Dillon – When Dillon Christian School began its first season under head coach Donell Stanley with a 21-14 victory over Calhoun Academy, things looked very promising for the Warriors.
While Stanley still sees plenty of promise in his squad, he admits it has been a struggle since the opener. Dillon Christian has only scored 38 points in the six losses since then.
What makes matters worse is the fact the Warriors had a legitimate chance to win three of those games. They only lost to Clarendon Hall 12-9, 7-6 to Calhoun in a rematch and 12-0 to Dorchester Academy.
“We’ve definitely had our chances in some of those games,” said Stanley, the former University of South Carolina and National Football League offensive lineman. “We've got a young team and we just have to keep working hard to get to where we want to go. We’ve got a lot of inexperienced players. We’ve just got to build on what we’ve done and learn from the bad.”
The other three losses have come against three quality teams. The Warriors lost to 3-3 SCISA AA Carolina Academy 23-0, to defending Class A state champion Lee Academy 35-7 and to defending Class A state runner-up Thomas Heyward 49-16.
Stanley said Dillon Christian often has been its own worst enemy on offense.
“A lot of the stuff is us shooting our own self in the foot,” he said. “We will get ourselves in the red zone and then get ourselves out of the red zone with penalties, bad snaps and penalties.”
Stanley said the Warriors’ defense has been solid for most of the season. Jackson Outlar in the secondary and middle linebacker Ron Bracey have been the defensive leaders, according to Stanley.
“Our defense has been really been good, so that’s why I was disappointed last night (the loss to Thomas Heyward on September 29). We’re just a very young team, and we’ve got to continue buying in and gain that experience.
“It was an 8-8 game, and we just couldn’t get a stop, and their offense stayed on the field.”
Dillon Christian has three games remaining in the regular season, on the road against The King’s Academy on October 6, at home in a rematch against Lee Academy on October 13 and at home against Thomas Sumter Academy on October 27.
Both TKA and TSA are winless on the season.
“I love to see how our guys respond win or lose,” Stanley said. “I think we’re still in a good place to win three games. I’m never going to give up on them. We’re going to take the best things and try to learn from them.”
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