Friday's "Homecoming" contest had letdown written all over for it for the Gilbert football team.
Having already clinched the Region 5-3A title, the Indians faced a Swansea team playing its 1st team in 3 weeks.
It only took a half for 5th ranked Gilbert to pull away from the visiting Tigers. Led by quarterback Izayah Whiteside's 4 touchdown passes and the defense forcing 4 turnovers, all in the 1st half, the Indians rolled to a 55-7 victory.
It was the 11th consecutive region win for Gilbert (5-0, 5-0), who will have homefield advantage through the 1st two rounds of the Class 3A playoffs. More important for head coach Chad Leaphart was seeing his team finish region play in dominant fashion.
"I'm proud of my guys the way they came out," said Gilbert head coach Chad Leaphart, who's now 1 win away from tying Barry Harley for 2nd in school victories with 47 behind Marty Woolbright (67). "We talked about finishing region the right way and that's what they did tonight. They really came out focused and motivated and took care of business early."
Running back Colton Mason scored all 3 of his rushing touchdowns in the 1st quarter. He finished with 105 yards to surpass 1,000 rushing yards for the season.
The Indians' next 4 scores came off Swansea fumbles recovered by the defense. Quarterback Izayah Whiteside three 3 touchdown passes and Gray Leaphart rushed for a score to make it 48-0.
Swansea quarterback Andre Savage had a 15-yard touchdown run for the Tigers' lone score with 2:41 left. Just before halftime, Whiteside found an open Chance Jennings for 2nd touchdown of the quarter, this time for 52 yards.
Whiteside finished 11-16 for 277 yards.  At halftime, Makayla Frye was selected "Homecoming Queen". 
Gilbert will look to clinch its 2nd undefeated regular season in school history next week at Laurens. Swansea (0-2, 0-2) will travel to Johnston to play Strom Thurmond.

Dutch Fork 21, Spring Valley 0
Despite having its lowest point total since last year's 27-27 tie to Mallard Creek, 4-time defending Class 5A champion Dutch Fork posted its 13th shutout since 2016.
Running back Jarvis Green rushed for 93 yards and 2 touchdowns and Antonio Williams threw a 13-yard touchdown to Elijah Spencer. Williams also had 7 receptions for 126 yards.
Quarterback Will Taylor threw for 218 yards in his 1st game not throwing a touchdown for Dutch Fork (5-0, 4-0). Defensively, the Silver Foxes held the Vikings to 178 total yards.
The win extended Dutch Fork's undefeated streak to 45 games. It was also their 44th consecutive in-state victory. 
Dutch Fork will now look to win its 27th straight road victory when it closes out the regular season at South Pointe. 

Gray Collegiate 34, Newberry 28
KZ Adams rushed for 310 yards and 4 touchdowns and had an interception on defense to lead the 2nd ranked War Eagles to their 3rd straight region title. 
Gray Collegiate (5-0, 5-0) will play their final 2 regular-season games in non-region play against sister charter schools. The War Eagles travel to Mount Pleasant to face Oceanside Collegiate.

Chapin 35, Lexington 21 
Hunter Sheppard threw for 220 yards and 3 touchdowns, 2 to Zavier Short who had 8 receptions for 151 yards, as the Eagles defeated the Wildcats for the 1st time since 1996.
Lexington (0-3, 0-2) took an early lead after Isaiah Boyd recovered a fumble by Sheppard and returned it for the score.
Chapin (3-2, 2-2) answered with 28 unanswered points, 21 in the 1st quarter. Bennett Galloway had a 53 of his 124 rushing yards on a touchdown run to tie the game. Sheppard found Zavier Short for a touchdown and Justin Powe returned an interception 30 yards for a score.
A touchdown pass from Sheppard to Matthew Becker extended the lead to 28-7 in the 2nd quarter. Lexington answered with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Marcum Reese to Mark Deason with 5:02 left in the 2nd quarter to make it 28-14.
With 1:09 left in the 1st half, Sheppard threw his 2nd touchdown to Short for 39 yards to make it 35-14 at the halftime. 
The lone 2nd half score was a 23-yard touchdown pass from Marcum to Deason. Deason finished with 146 passing yards for the Wildcats, who travel to White Knoll needing a win to keep alive its playoff hopes.
Chapin plays host to Lexington-Richland District 5 rival Irmo next week. 

Irmo 33, Lugoff-Elgin 14
The Yellow Jackets improved to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in Region 4-4A following the victory over the Demons. 
Dylan Williams had a touchdown and Zeke Haire returned an interception for a score in the 1st half for Irmo, who are tied for 2nd place with Westwood for the final region playoff spot.
The Yellow Jackets travel to Chapin next week. 

Pelion 27, Edisto 0 
The Panthers remain undefeated on the season following the victory over the Cougars. Azwan Jones rushed for 2 touchdowns and Jacob Ozmanski had a 58-yard TD run and also threw a touchdown pass to Julian Tyler in the victory.
Pelion (2-1, 2-0) travels to Silver Bluff with an opportunity to clinch a playoff berth and share of the Region 5-2A title. 

Brookland-Cayce 24, Orangeburg-Wilkinson 0
The Bearcats needed a victory of 19 or more points to clinch the 2nd playoff berth out of Region 5-3A.
They accomplished that with a road win at the Bruins' Den. Will Way rushed for 2 touchdowns, William Young had a 37-yard field goal and Tanner Staton threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Wise. 
B-C (3-2, 2-2) will play host to archrival Airport next week. 

Chesnee 31, Airport 20 

SATURDAY'S GAMES
Batesburg-Leesville at Saluda 11 am
New Hope Leadership Academy at Northside Christian 12:30 pm