Sumter pulls away in second half to beat Carolina Forest
The worst starting field position Sumter High School had on its first five possessions of the second half of its football game against Carolina Forest on Friday was its 48-yard line. That’s right, its 48.
The Gamecocks punched the ball into the end zone on the first four of those possessions and added a field goal on the final one to turn a 7-3 halftime lead into a 38-3 victory at Sumter Memorial Stadium’s Freddie Solomon Field.
“We did a good job coming out in the second half,” said SHS head coach Mark Barnes, whose team improved to 7-2 overall and 3-0 in Region VI-AAAA. “We came out and established ourselves offensively and really played great defense. And we hang our hats on running the ball and playing good defense.”
The Panthers, who fell to 4-5 and 1-2, kicked a field goal on the last play of the first half to make it 7-3. CF had to kick off to start the second half and tried on onside kick. Sumter’s Shyheim Perry recovered the kick at the Gamecock 49. On second down, running back Quintein Anderson broke off a 32-yard run to the Carolina Forest 15. Five plays later, Anderson scored on a 1-yard run with 8:45 remaining in the third quarter. Brixton Niehbuhr added the extra point to make it 14-3.
“Coach Morris and I go a long way back,” Barnes said of Panthers head coach Marc Morris, who was on Barnes’ staff at Scotland County High in North Carolina. “He does a good job with his team, but I was expecting that onside kick. We did a good job recovering it and then taking it on in. It kind of got things going down hill for us.”
SHS started at the Panther 46 when CF quarterback Matt Beale was called for intentional grounding on fourth down. A 19-yard pass from quarterback Maleek Nelson to wide receiver Wayne Bell on fourth down and nine yards to go set Sumter up at the Carolina 14.
Two 7-yard runs by Anderson led to a touchdown with 3:27 left in the third quarter to make it 21-3. Anderson rushed for 122 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries.
The Gamecocks forced a 3-and-out on CF’s next possession and an 8-yard punt left them starting at the Panther 28. Anderson opened with a 12-yard run and quarterback Zykeem Jackson followed with a 16-yard run for a score to make it 28-3 with 1:32 to go in the third quarter.
Sumter started at the CF 43 on its next possession. It needed just one play to score with Nelson throwing to a wide-open Bell, who then broke a tackle to take it into the end zone. That made it 35-3 with 11:41 left in the contest.
Niebuhr booted a 34-yard field goal with 5:10 left in the game.
Sumter’s defense stiffened in the second half. After giving up 164 rushing yards in the first half, 147 to Panthers running back Dyverse Simmons, the Gamecocks limited CF to 74 in the second half.
Simmons finished with 198 yards, but after breaking off a 39-yard run on Carolina Forest’s first offensive play of the second half, he only had 12 yards over his final six carries.
“We got used to what they were doing,” Barnes said of the second-half success against the run. “They got in some sets that we struggled with early, but we started to figure it out. You should get better on defense as the game goes along.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2015 at 12:18 AM with the headline "Sumter pulls away in second half to beat Carolina Forest."