WEEK 8 HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL HONOR ROLL

By WORTHY EVANS Contributing Writer Columbia - The Sumter football team pretty much gave Westwood the first quarter in their game Friday night, but the Redhawks wouldn’t take it. Instead, the Gamecocks struck for a quick score, and three more in the second period en route to a 52-27 victory at Westwood’s District Two Stadium. Sumter (9-1, 6-0 Region 5-5A), which had clinched the region championship last week with a 36-29 victory over Ridge View the week before, committed seven penalties for 55 yards in the first quarter Friday. Some of those penalties wiped out Sumter’s first possession, which was a turnover on downs. Yet, on Westwood’s first play after that series, Gamecock defender Javonte Brown picked off a Josiah Henryhand pass, and on the play after that, Reggie Shannon broke free for a 29-yard touchdown run. While Sumter’s first-quarter miscues weren’t costly, head coach Mark Barnes was livid on the sidelines and while talking to his team after the game. “We were obviously too penalized tonight, without question, some of them we probably deserved and some of them we may not have,” Barnes said. “But we’ve got to clean that up and that’s what I was talking to our players about at the end of the game, your attitude toward the game does affect the officiating. We’ve got to do a better job representing me as the head coach and our school.” Other than penalties, the Sumter ground attack piled up 400 yards on 47 attempts. Cleveland Pinckney had 20 carries for 166 yards and a touchdown and Shannon had 10 carries for 134 yards and two TDs. While penalties were a concern, Barnes added “We’re 9-1 and if you told me we’d be 9-1 I would’ve taken it in August, because this group has really overachieved, and we’ve just got to make sure we clean up things that’s going to keep us from winning in the playoffs.” The Gamecocks controlled the ball for most of the second quarter and got two 3-yard touchdown runs from Frank Richardson and a 13-yard Richardson TD pass to Lathan Bledsoe to take a 28-0 lead into halftime. The Gamecocks had the game well in hand after Conner Rivers’ 37-yard field goal made it 31-0 early in the third quarter, but Westwood came to life shortly afterward. With junior quarterback Elye Owens in for Henryhand, the Redhawks got on the scoreboard with an Owens-to- Tyrek Jenkins touchdown pass play of 67 yards at the 7:26 mark of the third. Westwood even recovered the onside kick, but Owens threw an interception on fourth-and-long that may as well have been a short punt. The Sumter possession that followed ended with Shannon’s 55-yard touchdown straight up the middle of the field that made it 38-7. The Gamecocks erred on the kickoff when they directed the ball to Jayden Boyd . The fastest Westwood player took the ball around the 12-yard line, ran into a crowd of blockers and tacklers, then bounced around the right side of the field and found his way to complete an 88-yard kickoff return for a touchdown at the 4:02 mark of the third quarter. Westwood’s kickoff went out of bounds and the ball was set at the 35-yard line, but the action continued when Pinckney took the handoff and dashed 65 yards for yet another score in the quarter. Gamecocks led 45-14 going into the fourth. “We’re explosive offensively, we’ve been explosive all year,” Barnes said. “We played better defense early in the game but in the second half we let some get away from us. They’re really skilled though, they’re fast. They do a great job coaching and putting their players in great opportunities.” Westwood scored on a Jovan Howard dive from one yard out that capped a long drive straddling the third and fourth quarters. Sumter’s Jacori Jackson scored on a 4-yard touchdown run to make it 52-21 in the final minutes, and Owens’ 5-yard touchdown pass to Quentin McGill with 32 seconds left gave Westwood (6-4, 3-3) a final score before the game’s end. While the Redhawks did put four scores on the board in the second half, the first half’s misfirings made first-year head coach Stephen Burris seethe. “We’ve got to learn how not to beat ourselves. At times I think we’re growing up and then we take a step backwards,” Burris said. “I understand this is the first year of a staff and all those things, but we’re five months into this thing and my expectations are high for us to execute at a high level and to get better week to week and I didn’t see it in the first half at all.” Sumter is a No. 3 seed and has a bye in the 5A Division 1 bracket, they play the winner of Friday’s Wando -at- James Island matchup Nov. 14. Westwood is a No.7 seed in the 5A Division 2 bracket and plays host to St . James Friday. Sumter 7 21 17 7 – 52 Westwood 0 0 14 13 – 27 First Quarter S - Reggie Shannon 29 run (Connor Rivers kick) 6:48 Second Quarter S - Frank Richardson 3 run (kick failed) 10:00 S - Richardson 3 run (Joseph Chapman pass from Richardson) 3:30 S - Lathan Bledsoe 13 pass from Richardson (Rivers kick) :38 Third Quarter S - Rivers 37 field goal 9:12 W - Tyrek Jenkins 67 pass from Elye Owens (Muhsin Yakubu kick) 7:26 S - Shannon 55 run (Rivers kick) 4:19 W - Jayden Boyd 88 kickoff return (Yakubu kick) 4:02 S - Cleveland Pinckney 65 run (Connor kick) 3:51 Fourth Quarter W - Jovan Howard 1 run (Yakubu kick) 9:32 S - Jacori Jackson 4 run (Rivers kick) 4:40 W - Quentin McGill 5 pass from Owens (kick failed) :32 SHS WHS First downs 18 9 Rushes-yds 47-400 27-118 Passing yds 50 65 Att-Com-Int 6-2-0 20-15-2 Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-1 Penalties-yds 13-100 5-25 Punts-avg 1-33.0 2-32.5 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING S - Cleveland Pinckney 20-166, Reggie Shannon 10-134, Frank Richardson 9-36, Jacori Jackson 4-36, Lathan Bledsoe 4-28. W - Angelo Rios 11-18, Jovan Howard 6-53, Elye Owens 5-35, Quentin McGill 4-14, Jayden Boyd 1-(-2). PASSING S - Frank Richardson 2-6-0. W - Josiah Henryhand 2-5-1, Elye Owens 13-15-1. RECEIVING S - Jacori Jackson 1-37, Lathan Bledsoe 1-13. W - Angelo Rios 4-8, C.J. Bennett 3-27, Quentin McGill 2-9, Tyrek Jenkins 2-7, Jovan Howard, 2-5, Jayden Boyd 1-7, Sheldon Bradley 1-2.