‘Proud of the effort’: How Loris battled Dillon before seeing perennial power pull away
At halftime, the Dillon team looked up at a deficit and quickly found its mantra for the second half: “Flip the script.”
The Wildcats (4-0, 4-0 Region 7-3A) did just that, turning a seven-point deficit into a dominating 36-point win, outscoring Loris (2-2, 2-2 Region 7-3A) 49-6 in the final two quarters.
“That’s a quality football team,” said Loris coach Greg Mance following his team’s homecoming defeat. “They have been dealing with a lot going on in their community this week and I think that caused them to start slow. But in the second half they woke up and showed why they’re the No. 1 team in the rankings.”
Coming into the game, Loris knew its playoff fate rested in its own hands. Win and you’re in was the most likely scenario, lose and begin preparation for the “bowl season” that the weeks following region play have become for non-playoff contenders. If the first half was any indication, the Lions had every intention of making the playoffs.
Dillon began the game with the ball, driving quickly and efficiently down the field to score on a Nemo Squire 6-yard rush. After a failed two-point try, Loris would get the ball and march into Dillon territory. The Lions would run quarterback Brice Faircloth up the middle and, on second down, would get a penalty called against Dillon for unnecessary roughness. Traditionally, this call carries an automatic first down and moves the ball half the distance to the goal, which, in the mind of public address announcer Kyle Gore, the scoreboard operator, and the chain crew, was a given. However, the referees did not call for an automatic first down, only moving the ball half a yard closer to the goal line and calling for third down. According to high school football rules, only roughing the passer and roughing the kicker/holder penalites carry an automatic first down. The traditionally automatic nature of unnecessary roughness penalties usually comes from the given 15-yards with the penalty, but in the case of Dillon’s penalty, the enforcement only cost the Wildcats a half yard.
“There was a lot of confusion,” Mance said. “I heard the announcer say first down, the scoreboard said it, heck, the down marker said first down. My coaches were yelling out first down, but I was trying to get a play call in to my quarterback. I wouldn’t have called a quarterback sneak on (what was) fourth down had I known it was actually fourth down. I thought it was second down.”
While it didn’t factor into the final outcome, any points on that opening drive would have given the Lions a larger halftime lead of 10 or 14 points and the election by the Wildcats to take the opening kickoff gave Loris the chance to stretch the lead to three possessions with a touchdown.
Instead, Loris came out in its opening drive of the second half with horrendous field position and found itself punting on 4th and 20 from inside its own 15-yard line. Dillon would return the punt back to the Loris 20 and would punch in a score two plays later. The Wildcats attack was relentless in the second half, taking advantage of every opportunity presented by Loris miscues.
“We had some success moving the ball in the first half, but in the second half they clamped down on everything we were doing well,” Mance said. “They were able to break our tackles without much trouble and carry our players for a few extra yards before we got them to the ground. I’m proud of the effort my guys showed, they truly got after it and gave it everything they had. This is another one of those measuring stick games. That team is the best in (Class 3A) and we faced a really good Aynor team last week that showed us what it takes to compete in this region. We’re not there yet, we need to put in a lot of work in the weight room, but we’re building.”
Loris has two extra games scheduled to end its season, both against Class 5A competition in St. James and Socastee.
DIL – 6 8 24 25 – 63
LOR – 0 21 6 0 – 27
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
DIL – Nemo Squire 6-yard rush (2-point conversion failed) 9:28
Second Quarter
LOR – Brice Faircloth 5-yard rush (Ridge Kidder kick good) 10:51
DIL – Squire 9-yard rush (Jack Grider pass to Bobo McKinnon for 2-point play) 9:28
LOR – Faircloth 6-yard rush (Kidder kick) 3:54
LOR – Faircloth 1-yard rush (Kidder kick) 00:15
Third Quarter
DIL – Squire 11-yard rush (Squire run for 2-point) 9:45
DIL – Squire 52-yard rush (Squire run for 2-point) 7:22
LOR – Faircloth 3-yard rush (XP blocked) 2:02
DIL – Nigel George 1-yard rush (Squire run for 2-point) 1:22
Fourth Quarter
DIL – Grider 23-yard rush (XP failed) 11:02
DIL – Squire 13-yard rush (XP failed) 7:43
DIL – George 34-yard rush (Juste Ndayishimiye kick good) 3:41
DIL – Jermaree McDaniel 62-yard interception return (XP failed) 00:10
Statistical Leaders
Passing
DIL – Jack Grider 4-10-46 0 TD 3 INT
LOR – Brice Faircloth 11-26-184 0TD 1 INT
Rushing
DIL – Nemo Squire 18-198 5TDs
LOR – Brice Faircloth 29-125 4TDs
Receiving
DIL – Ahmari Huggins-Bruce 4-58
LOR – Ridge Kidder 4-102
Interceptions
DIL – 1 Bobo McKinnon, Jemaree McDaniel
LOR – 1 Amarion Riggins; Omarion Bland; La’Ontray Knox
Week 6’s other Results
Aynor 67, @ Green Sea Floyds 48
@ Carolina Forest 40, Beaufort 20
@ St. James 28, Conway 7
@ Myrtle Beach 38, South Florence 14
Lake View 40, @ Waccamaw 7 (Final)