Cross wins Region 5A title with 36-0 win over Baptist Hill
By Neill Kirkpatrick
Special to the HSSR
Hollywood - Friday night at Marion Brown field in Hollywood, the best rivalry in the low country that no one talks about between the home standing Baptist Hill Bobcats and the visiting Cross Trojans renewed and as usual there was a region championship on the line.
The Trojans came into the game with a 5-0/7-2 region record while the Bobcats were 4-1/ 6-2. A win by the Bobcats and region 5 A would have a three-way top with Branchville being the third member. However, the Trojans made sure that would not happen as they jumped out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter on their way a region clinching 36-0 win. It was the Trojans third straight win the series as well as the third straight shut out by the Trojans.
“We have had our way the last three years with them but you can never take a Marion Brown coached team lightly. We knew coming into the game it would be a tough matchup,” said Cross head coach Shawn Wright. “We wanted to jump on them early and I’m proud of my guys for taking care of business.”
Coach continued, “It is always nice to win another region championship (6-0/8-2) but this win gave us home field for as long as we are in the playoffs. We are also looking forward to the week off to get some rest and get some guys healthy so we can hopefully make a deep run in the playoffs.”
The lose dropped Baptist Hill to third in the region with 4-2 record and 6-3 overall. The Bobcats will be on the road when the playoffs start in two weeks.
“We knew Cross was going be tough and physical like they always are but offensively we had too many blown assignments. We put our defense in a bad position by giving them a short field but I felt our defense played well most of the night,” said coach Brown.
While the Trojans did score 36 points on the night it was the Trojan defense that stole the show as they limited the Bobcat offense to 75 total yards and forced five turnovers. The Bobcats were only able to cross into Trojan territory twice all night. Leading the charge for the Trojans were two sophomores: defensive linemen Jaylin Broughton and linebacker Jimmy Smith. Broughton was in the backfield all night and when a Bobcat broke the line of scrimmage Smith made several jarring hits.
“Our Defensive coordinator and defensive coaches do a great job of getting the kids ready to play. They put together a great scheme tonight and all year,” coach Wright said.
The opening series for the Bobcats showed how long of a night it was going to be for them. As they fumbled on their second play and Cross recovered inside the ten-yard line but a face mask wiped out the play. Then, on second and 22, Baptist Hill quarterback Johnquez Henderson lofted a pass up the left side where Cross’s safety Caden Ramsey went over everyone for the interception at the Cross 38.
Starting from the 38, the Trojans took eight plays to cover the 62 yards. Karmello Jones scored his first touchdown of the night on a four-yard run. The two-point conversion was no good and the Trojans lead 6-0.
Things did go well for the Bobcats on their next possession. They lost ten yards on their first play when Henderson recovered a fumble. Then on fourth down the snapper snapped the ball over the punters head and the punter fell on the ball for an eight-yard loss.
Jones scored his second touchdown of the night one play later on another four-yard run to push the lead to 12-0 Trojans in the first quarter.
While the Bobcat offense continued to struggle, the defense led by linebacker Kevin Smalls started making an impact and making plays in the Cross backfield. They forced the Trojans to punt but the Bobcat offense still could not move the ball.
The Trojans would put the game away in the final two-minutes of the first half as they would score 16 points in this two minutes to take a 28-0 lead into the half.
First, Ramsey capped a 61-yard drive with a one-yard quarterback sneak on fourth down. Jones rushed for 59 of the 61 yards on the drive. Second, after forcing a Bobcat punt and taking possession at the Bobcat 42. The Trojans needed just two pass plays from Tyler Harris to Ramsey to cover the 42 yards and with the two two-point conversion the lead was pushed to 28.
The Trojans finished the scoring on Ramsey’s third touchdown of night as he scored on a two-yard run. Harris connected with Preston Fuller for the final two-points of the night and the final of 36-0.
Harris had a solid night for the Trojans completing six passes for 103 yards and touchdown while Jones rushed 18 times for 150 yards to go with his two scores. Jones also had an interception.
Ramsey and Fuller each had three receptions and also a pick each while William Grant tallied 12 tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack to lead the defense.
