Wolves roll to region win

PAWLEYS ISLAND -- Waccamaw was looking to take down one of the kingpins of Region VII-AA when hosting Timberland on Friday night in a battle for first place.

The Warriors' hopes were dashed by an explosive Timberland rushing attack that rolled up 501 yards in a 54-21 rout.

The Wolves (8-0 overall, 3-0 region), coming off a 55-3 romp over highly regarded Manning, ripped off nine runs of 20 yards or more while taking charge of the region chase.

``You can't let that crowd get loose,'' Waccamaw coach Burney Bourne said. ``We just missed a ton of tackles.''

Running backs Byron Mayes and Laron Milford led the charge. Mayes finished with 145 yards on just six carries, including touchdown runs of 59 and 50 yards. Milford had 103 yards, also on six carries, with one touchdown while Bryndon Jiles added a 59-yard punt return.

``They're an excellent football team ... very, very quick, very fast,'' Bourne said.

Despite his team's 589 yards of total offense, Timberland coach Art Craig was less than thrilled with the Wolves' performance.

``We did a pretty good job [running the ball] but I don't think we played extremely well tonight,'' Craig said. ``We've got to protect the ball _ I was a little disappointed in our turnovers. I thought up front we did a real good job.

``I'm disappointed in giving up 21 points, we can't do that.''

The Wolves rolled up 141 yards rushing in the first quarter to jump out to a 14-0 lead and extended that to 26-7 at halftime.

Then Timberland gained 133 yards in three plays and scored two touchdowns in the first 2:01 of the second half to put the Warriors away.

Mayes scored on a 50-yard sprint on the second play of the third quarter before quarterback Cody Craig, the coach's son and a Coastal Carolina University commitment, hit Jiles on a 38-yard touchdown pass.

Suddenly, the Wolves led 41-7 with 9:59 left in the third quarter.

The Warriors (6-2, 2-1) played hard the entire second half, gaining 227 yards offense in the final two quarters and adding touchdown runs by Terron Britton and John Gibbs.

Britton finished with 133 yards on 29 carries while Gibbs gained 111 yards on 19 carries to go over the 1,000-mark and caught two passes for 88 yards.