St. George – With the exception of one game, Michael Nelson has been pretty pleased with his first season as the head coach of the Dorchester Academy football team.
“I like where we’re at, but I was disappointed with the (34-8) loss to Thomas Heyward,” said Nelson, who went undefeated in leading Holly Hill Academy to three straight SCISA 8-man state titles before coming to Dorchester. “We didn’t play our best. We outgained them in total yards, but we had fumbles and bad snaps. We had more yards, but we had just one touchdown to their five.”
After losing to Class A Branchville High School to open the yeaer, DA reeled off three straight wins. The Raiders beat Orangeburg Prep 22-8, Cross Schools 66-0 and Pee Dee Academy 20-13. After the loss to THA, Dorchester beat Dillon Christian School 12-0.
The Raiders’ offensive success has centered around its running game.
“We’re averaging about 285 yards on the ground right now,” Nelson said. “We’ve been working on our passing game a little bit to keep people out of the box. We’re throwing in some new wrinkles to try and expand the offense.”
The offense revolves around quarterback Wayland Gruber and running backs Connor Hartzog and John Whetsell.
“One of them will get 150 one week and then someone will start keying on them, and we’ll give it to someone else,” Nelson said. “We go with what they give us.”
Each of them has rushed for over 100 yards in a game this season. Against Pee Dee, Gruber rushed for 132 yards and three touchdowns while Hartzog had 182 rushing yards.
While DA doesn’t throw the ball that much, Gruber is very effective when he does. Gruber had three touchdown passes in each of the wins over Cross Schools and Orangeburg Prep.
He’s also a playmaker on defense from his strong safety slot.
“He can run it, he can throw it, he leads us in interceptions as well,” Nelson said. “He’s a playmaker for sure.”
Dorchester, ranked fifth in the High School Sports Report SCISA Class A Pick 6 poll, has huge games over the next two weeks. The Raiders will play host to undefeated and top-ranked Patrick Henry Academy on October 6.
“That’s a big test for us this week,” Nelson said of PHA, which is 7-0. “They’re a very talented team. We’ve got to be ready to play.”
The week after that, DA will travel to Summerton to take on second-ranked Clarendon Hall. The Saints’ only loss came to Patrick Henry.
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