Late drive propels Waccamaw past Marion

The Waccamaw Warriors didn’t have much time to think.

Instead, they executed.

Trailing Marion by one, the Warriors put together a meaningful final drive capped by a Kelton Grant 3-yard touchdown run to put them up a score with just 40 seconds left and Waccamaw’s Darnell Dadd secured a 20-14 victory over the Swamp Foxes with an interception as time expired Friday night.

“I wanted to take it to the house so bad. But it was the end of the game and just dropped down, knowing I won it for my team,” Dadd said. “This was an awesome win. One we needed.”

Flooding in the local area took its toll on the Warriors, who lost a pair of games in a four-day span following a hiatus of 25 days from the football field. Waccamaw coach Tyronne Davis felt like his team bounced back well against a tough Marion squad.

“Marion is a very good team and we knew that coming in,” Davis said. “Last week I put a lot on them, having to play two games that week and not being prepared. I told them this week we felt back to normal. We had a good week of practice and I told the kids if they came out and played hard, good things could happen.”

The Warriors’ performance was nothing short of gutsy, either.

Despite giving up 194 yards on 22 carries to Marion’s Janarick Reed, Waccamaw had two running backs reach nearly 300 combined yards as Grant ran 22 times for 141 yards and two touchdowns and Kevin Gasque picked up a touchdown and 140 yards on 28 carries.

Davis said he challenged his running backs to step it up Friday and they did just that.

“We [wanted] to put the ball in their hands for this game and they came through for us,” Davis said of his backs. “It’s kind of what we’ve been wanting all season and we finally got healthy in spots and it made a difference. We were able to do some things tonight that I thought we could do early in the season but it kind of came together tonight.”

Along with his big performance on the ground, Gasque made a big difference blocking on Friday night. On a few runs by Grant, Gasque laid down some nasty blocks to allow for some big runs.

“He did have some big blocks tonight,” Davis said. “The [line] did well and the backs did a great job of blocking for each other. They did a great job of blocking tonight and, again, I think everybody did. We had some plays and we still have to correct some mistakes but I thought we played an excellent game.”

Waccamaw quarterback Jack Floyd -- despite throwing two picks -- completed some nice passes near the end of the game to keep the Warriors alive. Floyd finished 3-of-7 passing for 62 yards.

Now with their first region win under their belt, the Warriors turn their focus to perennial powerhouse Dillon, which hosts Waccamaw next Friday at 7:30 p.m.

“[Playoff hopes] are still there,” Davis said. “We just got to keep playing, keep working and we don’t know what might happen.”

This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 11:49 PM with the headline "Late drive propels Waccamaw past Marion."