Georgetown beats Darlington for first home playoff win in school history

The Georgetown Bulldogs football history book needs a lot of rewriting.

With Friday’s 31-14 Class AAA playoff-opening victory over Darlington, and a little help down the coast, the Bulldogs accomplished a lot of firsts for the program.

The win over the Falcons was the first home playoff victory in program history, and Georgetown will host a second-round playoff game for the first time next Friday when it welcomes Brookland-Cayce, an upset winner over Hanahan. The 2015 Bulldogs’ resume also includes back-to-back seasons with a playoff win and back-to-back eight-win seasons, also program firsts.

“It means a lot to the team, the coaches, and especially our community,” senior quarterback Jarvis Brown said of his team’s recent success. “The last couple of years our community came together for our football team and our basketball team. Our town is based off sports, and this is just a confidence builder all around.”

Brown, a three-year starter, is a big reason for much of that success, and he was at it again against Darlington. After the defense forced a three-and-out to start the game, the Georgetown offense took just three plays to get on the board with Brown finding Darrion Graham running free down the middle of the field for a 42-yard scoring strike. Then, with Georgetown nursing a 14-7 lead coming out of halftime, Brown orchestrated a 10-play, 74-yard scoring drive to open the second half. Facing a third-and-9 from the Darlington 12, Brown rolled to his right before looking left and lofting a pass to a wide-open Ahmaud Swinton for a 12-yard touchdown.

Brown finished the night with a team-leading 77 yards rushing and 152 yards passing.

“I thought in the beginning of the football game their defensive line outplayed us up front and the first quarter put us in a hole,” Darlington coach John Jones said. “… Then the same thing happened to start the second half. … They just physically up front hurt us tonight.”

Georgetown’s physical play in all phases of the game was too much for the Falcons. The defense limited a fast-paced offense to minimal success and the offensive line allowed the Bulldogs to rush for 246 yards with three backs gaining 60 yards or more on the ground.

“Darlington has got a very good football team,” Georgetown coach Bradley Adams said. “Our defense played extremely well tonight. They gave our offense a lot of good opportunities all night long. What more can you say. They held a very explosive football team to 14 points.

“I thought that our defensive ends played extremely well. They had the biggest challenge of the night. They had the biggest job of attacking those guards all night long when they pulled. It was something that was going to be very hard, and they did a great job with it all night long.”

Georgetown also got two touchdown runs from junior Tony Lara and a 28-yard field goal by Lorenzo Drayton. Lara, who had a third scoring run called back because of a holding penalty, is the Bulldogs’ leading rusher on the season.

“Being with this team this year, it is an honor,” Lara said. “The line blocked extremely well for me (tonight). I was seeing big holes and just doing my job.”

Darlington (6-5) stayed close with a 1-2 punch of running back Thomas Wheeler and quarterback Frankie Johnson. Wheeler’s second-quarter touchdown set a 14-7 halftime score. He finished with 101 yards rushing on 20 carries. Johnson rushed for 46 yards and a score while also throwing for 76 yards.

“[Georgetown is] well coached, and they have a good football team,” Jones said. “Coach Adams and those guys do a great job. We lost to the better team tonight.

Now it’s on to a second-round playoff game at Georgetown next Friday night.

“It is a great feeling,” Adams said. “It’s never been done here at Georgetown before. Let’s enjoy the ride.”

This story was originally published November 14, 2015 at 12:07 AM with the headline "Georgetown beats Darlington for first home playoff win in school history."