JOHNSTON – The 2A upper state football championship came down to the final play at The Peach Fields of Strom Thurmond Friday night.
Down 15-7, Fairfield Central executed a quick drive in the final 1:16 and scored on Derek Cammon’s one-yard run. The Griffins needed a 2-point conversion to send the game into overtime, but the Rebels stopped Er’Dreus Walker about a football helmet short, and the Rebels surged onto the field to celebrate a 15-13 victory.
Fairfield Central head coach Demetrius Davis said that from where he was on the sidelines, he thought the play was good and the game was tied.
“I saw my guy get in, and we’re waiting to throw the hands up, and he comes in and says he’s down,” Fairfield Central head coach Demetrius Davis said about the quarterback power play. “I ran on the field because I wanted to see the ball in the end zone. The ball was in the end zone and he (the referee) said he was down.”
Who Davis actually saw in the end zone instead of Walker, who wears No.0 on his jersey, was Walker’s blocker, Marley Swaby, who wears No. 50. Swaby was the only Griffin in the end zone on that play.
While Strom Thurmond’s stop was devastating for Fairfield Central teammates and the throng of supporters in the stands, Davis noted that the game should not have gone down to that one play.
“We didn’t score down there (in the red zone) twice, and we could’ve had this thing closed out,” he said, noting two trips inside the 20-yard line ended with turnovers on downs. “It’s not that call that lost us the game. We didn’t get the two. It’s the way the cookie crumbles, but I’m proud of these guys. They fought like heck today.”
Fairfield Central finishes the season 10-4.
The Rebels (12-2), who last won a state championship in 2005, play Hampton County for the state championship Saturday at South Carolina State’s Oliver C. Dawson Stadium. The Hurricanes (11-3) beat Central (11-2) 42-22 Friday night.
Strom Thurmond’s game-winning stop prompted the team to storm the field once the whistles blew.
“Unbelievable,” Rebels head coach Andrew Webb said, citing his team’s 28-26 overtime victory at Batesburg-Leesville Oct. 3. “We’ve been in that spot before against Batesburg-Leesville, but we just kept telling those guys defense wins championships. They know it. The defense made a heck of a stop right there at the end and I’m proud of them.”
The course of the game wasn’t so much defined by top rushers, passers, or catchers as it was defined by plays and momentum swings.
Strom Thurmond outgained Fairfield Central 230-158 in total yardage, and the teams combined for just 24 first downs.
Deonte Phillips had 92 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries for the Rebels, and Fairfield Central’s Walker intercepted a pass and returned it 62 yards for a touchdown in addition to completing a pass, making two catches and having five carries.
Strom Thurmond’s and Fairfield Central’s ground game ate up the clock in the first half.
The Rebels topped off an 8-play all-handoff opening drive with Phillips’ 7-yard touchdown run at the 7:12 mark of the first quarter. The 2-point conversion attempt failed, giving Strom Thurmond a 6-0 lead.
Fairfield Central finished the quarter with a 7-minute, 30-second possession. On that drive the Griffins lost starting quarterback Kaden Diggs to a knee injury. Kamauri Jones, who practically split time with Diggs under center throughout the season, took over for the rest of the game.
“Him (Diggs) going down in the first drive was tough,” Griffins head coach Demetrius Davis said. “But at the end of the day, man, Kamauri got in and he was ready to go.”
That drive ended with an incomplete pass on fourth-and-15 at the Rebels’ 19-yard line on the first play of the second quarter.
Three possessions later, Strom Thurmond drove to the Fairfield Central 44-yard line. Walker picked off a Brishaun Lee pass around the 38-yard line and returned it 62 yards for Fairfield Central’s only score of the half. Placekicker Sidney Wilson’s extra point gave the Griffins a 7-6 lead.
In the final drive of the half, Strom Thurmond drove to the Griffins’ 23-yard line. On a Lee pass to the end zone, Fairfield Central was flagged for a pass-interference call on a sure touchdown pass play that was broken up with 9 seconds to go.
That flag saved the Griffins four points, as Rebels placekicker Justus Daly hit a 28-yard field goal with no time on the clock to lift Strom Thurmond to a 9-7 lead at the half.
After a scoreless third quarter in which one of the Griffins’ possessions died on fourth-and-2 at the Strom Thurmond 6-yard line, Fairfield Central looked to make a defensive stand and score a late game-winning TD.
Indeed the Griffins had the Rebels facing a third-and-13 from their own 5-yard line before their fortune changed.
That’s when Lee, who was 3-for-6 with an interception going into the fourth quarter, finally connected deep. Lee scrambled past Griffin defenders and through a 48-yard strike to Braylon Searles that set the Rebels up at the Fairfield Central 47-yard line.
Zy Rouse took over in the Strom Thurmond backfield in those closing minutes. Rouse accounted for 26 yards on eight carries, and his 3-yard touchdown run with 1:16 left gave Strom Thurmond a 15-7 lead.
“That long pass really cost us,” Griffins head coach Demetrius Davis said. “We had them pinned there, and I thought if we could’ve got the ball back, we would’ve been able to score there without having to give up that touchdown. We felt the only chance we had was to block that PAT. When we blocked it, and now we think all we’ve got to do is score and go for two.”
Fairfield Central did exactly that, and after blocking the extra-point try, the Griffins had the ball at the Rebels’ 46-yard line after Kaylin Culp’s 19-yard kickoff return.
Jones carried the ball for a five-yard run to start the drive, then completed passes of 11, 10, and 16 yards to Scott Young, Walker, and Shannon, respectively, and Fairfield Central had the ball on the Strom Thurmond 4-yard-line with 16 seconds in the game.
Walker carried the ball for a 2-yard gain and an illegal participation flag against the Rebels put the ball on the 1-yard line. Cammon carried the ball across the goal line with no time on the clock.
Fairfield Central and Strom Thurmond both called timeouts, and when the teams lined up for the final play of regulation, Walker took a direct snap and followed a blocker into the pile. His carry fell about a foot short of the goal line and the Rebels stormed the field to celebrate their first trip to the state championship game since 2005.
“We just lined up, played defense, the boys got in there and played physical,” Webb said.
With the stop, with the victory, and with a ticket punched to the 2A state title game, Webb praised his team.
“Ain’t no quit in these boys. They’re going to fight,” Webb said. “They played to the standard of pride, class, courage, and the will to win. They played for all the people that’s come before us to make Strom Thurmond special, and the good Lord sure has blessed us.”
Fairfield Central closes out its season noting how hard it was to reach the semifinal game.
“It’s a special group,” said Davis, who led the Griffins to state championship appearances in 2012 and 2013 and to the upper state championship game at Clinton last year. “I’ve been here 15 years and this is only the fifth time that I’ve been in the upper state championship. It’s hard to get here, and better yet, to have an opportunity to actually win it, that’s even harder. Kudos to those guys over there (the Rebels), they’re a very good football team, they’re very well coached, and I expect them to go and win it all.”
Fairfield Central – 0-7-0-6 – 13
Strom Thurmond – 6-3-0-6 – 15
First Quarter
S – Deonte Phillips 7 run (pass failed) 7:12
Second Quarter
F – Er’Dreus Walker 62 interception return (Sidney Wilson kick) 2:58
S – Justus Daly 28 field goal :00
Fourth Quarter
S – Zy Rouse 3 run (kick blocked) 1:16
F – Derek Cammon 1 run (run failed) :00
FC ST
First downs 9 14
Rushes-yds 24-97 49-157
Passing yds 61 73
Att-Com-Int 12-7-0 7-4-1
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-yds 5-47 6-51
Punts-avg 2-32.5 2-20.0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
F – Derek Cammon 7-27, Er’Dreus Walker 5-11, Kaden Diggs 3-20, Kenyan Douglas 6-32, Kamauri Jones 3-7. S – Deonte Phillips 18-92, Brishaun Lee 14-55, Zy Rouse 8-26, Kaden Wigfall 5-14, Tranquillus Williams 2-17, Sha Williams 1-7 Jalin Collins 1-1.
PASSING
F – Kamauri Jones 5-9-0, Er’Dreus Walker 1-2-0, Kaden Diggs 1-1-0. S – Brishaun Lee 4-7-1.
RECEIVING
F – Ty’Quarius Shannon 2-26, Scott Young 2-15, Er’Dreus Walker 2-12, Kenyan Douglas 1-8. S – Sha Williams 2-15, Braylon Searles 1-47, Jalin Collins 1-10.
