‘We fought’: Carolina Forest reflects on historic season that ended in Lower State final
The Carolina Forest football team wasn’t ready to leave the field.
Shortly after the Panthers’ 45-20 loss to Dutch Fork, Carolina Forest players and fans lingered on the field taking photos and soaking in what was a memorable season.
The Panthers finished the year at 12-2 and made it to their first Class 5A Lower State championship. Carolina Forest quarterback Mason Garcia said he was going to spend the three-hour bus ride back to Horry County reflecting on what he and his teammates had accomplished.
“Just gonna sit back and relax and enjoy the teammates that I have and players I got to play with the last four years,” said Garcia, an East Carolina commit. “We have never been here before so you know it was a great experience. These guys we came and we fought every day and we were ready for this one. But we didn’t come down with it.”
Like Garcia, Carolina Forest coach Marc Morris was thinking about the positives of what the program has accomplished. The Panthers won just four games in Morris’ first year in 2013 but have won 20 over the past two seasons.
“Best thing we are going to remember was the kind of men we saw grow up for last three or four years,” Morris said. “Just blessed to be part of this program and blessed to coach these group of kids. They have done a lot of things for our community, school and football program.
“I told them one night doesn’t make you as an individual. It didn’t work our way tonight but once they go home and reflect on what they did this season. They will realize what they accomplished.”
The Panthers came out firing and looked poised to hang with the nationally-ranked Silver Foxes, who carried a 38-game unbeaten streak into the game. Carolina Forest scored on its first two possessions, the second on Garcia’s 24-yard pass to Josh Murphy as the Panthers led 14-7 with 8:04 left in the second quarter.
It was the first time Dutch Fork trailed since the season-opener to Mallard Creek,
But the Silver Foxes answered with a Jon Hall 1-yard run and they got the defensive stop on the next Carolina Forest possession. The Panthers drove it to the Dutch Fork 36 but turned it over on downs.
Dutch Fork scored seven plays later on a Hall 1-yard run to make it 21-14 with 29 seconds left in the second quarter. Hall finished with 145 yards rushing and tied a school-record with six rushing touchdowns.
Carolina Forest fumbled the ensuing possession and Silver Foxes got a Graham Newboult field goal made it 24-14 at halftime. Dutch Fork scored on every possession except the final one when it ran out the clock at the end of the game. The Silver Foxes finished with 483 yards and averaged almost 12 yards a play as they fought a tough early challenge from the Panthers.
“I felt like we had a pretty good game plan,” Morris said. “Offensively, we moved the ball pretty good most of the night. We knew we had to keep scoring. They are so explosive on offense. That hiccup before the first half hurt us but they got a great offensive scheme and we couldn’t stop them.”
HOW THEY SCORED
CF 7 7 0 6 - 20
DF 7 17 14 7 - 45
First quarter
CF - Garcia 4 run (Purier kick), 6:26
DF - Hall 1 run (Newboult kick),
Second quarter
CF - Murphy 24 pass from Garcia (Poirier kick), 8:04
DF - Hall 1 run (Newboult kick), 6:21
DF - Hall 1 run (Newboult kick), 0:29
DF - Newboult kick, :00
Third quarter
DF - Hall 1 run (Newboult kick), 10:47
DF - Hall 24 run (Newboult kick), 2:32
Fourth quarter
DF - Hall 70 run (Newboult kick), 9:06
CF - Watkins 5 pass from Garcia, 2:30
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING - CF: Legette 24-62, Garcia 15-61, Watkins 1-23, Brown 1-1. DF:Hall 16-145, Taylor 3-42, Spencer 1-7, Knight 1-5, Olenchuk 2-5
PASSING - CF: Garcia 17-23-1 193. DF:Olenchuk 13-17-0 276 Hyatt 1-1-0 4.
RECEIVING - CF: Murphy 6-92, Watkins 6-38, Edwards 2-43, Lavallee 1-11, Admill 1-9. DF: Hall 3-85, Hyatt 5-102, Jacobs 3-72 Spencer 1-9, German 1-8, Olenchuk 1-4
