Derrick Law Firm Carolinas Kickoff Clash’s history of blowouts continues

If the Derrick Law Firm Carolinas Kickoff Clash is truly over, it’s going to end its four-year run with mostly lopsided scores.

Of the 16 games in the event over its four seasons, 13 were decided by double digits. Of those, nine were decided by at least 20 points.

That includes four of the five games this year. Conway, New Hanover (N.C.), South Florence and Charlotte Christian (N.C.) all won big. Add that to all five games in 2014 ending with double-digit margins of victory, and the DLF became synonymous with one-sided affairs.

Late-game scoring did change the final point margin in multiple games over the lifespan of the DLF. However, the body of scoring work as a whole showed just how tough it can be to match opponents from opposite sides of the state line.

Event organizer Mark Stafford said last week that there were times he wished he could have changed matchups. That wasn’t possible for teams and their fans planning for the games.

Instead, fans were left with mostly uneven games.

There may not have been a bigger mismatch on both sides of the spectrum than with Conway. The Tigers, one of two teams to play in the event all four years, failed to have even one close game. The Tigers lost 55-19 to Northwestern in 2012 and 21-7 to Hoggard (N.C.) in 2014 and beat New Hanover (N.C.) 32-14 in 2013 and South Brunswick 55-0 on Thursday.

This story was originally published August 31, 2015 at 4:06 PM with the headline "Derrick Law Firm Carolinas Kickoff Clash’s history of blowouts continues."