Young A.C. Flora gets first win of the season
By WORTHY EVANS
Columbia - The A.C. Flora football team lost a bunch of playmakers from last year’s 13-1 run that ended in a lower-state championship loss to South Florence.
After Thursday night’s 61-13 drubbing of arch-rival Dreher at Columbia’s Memorial Stadium, head coach Ken Floyd and his staff may have found a few answers for the 2023 season.
Falcons sophomore quarterback Roper Wentzky passed for 228 yards and threw four touchdown passes, senior running back Noah Kelson rushed for 229 yards and four TDs on 24 attempts, and sophomore Kendell Byrd had four catches for 86 yards and two scores.
Compared with Flora’s season opening 24-23 loss at Greenwood Aug. 18, Thursday night’s victory was much sweeter.
“This is a really young football team and going into Greenwood and the hostile environment, we didn’t do good,” second-year head coach Ken Floyd said. “We weren’t ready for it, but I think we grew from it and that’s what you want. I think tonight it all came together and I liked what I saw. I think if we can keep it going, man, it’s only positive.”
After last season A.C. Flora lost running back Markel Townsend (2,660 rushing yards, 40 touchdowns), quarterback Carew Bates (1,682 passing yards, 25 passing touchdowns and 5 rushing TDs), and receiver Christopher Lofton (54 catches, 804 yards, 9 touchdowns), among other playmakers on both sides of the football.
This year the young Falcons entered the crucible of the season having played just one scrimmage, against Timberland. They even missed out on their Sportsarama game when the Richland District 1 Sertoma event was shortened because of an approaching rainstorm.
Even without those preseason benchmarks, A.C. Flora was able to give Greenville a game. Down 20-7 at halftime, the Falcons scored two late touchdowns to get within 24-23 before time ran out on them.
Against Dreher, Flora moved the ball freely throughout the game.
Kelson closed out a long Falcons drive with a 1-yard dive into the end zone with 38 seconds left in the first quarter to make it 6-0.
Early in the second quarter, Wentzky connected with Kendall Byrd for a 61-yard catch-and run play to put the Falcons up 13-0.
A.C. Flora made it 20-0 in the closing minute of the half with a Wentzky-to-Carter Toole TD pass with 45 seconds left before intermission.
A pair of Kelson touchdown runs made it 33-0 halfway through the third quarter. Dreher finally scored on Colby Fuller’s 30-yard TD pass to Kyrell Scales late in the quarter, but the Falcons scored four more TDs in the final 12 minutes.
From week zero to week one, Floyd said he sees improvement in both Wentzky and Kelson.
“Roper’s the guy, man. He’s going to continue to get better and better the more times he’s in there, he’s very confident, he’s very precise, he anticipates throws and he’s intelligent, and it showed tonight,” he said. “Noah’s a workhorse. He’s a dog, he runs so hard. Last week he didn’t have a whole lot of room and so he was nitpicking himself, but this week he did a great job of being patient and hitting the holes.”
The Falcons play host to Brookland-Cayce Sept. 8 and Dreher hosts Lakewood Friday.
Dreher 0 0 7 6 – 13
A.C. Flora 6 14 13 28 – 61
First Quarter
F - Noah Kelson 1 run (kick failed) :38
Second Quarter
F - Kendall Byrd 61 pass from Roper Wentzky (Carter Toole kick) 11:35
F - Riley Pegram 21 pass from Wentzky (Toole kick) :45
Third Quarter
F - Kelson 43 run (Toole kick) 8:48
F - Kelson 16 run (kick failed) 6:30
D - Kyrell Scales 30 pass from Colby Fuller (Will McCollum kick) :53
Fourth Quarter
F -Byrd 14 pass from Wentzky (Grant Hill kick) 11:09
D -Tyler Teasdell 90 kick return (kick failed) 10:54
F - Colby Ridgell 2 pass from Wentzky (Toole kick)) 8:27
F- Ryan BIggerstaff 32 interception return (Hill kick) 8:07
F – Kelson 2 run (Hill kick) :29
Dreher AC Flora
First downs 10 18
Rushes-Yards 20-27 32-238
Passing yards 100 228
Att-Com-Int 25-10-3 22-16-0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 5-70 1-10
Punts-Avg 6-28.1 3-36.0
INDIVIDUAL
RUSHING
D- Caleb Timmons 7-26, Colby Fuller 5-(-20), Luka Cruz 2-13, Tyler Teasdell 1-5, Jakari Gantt 2-(-5), Tyrell Bowens 0-0, Team 2-8.
F-Noah Kelson 24-229, Roper Wentzky 3-(-7), Solomon Nelson 2-11, Heath Moser 1-5, Trenle Wright 1-3, Team 1-(-2).
PASSING
D- Colby Fuller 10-25-3.
F-Roper Wentzky 15-21-0.
RECEIVING
D-Tyler Teasdell 4-37, Tyrell Bowens 1-15, Kaleb Berry 1-15, Kyrell Scales 3-33, Jayden Haygood 1-0 .
F- Kendall Byrd 4-86, Riley Peagram 3-45, Colby Ridgell 2-11, Max Elliott 1-7, Solomon Nelson 1-37, Braxton Murray 1-4, Aiden Sauls 1-4, Trenle Wright 1-10, Owen Barker 1-11, Paul Choate 1-15.
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