Kingstree – The Kingstree High School football team has had its ups and downs through its first six games. The Blazers, a AA team, lost their first three games, all to AAA teams. They followed that with convincing wins over Class A schools Green Sea Floyds and Hemingway before dropping an 18-16 decision to perennial Class A power Lamar.
Kingstree was off the week of September 29 in preparation for its four Region 8 contests to close out the regular season.
“We had this off week to get us ready, to push us even further, to excel as we were entering into region play,” said Blazers head coach Brian Smith. “We’re looking to make our push now, finish strong and make the state playoffs.”
The Blazers’ losses were 24-8 to Manning, which is undefeated, Aynor 30-14 and 13-0 to 2-4 Lake City.
Kingstree played the first two games without four starters in junior Mychael Wallace, senior Emmanuel McBride, senior Michael Kelly and junior Javian McCrea.
Their return has helped Kingstree play better, according to Smith.
“We’re finally healthy once again, and we’ve played good football the last couple weeks in a row,” Smith said. “We won two in a row before losing to Lamar. We came up a little short against Lamar, but we played really well.”
“The Lake City game we got all of our starters back,” he added. “That was hard to get through, but we played well. We were close in every game, had a chance to win every game. We just couldn’t find a way to pull it out.”
The Blazers have picked up their offensive output as the season has progressed. Quarterback Ja’Shaun Dorsey had his best game of the season against Lamar. The senior rushed for 133 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries while passing for 96 yards.
On the season, Dorsey has rushed for 381 yards and three scores on 58 carries while completing 26 of 82 passes for 393 yards and four scores.
Senior Rodney Bryant has 258 yards and four touchdowns on 34 carries, while Chiquan Giles has 17 carries for 166 yards and two scores. Dorsey, Bryant and Giles have each had a 100-yard rushing game.
Junior Xavier Dukes is the leading receiver with 11 catches for 167 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensively, the Blazers are a big play team with 60 tackles for loss. Bryant, a middle linebacker and freshman linebacker Maleek Dukes have nine TFLs. Senior defensive end James Brockington has eight, and Kelly has seven.
Maleek Dukes has five quarterback sacks and Kelly has three. Bryant has two of Kingstree’s four interceptions, and the Blazers have recovered three fumbles.
KINGSTREE VOLLEYBALL HOPES TO EARN PLAYOFF BERTH
Kingstree volleyball head coach Ameisha Owens admits she has been disappointed with the play of the Blazers through most of the season.
“They are not playing up to their potential,” said Owens, who is in her sixth season as the Kingstree head coach. “I do see improvement, but we just can't finish.”
With the finish of the regular season closing in, Owens hopes Kingstree can earn a berth in the AA state playoffs. The Blazers won three of their first 10 matches.
Kingstree has two returning starters in senior Makayla Dukes and freshman Jaiden McKnight from last year’s team that went 5-7 on the season and lost to Oceanside Collegiate Academy in the first round of the state playoffs. The remainder of the starters are junior Fantasia Branham-Shaw, junior Kaleila Hicks, senior Saniya Taylor and senior Jonshea’ Butler.
The rest of the roster is made up of Jazmine McCrea, Kamron Miller, Demia Mosley, Destiny Mosley, Harmony Mosley, Olivia Mosley, Kailey McKnight and Nazion Woods.
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