Lugoff-Elgin rallies from early deficit to knock off Westwood 14-6
Demons limit Westwood to 87 yards of total offense
Blythewood -- Few football fans in the Midlands took notice of Lugoff-Elgin High School playing at
Westwood on Friday.
While defending SCISA AAAA state champion Hammond handed Cardinal Newman its first loss of
the season, while unbeaten White Knoll held off defending AAAAA state champion Dutch Fork, while the
Irmo defense obliterated Ridge View, two 1-5 teams battled it out — and sometimes battled themselves
— to stay alive in Region 5-4A competition.
With two second-half scores, Lugoff-Elgin closed out a 14-6 victory over the Redhawks on
Westwood’s homecoming night.
“Both halves were frustrating offensively, but I thought our defense played their tails off,”
Lugoff-Elgin head coach Matt Campbell said. “I don’t know how many times we got inside the
25-yard line going in but we were stellar playing defense on ourselves. If we capitalize on every
opportunity we have, we’re a lot better team.”
Aiden Fitzgerald’s 43-yard TD pass play to Zion Tucker midway through the third quarter,
followed by Ryikeez Brown’s 12-yard touchdown run in the fourth, were the only offensive
highlights for the Demons, who improved to 2-5 overall and 1-1 in Region 5-AAA.
It’s the lowlights that concerned Campbell.
Lugoff-Elgin fumbled the ball four times and lost it twice, and threw an interception that led to
Westwood’s only score of the game in the second quarter. Justin Washington intercepted a
Fitzgerald pass and set the Redhawks, 1-6 and 0-2, at the 27-yard line. Antwan Nelson carried the
ball six times on that short drive, his final carry being a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Redhawks
a 6-0 lead.
The Demons defense pretty much made those errors fade away. Lugoff-Elgin sacked Westwood
quarterback Carrington Carter four times, held the Redhawks to eight first downs, and forced five
punts and four turnovers on downs.
On top of all of that, the Demons limited Westwood to 87 total yards. The Redhawks, who a
week before rushed for more than 300 yards in a 36-33 region loss at A.C. Flora, had just 23 net
rushing yards.
Much of Westwood’s lack of productivity had to do with an injury to running back Quentin
McGill Jr. McGill, who had 163 yards and three scores at Flora the week before, had 25 rushing
yards and two catches for five yards against the Demons before his injury. He left in the first half
and did not return.
Nelson, who had 186 yards and two TDs at Flora, was left to bear the burden, and Lugoff-Elgin
defenders zeroed in on him. Nelson finished with 31 yards on 19 carries.
“We had a couple of injuries offensively that put us behind the 8-ball at running back,”
Westwood head coach Robert O’Connell said. “We had to shuffle some guys in there and that
definitely hurt moving the ball. That made it tough.”
It gets tougher for both the Redhawks and the Demons next week. Westwood heads to Ridge
View and Lugoff-Elgin plays host to Richland Northeast.
The challenge for Westwood is to finish games.
“In pretty much all of our games, we’re right there, we’ve just got to finish,” O’Connell said.
“We’ve got to keep looking for ways to get better. We’ve got to keep working.”
Campbell said his team is poised to have a decent run in region play, provided it plays better.
“I’m just trying to get better every week, and I’m proud of their effort” Campbell said. “They play
hard all the time and when you’ve got kids playing hard, you can fix a lot of things.”
Lugoff-Elgin 0 0 7 7 – 14
Westwood 0 6 0 0 – 6
Second Quarter
W - Antwan Nelson 1 run (kick failed) 6:17
Third Quarter
L - Zion Tucker 43 pass from Aiden Fitzgerald (Eli Branham kick) 6:55
Fourth Quarter
L - Ryikeez Brown 12 run (Branham kick) 6:19
L-E WHS
First downs 17 8
Rushes-Yards 41-158 31-23
Passing yards 139 64
Att-Com-Int 23-13-1 21-6-1
Fumbles-lost 4-2 0-0
Penalties-yards 5-40 2-25
Punts-Avg 4-37.0 5-31.0
INDIVIDUAL
RUSHING
L-Ali Duncan 24-75, Ryikeez Brown 13-57, Quentin Benjamin 2-20, Aiden Fitzgerald 2-6. W-
Antwan Nelson 19-31, Quentin McGill Jr. 4-25, Chase Simmons 1-(-8), Carrington Carter 6-(-
28), Team 1-3.
PASSING
L-Aiden Fitzgerald 13-23-1. W-Carrington Carter 6-20-1, Chase Simmons 0-1-0.
RECEIVING
L-Zion Tucker 6-94, Myles Hamilton 3-18, Caleb Cattles 2-12, Matt Campbell 1-7, Team 1-8.
W-Quentin McGill Jr. 2-5, Jayvyn Canty 1-5, Sean Goddard 2-43, Miles Grant 1-15.
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