Dillon Christian Ready For A Big Year
By Neill Kirkpatrick
Special to the HSSR
Dillon – Dillon Christian went 3-7/2-2 in head coach Chris Alphin first season with a very young team with most of the players returning expectations are high and coach is excited to see to see how his young players have grown.
“We need to stay health and play our game. We feel like the kids that are juniors now, were going to be our corner stone to flip the culture here. They are a year older and they gained valuable experience last season so we feel really good heading into the season,” said coach Alphin.
Coach continued, “We go to camp every year. This year we did a spiritual isolation camp in the mountains of North Carolina and we did it with church. We set all of our season goals but we also had team devotions. I feel this has made our team closer together and the teams knows while we love to play the game. There is a higher purpose,” Coach said.
The Warriors evened their record at 1-1 after beating Orangeburg Prep 45-14. Blackmon had 384 yards of offense and passed for three touchdowns and ran for two more scores while the defense held OP to 204 yards of offense We
The Warriors have only five seniors led by all region kicker Scott Burgarin. He has already hit from 39 yards out. Middle linebacker Ethan Moody, defensive end Lincoln Dial, guard Chandler Rogers, and wide receiver Rilee Martin. Moody was the team’s leading tackler last season with 65 and a whopping 22 tackles for loss.
The junior class is loaded with talent starting with the offensive line in right guard CJ Alford(5-10,275), right tackle John Walker (6-3,235), and quarterback Jordan Blackmon (5-10,155). They are returning offensive starters. Blackmon accounted for over 2200 yards of offense and 19 scores.
New junior starters are defensive back Blake Hunt (5-11, 135), WR/DB Gray Easterling (5-10,165), running backs Terry Knight (5-8,145) and Mills Wallace (5-7,140). Knight and Wallace start at linebackers also with Knight leading the team in tackles with 19.
Left Tackle is freshmen Bradley Collins and left guard is an eighth grader Chase Huggins.
While several players play both ways there are few players that play one side of the ball. Junior Keylan Oxendine (5-9,270) plays just defensive line and sophomore Bentley Clark (6-2,175) only plays defensive end.
“To challenge for the region championship, we need to stay healthy and not forgot what got us here. We do those things and give glory to God we will be okay,” said coach.
