. This photo gallery is just some of the Seniors who will be on the diamond and giving it their all one more time for a championship. More photos from the softball games, at Palmetto Park and Patriot Park from Friday and Saturday are available by following this link or the one below. High resolution prints and digital downloads from this event are available at www.LarryGamble.com by clicking this link to the photos.

Five teams win SCHSL boys soccer titles

By David Shelton • 12 May, 2024
Columbia – Memorial Stadium in Columbia was the site for the 2024 South Carolina High School League state championships for boys soccer on May 10-11. The five contests were highly competitive with three contests needing overtime to decide the outcome. Oceanside Collegiate repeated as the state champion in Class AA while Riverside won a fourth consecutive state championship in Class AAAA. St. Joseph’s coach Frank Kucinic hoisted the top trophy for the 11 th time in his career. Here’s the recap of the five contests. Class A boys St. Joseph’s 2, Christ Church 1 (golden goal) Johnny Bunecke’s golden goal in the first sudden death overtime period lifted the Knights of St. Joseph’s Catholic to a 2-1 win over Greenville area rival Christ Church. The title was the 11 th for Knights head coach Frank Kucinic and was the second straight Class A crown for the Knights. St. Joseph’s finished 2024 with a 17-4 record. “Holy smokes, what a game,” Kucinic said. “Amazing season for these kids. I knew coming into this that it was always a battle. The rivalry adds to it every time we play. Hat’s off to our guys. I’ve had these seniors since they were in the sixth or seventh-grade and this is a great way to send them out.” Christ Church and St. Joseph’s split two games in the regular season had split the last six contests heading into the finals. The Knights took the early advantage, getting a goal from Thomas Flanigan in the sixth minute of play. Christ Church evened the score seven minutes before halftime on Reeves Dobson’s equalizer off a follow up shot. Each team had a few chances to score but went through regulation and two 10-minute overtime sessions before the sudden death periods. Bunecke’s goal came less than two minutes into the period. “Just a great play by everyone,” Bunecke said. “Just passing it around and it got crossed over to me. At that point it was just muscle memory.” Christ Church’s first-year coach Russell Shelley felt his team had opportunities to win. “Great respect for their program and both teams had chances to win it,” Shelley said. “We played hard. Guys gave a great effort. We’re disappointed but it was a great season and a great accomplishment to be in this position.” Class AAAAA boys – Fort Mill 2, Stratford 2 (Fort Mill wins 3-0 on PKs) It took a while, five hours in fact, but the Fort Mill boys soccer team found a way to outlast Stratford in the Class AAAAA boys soccer finals. Fort Mill won the penalty kick phase, 3-0, to come away with their first state title since 2012. Adding to the 110 minutes of soccer was a two-hour weather delay with 31:59 left in the contest. The loss ended Stratford’s chase for their first-ever boys soccer state championship. Fort Mill provided the offensive push early in the first half and grabbed 1 -0 lead off a header by Braden Gritz in the14th minute of the contest. With 31:59 remaining in the contest, the teams were forced off the field by lightening, a delay that lasted for two hours. When the teams returned, the Knights brought another level offensively. “I think the rain delay helped us. I think it took some of the pressure off,” Stratford coach Jessie Stament said, “They came out and it was brilliant soccer. I could not be prouder of them. To see the pain in their eyes but they have no reason to hang their head. It was an incredible game by both teams. They really gave it their all.” Senior Vinny Teixeira got the equalizer in the 58 th minute of play. Three minutes later, fellow senior Jackson McNeil found the back of the net to give the Knights a 2-1 lead. The Yellow Jackets would not go away, firing a shot at Stratford keeper Enzo Mori that bounced off his hands and to the foot of Ryan Seitz. The point blank goal tied the score at two. “I am super proud of the boys,” Fort Mill coach Pete Burroughs said. “We felt like we were here for a reason. Our guys left it all on the field today. Both teams did really. It was a great game to be a part of.” Class AA – Oceanside Collegiate 3, Gray Collegiate 0 Oceanside Collegiate got three goals in the final 25 minutes of the contest to record their second straight championship game victory. “This one was harder,” OCA coach Collin Phillips said. “Happy for this moment. Guys played with discipline. They (Gray) pressed us hard in the first half. I think once we scored that first goal, we seemed to relax and play better. We needed one score to give our kids some confidence.” After a scoreless first half, OCA got on the board in the 54 th minute of play on a goal by Isaac Rasheed. That lone goal would appear to be enough but security was provided by Mathias Dennis with just over six minutes remaining in the game. Icing on the cake came with under two minutes on a goal by sophomore Robert Hemingway. “In my opinion, they are the best team in this state, regardless of classification,” Gray Collegiate coach Kevin Heise said of OCA. “Our guys battled. We came to play and we played great soccer for about 65 minutes or so. Once we got down, we tried to push more and we gave up a few goals. I’m proud of my team. We gave them all they wanted. We knew we would have to play an A-plus game to have a chance. I’m disappointed for my boys but we had a helluva year.” Phillips was proud of the way he team handled the pressure of being the defending state champion. “When we came into this season, we talked about the target on our back. We managed to go through the season undefeated because the guys work so hard. We didn’t rest on what we did last year,” Class AAAA – Riverside 1, James Island 0 (overtime) Riverside made it four in a row, winning an intense, physical battle with James Island. After a scoreless 80-minute battle in regulation. With two mandatory 10-minute overtime periods to come, Riverside got an early goal from Kanye Ridgill off a header in the first overtime. The Warriors then played great defense for the remaining 17 minutes, holding off several scoring challenges from James Island. “Great game,” Riverside coach Scott Columbia said. “It seems impossible to win four (in a row) but it’s a program. These guys, their heart was so much bigger. They followed the program and played so hard. “Tonight, that was a great James Island team. They put the pressure on us and they kept us from scoring goals with their defense. I give them major, major credit. We just kept fighting the whole entire time and I am very proud of the boys.” “It was a well-played game by both teams. We just came up a little short,” James Island coach Todd Robinson said. “Really proud of my team though. We gave it all we had. We lost to a really good team.” James Island entered the final game having won 11 straight while allowing just four goals during that run.
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