Fort Dorchester ends Conway’s season in Class 5A quarterfinals, 42-13

With four losses in the regular season, Conway surprised some people in South Carolina with a run to the Class 5A state quarterfinals.

The Tigers even pitched a shutout in the second round, moving past Spring Valley 14-0.

But they didn’t have to deal with anyone possessing the immense skills of Dakereon Joyner in the first two rounds.

The junior quarterback’s bevy of talents, combined with five Conway turnovers, were too much for the Tigers to overcome in a 42-13 loss to Fort Dorchester that ended their playoff run.

Four of Conway’s turnovers came in a span of eight minutes in the third quarter, in which the Tigers were outscored 28-7.

“I’m proud of what we accomplished this year, especially with our preseason expectations,” Conway senior quarterback Peyton Derrick said. “I’m happy to say [if we eliminate] a few mistakes here, a few mistakes there, we could have played with anybody in the state, including these guys tonight. But we just made some mistakes.”

Fort Dorchester (12-1) is the defending state champion and has reached the state semifinals for the third consecutive year. The Patriots have won 10 straight games and can avenge their only defeat in the past 28 games in the Lower State finals at Dutch Fork, which defeated them 35-22 in August.

They’ll be led by Joyner, who put on a show Friday, particularly in the second half. He entered the game with 40 passing touchdowns and 10 rushing touchdowns this season, and added to those totals by completing 10 of 15 passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns, and gaining 148 yards and scoring a TD on 17 carries.

“He’s their offense. I thought we did a great job with him in the entire first half, but once he got moving it was hard to contain him,” said Conway coach Chuck Jordan, whose team finished the season 8-5. “The tough thing with him is we tried not to get too much pressure on him because we didn’t want to flush him. But at the same time he’s throwing some ropes down the field and it was just tough.”

After Conway did a decent job in the first half of containing Joyner, in the second half he completed 4 of 5 passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 97 yards and a score on eight carries, and didn’t play for the final 10 minutes.

“Conway had a good game plan, I’m not going to lie,” Joyner said. “In the first half they didn’t rush any defensive linemen, they kind of contained me. Every time I took off to scramble they were getting me from behind. I respect that. But in the second half we turned it on and we were out. … When we finally caught our rhythm we were rolling.”

Fort Dorchester’s defense recorded the first points of the game late in the first quarter. Derrick hit Tyrek Weaver for a first down on a short pass to the left side but Weaver fumbled and defensive back D’Angelo Knight scooped it up and followed blockers down the sideline for a 38-yard return for a touchdown.

The Patriots controlled most of the second quarter with a 16-play, 85-yard drive that was capped by a 5-yard Adonicas Sanders 5-yard run on a reverse. The TD was the first given up by the Conway defense in more than five quarters.

Conway nearly got a turnover to end the drive. One play before the score, Conway stripped the ball from running back Drew Parker and it was loose in the middle of the line before a Patriots lineman jumped on it to retain possession.

Conway pulled within a touchdown on its third play of the second half as Juwan Moody caught a 10-yard pass over the middle on a third-and-5 play, then stopped and pivoted to the left with three defenders converging to create space and raced to the end zone for a 61-yard TD reception.

But an onslaught of turnovers and Patriots points followed for the remainder of the third quarter.

Fort Dorchester intercepted Derrick three times and recovered a fumble, contributing to 28 unanswered points that put the game out of reach.

“We just made some mistakes there in the third quarter that cost us terribly,” Jordan said. “We kept them on a short field, and they didn’t need any help but we gave them some.”

The carnage began with a 71-yard drive that included Joyner runs of 25 and 16 yards and was capped by a 47-yard TD pass to Raquan Simmons that was perfectly thrown between a cornerback and safety.

On Conway’s first play following the ensuing kickoff, Derrick was pressured and was intercepted on a pass over the middle by Knight. Joyner scored on a 24-yard run on the next play, shifting away from several defenders on a quarterback draw.

Conway’s Weaver appeared to be down when he lost the ball two plays later, but the play was ruled a fumble and the Patriots took over at the Conway 28. The Tigers avoided another quick score by forcing and recovering a Joyner fumble at the 2-yard line, but it only delayed the Patriots’ march.

Josh McLeod intercepted an overthrow over the middle and Parker scored on a 5-yard run five plays later. Joyner kept the scoring drive alive with a 25-yard scramble on fourth-and-4 after he appeared to be trapped in the backfield.

Another Knight interception was followed by a 44-yard TD pass from Joyner to Simmons.

Conway got one TD in the fourth quarter on a 34-yard reception by Moody and had a chance for a second following an interception by Whitfield Richardson after Joyner was pulled from the game, but a pass on fourth down from the 5-yard line was dropped in the end zone.

“[Derrick’s] a great player too and they have great receivers,” Patriots coach Steve Laplat said. “We knew we’d have to tackle in space. That’s their game. I thought we did a pretty good job. They got loose a couple times, and I knew they would.”

Derrick, who has committed to play at Appalachian State next year, threw just two incompletions in the first half and finished 29 of 41 for 249 yards and two touchdowns.

He closed out an impressive career with a senior season that included 2,872 passing yards and 27 passing touchdowns, as well as 535 yards rushing and another 10 scores.

“Our goal for this year and for every year is to win a state championship and do something we haven’t done at Conway yet,” Derrick said. “But it was fun for us, especially to see different schools around the area drop out one by one, and to see a team like us, who they didn’t really think we’d go to the third round of the playoffs, to go as far as we did. We wish we could get this one back because we feel we could give this team a run for their money.”

This story was originally published December 3, 2016 at 12:04 AM with the headline "Fort Dorchester ends Conway’s season in Class 5A quarterfinals, 42-13."