Socastee fails to challenge Sumter in regular-season finale

The regular-season finale between Sumter and Socastee was a matchup between two teams heading in opposite directions.

The Fighting Gamecocks of Sumter drubbed the host Braves 41-0 on Friday night to secure the Region VI-AAAA title while Socastee closed out a disappointing campaign that saw injuries and defections take their toll by the bitter end.

“I am happy for our seniors,” Sumter coach Mark Barnes said. “I am their fourth head coach in four years, and that is not fair to a program. For our seniors to go out and win a region championship for the first time since 2009 says a lot about them. … Winning the region championship was important to us.”

The Braves never threatened to score against a stingy and physical Sumter defense as the Gamecocks limited Socastee to 50 yards of total offense. In region play, Sumter gave up just 24 points and posted two shutouts.

“Our defense does it collectively as a group,” Barnes said. “Everybody does their role and a different guy shines every week. They have been good all year.”

Socastee (2-9, 1-4 Region VI-AAAA) entered the 2015 season coming off a playoff appearance in its first season in Class AAAA. But after losing 25 seniors off last year’s squad, only 10 seniors were honored during Friday’s Senior Night festivities.

“We knew we were going to have a young team coming in so any injuries were going to be devastating,” Socastee coach Doug Illing said, “and we had 11 of them, and eight of those are still out.”

Not only did Socastee lack experience, but by the end of the season the number of players dressing out for varsity football dwindled to 30 or so players.

“Losing brings out the worst in people,” Illing said. “You find out who people really are when you have adversity like that so we had some people quit. The 30 that are left here are true warriors. They wanted to do whatever it took to finish out the season. I am very thankful for their effort and courage to keep fighting until the end because a lot of them didn’t.”

The Gamecocks (9-2, 5-0) amassed 268 yards of offense in the first half while limiting the Braves to 13. Sumter jumped on the scoreboard quick with a game-opening four-play, 72-yard drive capped by senior Quentin Anderson’s 29-yard touchdown run just 1:25 into the game. The scoring run pushed Anderson over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season.

The rest of the half belonged to Gamecocks quarterback Zykeem Jackson. The sophomore connected on touchdown passes of 29 yards to Charlie Miranda and 14 yards to Colin Washington as Sumter led 21-0 after the first quarter. Jackson threw his third scoring pass to Rodney Pitts late in the first half to set a 28-0 halftime score and found Washington again in the third quarter for his fourth and final scoring toss.

“[Jackson] played (junior varsity) the first five games of the year,” Barnes said. “We got beat by Dutch Fork, and we brought him up. Since then he has been our quarterback, and we have played really well. He is good with his feet, and he made some good throws tonight. We know he can throw the ball, but nobody else knows he can throw the ball. … For a young sophomore guy, he is very composed on the field.”

The win gave Sumter the outright Region VI-AAAA title, and the Gamecocks now head to the AAAA, Division I playoffs. The first round is scheduled to begin Nov. 20, and matchups will not be known until all regular season games are completed next Friday.

“We prepared to win, and that is what we talked about all week,” Illing said. “But a turnover on that first series kind of kills you. … Sumter is a good team. They are going to go a long way in the playoffs if not win it all.”

This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 11:31 PM with the headline "Socastee fails to challenge Sumter in regular-season finale."