South Florence Dominates in Their Return to Kelleytown Stadium
Reporting by Dennis Brunson
Images by Larry Gamble
Kelleytown – The return trip to Hartsville and Kelleytown Stadium was much, much better for the South Florence High School football team.
After falling to Hartsville 54-35 on November 1 in a game that decided the Region 5-AAAA champion, the Bruins sojourned to Darlington County on Friday, this time for a quarterfinal game in the AAAA state playoffs.
SFHS jumped out to a 27-0 lead and held off a couple of rallies by the Red Foxes for a 49-21 win.
South Florence, the 2-time defending lower state champion which improved to 10-3 on the season, will be going for its third straight lower state title when it travels to North Augusta on December 6. North Augusta improved to 12-1 with a 63-14 quarterfinal win over Gilbert on Friday.
“We had a great three days of practice,” Bruins head coach Drew Marlowe said of the preparation for the rematch. “Our defense was totally different from last time. I’m super proud of the way they fought. I’m proud of the way our coaches prepared them. It was a great win all the way around.”
In the first meeting, HHS’ offense was almost unstoppable as it scored eight touchdowns. SFHS couldn’t keep up, though it tried, trailing just 40-35 early in the fourth quarter.
Marlowe said the South Florence defense had a different feel to it on Friday.
“What we were doing was good, but we were sitting back, we were timid,” the fifth-year head coach said. “We decided to be more aggressive and force them to make the turnovers, try to force them into some holding calls, just try to force the issue and not sit back.”
Bruins quarterback Messiah Jackson led the way for the offense. He accounted for six of the seven touchdowns – four TD passes and two scoring runs. He completed 5 of 8 passes for 172 yards.
The first touchdown pass came less than a minute into the game when Jackson hooked up with wide receiver Lennix Valarie for 57-yarder at 11:09. Evan Holland added the extra point to make it 7-0.
Hartsville fumbled the ensuing kickoff with SFHS recovering. It took advantage of the short field with Jackson scoring on a 4-yard run. The PAT was blocked, leaving the score at 13-0 with 7:57 still remaining in the first quarter.
South Florence pushed the lead to 20-0 on a 36-yard run by Jayden Sellers with 2:31 left in the first quarter. Sellers scored again, this time on a 44-yard pass from Jackson, to make it 27-0 with 9:45 remaining in the first half.
The Red Foxes, who finished the year with a 10-2-1 record, weren’t going to go away easily though. Hakeem Watters scored on a 13-yard run and Gerardo Segura added the extra point to make it 27-7 with 8:49 left in the second quarter. Quarterback EJ Smith threw a 27-yard scoring pass to Tristian Spann with 6:17 left to make it 27-14.
The Bruins broke the run with a 1-yard run from Jackson with 41 seconds to go in the half. Sellers ran for the 2-point conversion to make it 35-21.
However, the Red Foxes scored again before halftime with Smith connecting with Spann once more, this one for 25 yards with 13 seconds left to make the halftime score 35-21.
HHS received the second-half kickoff, but was turned the ball over on downs at the South Florence 46. The Bruins respnded, putting another score on the board.
Coach Marlowe had this to say about the resiliency of this Hartsville team, "I knew they were coming back. (they) Cut it two scores right before the half. We talked all week about composure. We did a good job in the second half controlling the clock."
"I prayed all week that the Lord would strengthen us to play beyond our abilities."
About the overall play, the cold weather, Marlowe commented, "That was a physical, physical football game. We were just fortunate enough to make a few more plays."
With the Bruins next game at North Augusta on Dec. 6th, coach Marlowe said, "Right now I’m just really happy with my team and how much we improved from a month ago, particularly on defense. We’ve got to rest up and get people healthy. Got to keep attacking and make things happen."
