Dillon Defeats Darlington In 8 Team Dillon County Jamboree of Champions

 By Billy G. Baker

 Publisher

 Dillon—In the nightcap, of the Dillon Jamboree of Champions, hosted by the Wildcats on August, 15, the HSSR’s pre-season number ranked AAA team started slow on offense, then caught fire on two touchdown passes from freshman quarterback Khayel Samfong-Talia to wide receiver Zay Robertson, as Dillon rallied for a 21-14 win in the two-quarter scrimmage.

 Talia (6-1,190) was an Under Armour Next Level All-American after his 8^th grade season on the junior varsity at Dillon, participating in the Next Level National All-Star game in Orlando last December comprised of the top rising freshmen in the nation. Robertson’s second touchdown catch in the scrimmage was a five-star play certainly to be repeated many times during the 2025 season.

 Early in the second period, “Khayel” passed to Robertson, a North Carolina commitment,  on the right side of the boundary, in front of three Darlington defenders, and Robertson used his point guard juke moves to get around the defense, racing 60 yards untouched with his 4.4 speed, for his second score of the game. At the seven-minute mark of the second period  “Khayel” found Robertson alone in the end zone on a 25- yard score. Dillon’s final score came on a 24-yard pass from “Khayel” to receiver Rike Niyongabo.

 The first two-quarter scrimmage of the Dillon of Champions Jamboree resulted in Latta defeating Fairmont, NC 14-0. In the second game Scotland County defeated Hartsville12-7 in a highly competitive game. In game three Richmond County, NC defeated West Florence 22-6. Lake View had been scheduled to play a team from North Carolina but they backed out, with notice, prior to the event.

Quotes From South Carolina Coaches In The Dillon Jamboree of Champions.

 Dillon Head coach Kelvin Roller: “Zay is so explosive at the wide receiver position and North Carolina is getting an outstanding player in him,” said Coach Roller. “He was the difference in this game for us tonight. He was the best player out there on the field for sure.

 “I thought our excellent linebacker Daniel Capehart also did a good job running the ball tonight, and he gives us more size in the back field, and he is a very hard physical runner,” said Coach Roller. “He can do both and he’s in great shape also.”

Coach Roller is also keen on his freshman quarterback. “He was a little nervous at first under the Big lights, on the varsity for his first time, but he recovered and played very well and we have seen what he can do and he is going to be a great player for us,” said Coach Roller.

Coach Roller was pleased with the “Nasty Cats” of defense. “I thought we got after it,” said Coach Roller. “Darlington is a big team and Jamie Johnson has improved that team so much with greater numbers. They were real big up-front and I was proud of the way our guys handled their size advantage by playing fast.”

Dillon will begin the 2025 season with a road game at Scotland County next week. “It will be a tough game crossing the line into North Carolina next week,” said Coach Roller.

 Coach Roller also complimented the play of linebacker Keryien Brown who made several tackles in the scrimmage. He is also high on freshman receiver Nibras Harrison, who is also the back-up quarterback.”

“We have a lot of good players but I do not want to get carried away talking about them until we get the season underway and see what they do once the season starts,” said Coach Roller.

 Comments From Jamie Johnson-Darlington High:

 “We   shot ourselves in the foot with so many penalties, especially on our opening drive when we were moving the ball really well,” said Coach Johnson. “I felt like our quarterback (Jaylen Augustus) played well and we feel like he has a good chance to make the Shrine Bowl.

 Coach Johnson praised the offensive line play of Jaiden Williams-Green and center Grayson Walker who makes all the calls up-front for the team.

 “On defense we need some more players to step up but right now Khalil Green is playing well on the back side and Oreion Small has been a good leader at linebacker,” said Coach Johnson.

 Darlington will start the season on August, 22 at home against Lamar.  

 Comments from Jeff Calabrese-Hartsville High  “There were a lot of things   I didn’t like, and there was not must I liked about the way we played tonight,” said Coach Calabrese starting his 21^st season as the head coach of the Red Foxes. Nobody got hurt, so that is a good thing.

“Kylif Miller, Dorian Mason, and Aadon Starnes are some of our skill guys we are counting on and on defense DE Chris Price (6-3,275) LB Bose Little,  and DB Rod Cranford,  are several of our better players,” said Coach Calabrese.

 “Our number one goal is to get better and play a lot better than we played tonight,” said Coach Calabrese. “We are going to get better” Hartsville started sophomore quarterback Ford Wallace among their top newcomers. Hartsville will start the season on August, 29 against Carolina Forest.

 Comments From Chad Wilkes Of West Florence: “Our   quarterback (Avery Weaver)  should be okay and we do not think he got hurt that bad earlier in the scrimmage,” said Coach Wilkes who is starting his first season with the Knights after head coaching stints at CE Murray, Lamar, and Oceanside Collegiate. “We have a very young team this season and we will need a lot of younger players to stepped us for us,” said Coach Wilkes. “I felt like we got great effort out of the team tonight against a quality opponent.”

 West Florence will jump right into the fire next week when they play cross-town rival South Florence. “We will be tested early playing our rival South Florence to start the season,” said Coach Wilkes. “We are looking forward to the challenge.”

 Comments From Brandon Iseman of Latta:  “I feel like   we are much improved over last season,” said Coach Iseman after his team’s shut-out over Fairmont. “We didn’t like the way we finished the season last year and I felt the team played well on both sides of the football tonight.”

Latta scored their two touchdowns on a pass from QB Hayden Bullard to Jaydon Alford. Ahmari Bethea ran in a two-point conversion to put Latta up 8-0 early. In the second period RB Irangablye Johnson scored on a five-yard run.

 Latta will start the 2025 season hosting East Columbus, NC this upcoming week.