Dillon rallies in second half for 37-22 win over Manning to set up showdown against Marlboro County

Dillon – Dillon High School went into halftime of its Region 6-AA football game with Manning on Friday trailing 14-10. Wildcats head coach Kelvin Roller has a philosophy on how he deals with his team when it goes into the locker room facing a deficit.

“We talked to the kids at halftime and told them that we believed in them,” Roller said. “ I just personally believe when you’re down at halftime you don’t browbeat them. You pick them up. If you tell them they’re getting their butts beat, then that is probably going to happen. If you tell them they’re going to play well, I think they’ll play well.”

While not a fool-proof approach, it certainly worked for DHS this time around. The Dillon defense got a 3-downs-and-out series to start the third quarter, the offense put together a 69-yard scoring drive to take the lead, the special teams recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and the offense put it in the end zone again to take a 24-14 lead.

And the Wildcats never looked back, going on to a 37-22 homecoming triumph at Dillon Memorial Stadium. They improved to 6-1 overall and 3-0 in region play.

The victory sets up DHS, ranked fourth in the latest High School Sports Report AA rankings, for a showdown at home against undefeated and No.4 Marlboro County on Friday, October 23. A win over the Bulldogs, who are 8-0 overall and also 3-0 in the region, would give Dillon the region championship.

The Monarchs came into the game with a 2-0 region record and with the hopes of setting up a showdown against MC for the region title on October 30. Instead, they are now 4-4 overall.

Manning received the second-half kickoff and started at its 31-yard line. The Monarchs could only manage four yards so they were forced to punt with DHS taking over at its 31.

Running back Noah Singletary went 23 yards on the first play followed by a 24-yard run by quarterback Nabrias Harrison to quickly move Dillon to the MHS 22.

A personal foul against Manning gave the Wildcats first and goal at the 8. A 15-yard penalty against DHS moved the ball back to the 23. After an incompletion, running back Geno Lester went 21 yards to the 2. He scored on the next play and placekicker Jose Betancourt added the extra point to make it 17-14 with 8:04 remaining in the third quarter.

On the kickoff, a Monarch player muffed the short kick, and Lester recovered the loose football at the MHS 29. Harrison eventually scored on an 11-yard run as Dillon went up 24-14 with 6:42 left.

“It kind of snowballed for us, and we got some momentum,” Roller said.

“They got the momentum and we could never get it back,” said MHS head coach Reggie Kennedy. “This is a game of momentum. We had momentum in the first half. We came out the first two drives and laid an egg, and we could never regain it.

“I’m proud of the way the kids fought. They came in here and played hard. It ain’t easy to win in Dillon, I know that much.”

The Wildcats really got their running game into gear in the second half. They finished with 360 rushing yards and nearly had three players go over 100 yards apiece. Lester and Singletary both ran for 125 yards. Lester got his as well as three touchdown runs on seven carries, while Singletary had 12 rushes.

Harrison had 90 yards and two scores on 12 carries. Both Roller and Kennedy felt Harrison’s performance in the second half was the difference for the Wildcats.

    “It was part of the scheme we were calling where he’s got to make a read where he can give it or pull it and run it,” Roller said of Harrison. “He did an excellent job of making the correct reads the whole second half. I complimented him on that.

“It’s been a while since we’ve actually run that scheme, and I felt like it would work well against this team. He did a good job of making the correct reads and he’s a dynamic player with the ball in his hands.”

“The biggest thing is they’ve got a quarterback who got going on offense,” Kennedy said, “That was one of my concerns all week. I watched them on tape, and he’s an excellent football player. We were able to contain him in the first half, but they kind of changed things and gave him more carries.”

Manning answered the 10-point deficit with a 13-play drive and got as close as the Wildcat 9 before turning the ball over on downs at the 21 with less than 30 seconds to go in the quarter.  A 17-yard run by Harrison on first down started a string of six consecutive runs of 10 yards or more, the final one a 17-yard scoring run by Lester to make it 30-14 with 10:45 remaining in the game.

Any hope the Monarchs had of catching up were put to an end on a 13-yard TD run by Harrison with 6:45 left.

MHS’ final points came on a 5-yard run by quarterback Lovell Stevenson with 1:04 to go to end a 13-play, 65-yard scoring drive. Running back Isaiah Baxter ran for the 2-point conversion for the final margin.

Dillon scored the game’s first points on its second possession. A 77-yard run by Lester moved the Wildcats from their 21 to the Manning 16. Lester scored from three yards out three plays later to make it 7-0 with 3:05 remaining in the first quarter.

The Monarchs responded with a 6-play, 75-yard scoring drive. The big play was a 35-yard screen pass to Baxter to help set up a 12-yard scoring pass from Stevenson to wide receiver Jordyn Thompson. Placekicker David Leon added the extra point to tie the game with 14 seconds left in the quarter.

The Wildcats took a 10-7 lead on a 28-yard field by Betancourt with 8:20 to go in the second quarter. The Monarchs answered with an 80-yard scoring drive – all runs – that ended with a 5-yard run by running back Destin Thames with 3:42 remaining in the first half.

Along with the 35-yard reception, Baxter ran for 115 tough yards on 22 carries. Thames had 59 yards on 12 carries.

Defensive end Jaylen Bacote had six tackles and two quarterback sacks to lead the DHS defense. Linebacker Malachi Nelson and strong safety Aerian Chavis both had 13 tackles, and cornerback Speedy McLeod had an interception.

Roller expects a big crowd for the matchup against Marlboro County. The schools are separated by 26 miles. The Bulldogs haven’t beaten Dillon since 2013.

“It’s been a long time since they’ve beaten us,” Roller said. “They know that, and our kids will be up for the challenge too.

It should be a great contest, and I just hope we come out and play our best. That’s all you can ask for as a coach.”

    Manning hopes that isn’t the case. A Monarch home win over Waccamaw this week coupled with a MC triumph over Dillon would give MHS a chance to bring about a 3-way tie for first with a home win over the Bulldogs in the regular-season finale.

“We can put ourselves in position to get a good seed in the (state) playoffs), and hopefully put ourselves in position to get a share of the region championship,” Kennedy said. “We’ve got to take care of Waccamaw first.”