Braves' burst leads to rout of Bulldogs

GEORGETOWN -- A virtual stale mate quickly became a runaway at Thomas L. Smith Stadium on Friday night.

Socastee and Georgetown were scoreless through the first 20 minutes of a Region VII- AAA contest pivotal to both teams' playoff aspirations. But a couple of miscues by the Bulldogs turned into a nearly insurmountable Socastee lead in less than a minute of playing time.

The Braves pounced on a pair of Georgetown fumbles and scored three touchdowns in 43 seconds to race to a 21-point lead that would never be chal lenged in a 41-6 win.

Sophomore tailback Michquan Brown scored the game's first two touchdowns 24 seconds apart, and P.J. Brave scored just 19 seconds after Brown's second score for the Braves.

``With about 3 1/2 minutes left in the first half I thought, `Maybe we can at least get in tied at halftime, make some adjust ments and come out in the second half and move the football a little bit,''' Braves coach Tim Renfrow said. "... Quanzey broke one and got it in the end zone, and before we knew it they turned it over and we got it in there again, and they turned it over and we got it in there again.

``That's a credit to our kids for taking advantage of those turnovers, but it really was a springboard for us.'' The Braves (4-4) improved to 2-1 in VII-AAA and are in solid position to garner one of the four playoff berths in the six-team region with games remaining against Lake City and St. James.

``I think this puts us in good shape,'' Renfrow said. ``It's not solidified, but it's a step forward for us.'' Georgetown (2-6) fell to 1-2 with games against region powers Lake City and Myrtle Beach remaining.

``The only thing left for us now is to win the next two: beat Myrtle Beach or Lake City,'' Bulldogs coach Tyronne Davis said.

Brown, who gained 145 yards on 10 carries, opened the scoring with an 11-yard run to cap a six-play, 57-yard scoring drive with 3:43 remaining in the first half. Georgetown's Marcus Archie returned the ensuing kickoff 50 yards but fumbled at the Socastee 41, and Brown scored on a 59-yard run on the next play with 3:19 to play.

A snap in shotgun formation on Georgetown's first play of its next possession sailed through quarterback Patrick Ward's hands and a Socastee defensive lineman recovered, leading to Brave's 4-yard scoring run on the next play with 3:00 left in the half.

``I thought our kids played hard the first half .Then we got down to the end of the second quarter and got some plays that didn't go our way,'' Davis said. ``Things like that hurt you. When we got our back against the wall, they're a good team and know how to put it away, and they actually did that.''

The Bulldogs scored on the opening possession of the second half on a 39-yard touchdown reception by Tevin Johnson from Ward, who later left the game with what appeared to be a leg injury. But Socastee answered on its next possession, with Brave breaking free for a 34-yard scoring run.

``They came out and scored the first time they had the ball [after half time],'' said Renfrow, whose team ran for 300 yards on 41 carries in the option offense. ``But our kids came right back and stuck it in there and that was big. That was probably the biggest play of the night when we put it back in there.''