Saluda – The football season came to an end much sooner than perhaps many anticipated for Saluda High School. The Tigers fell to Newberry 24-15 in the first round of the AA state playoffs on November 3.
All in all though, SHS head coach Stewart Young thought his young squad had a good season.
“We could have gone .500, but then we could have been 9-2,” said Young, who led Saluda to the AA upper state championship game last year. “We had a couple of tough losses where we were in position to win both, so it could have been a much different year.
“But for us to win seven games after losing all that we lost from last year’s team (that led eventual state champion Abbeville entering the fourth quarter of the upper state title game) says a lot about this group. I’m not going to complain about a 7-wiin season.
The Tigers got themselves in an early hole against Newberry. The Bulldogs led 7-0 after one quarter and scored the first 10 points of the second quarter to open a 17-0 lead.
SHS got itself back in the game when quarterback Drew Arant connected with wide receiver Victavis Gaines for a 74-yard touchdown pass just before halftime. Running back Brayden Williams then passed to Jordan Hagler to make the halftime score 17-8.
Saluda got on the scoreboard early in the third quarter when Arant and Gaines hooked up again, this time for 47 yards. Placekicker John Pinto added the extra point to make the score 17-15 with 10:08 still to play in the quarter.
The Tigers were unable to get anymore points on the board though. NHS put the game away by putting together a 10-play, 52-yard drive that ended with BJ Jones scoring on a 9-yard run. Daniel Teran added the extra point to make it 24-15 with 6:01 left in the game.
“They played a really good game,” Young said of Newberry. “We got down early in the game 17-0, but fought back and took it into the fourth quarter. We had some chances after we cut the lead, but we couldn't capitalize, we couldn't score. We just ran out of gas.”
Avant completed 15 of 28 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns against one interception to lead the Saluda offense Gaines had five catches for 140 yards and the two scores, while Josh Uhler had five catches for 42 yards.
Senior KenMane Brunson led the Tigers in rushing with 81 yards on 14 carries. Brunson, an All-State performer at linebacker for two seasons, was selected to play in the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Bowl All-Star Game in Myrtle Beach in December as a running back.
“He’s short, but he’s tough,” Young said of Brunson, who played all of Saluda’s defensive snaps against Newberry and just took a few plays off on offense. “To make the all-star game as a running back that’s pretty impressive.”
Brunson finished with 853 yards and nine touchdowns on 125 carries. Gaines finished with 19 catches for 322 yards and six touchdowns. Arant completed 96 of 171 passes for 1,058 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Brunson and JT Lott were leading the defense entering the playoffs. Lott had 70 tackles, including 23 tackles for loss and six quarterback sacks, all of them team highs. Brunson had 64 tackles, 15 of them TFLs.
The Tigers only lose a couple of starters on both sides of the ball next season, Brunson being one loss on each side.
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