After 2 games, it is official.

The River Bluff Gators have a solid defensive unit. 

After posting a respectable showing last week in the loss against Dutch Fork, this week saw the Gators disrupt the Chapin offense throughout a 37-7 victory in The Swamp.

The Eagles’ only score coming on a 6-yard touchdown pass by Jayden Bradford to Yates Bland with 37 seconds left in the game.

In only the 2nd game this season due to covid-19-related postponements, River Bluff’s offense was productive as well. Their opening drive saw them rack up 4 1st downs before Cooper Johns’ 5 yard touchdown run put them on the scoreboard early. 

From there, the Gators’ defense took over.

Wyatt Proctor pulled in an interception that led to Johns’ 2nd touchdown to make it 13-0 after a missed extra point. Chapin’s other drives were shut down by the Gators with sacks and 4th down stops. 

With just over 6 minutes in the 2nd quarter, the Gators’ Gray Herring added another score with his 1st career rushing touchdown to make it 20-0 at the half.

The 2nd half was more of the same, with the Gators combining fumble recoveries, tackles in the Chapin backfield, and taking advantage of some Eagles mistakes. 

Meanwhile the offense kept rolling, tacking on a Riley Myers touchdown run in the 3rd quarter, a Braeden Stiles’ 32-yard field goal in the 4th, and fittingly, another interception returned for a touchdown by River Bluff’s Greg Walker to cap an impressive defensive performance. 

River Bluff (1-1, 1-1) heads to White Knoll next week, while Chapin (2-2, 1-2) plays host to Lexington

Dutch Fork 55, Lexington 13 

Add another streak 4-time defending Class 5A champion Dutch Fork extended on Friday.

The win over Lexington gave the nationally-ranked Silver Foxes their 8th consecutive region title. In addition to finishing 4-0 in Region 5-5A play, Dutch Fork also improved on its following streaks:

• 44th straight game without a loss

• 43rd straight win against in-state teams

• 27th straight region win

• 27th straight road win

Dutch Fork (4-0, 4-0) jumped out to a 28-0 lead in the 1st half. Quarterback Will Taylor threw 2 of his 3 touchdown passes to Elliott Spencer and Devin Hyatt, Antonio Williams had a 77-yard punt return for a score and Jarvis Green had 1 of his 2 1-yard touchdown runs.

Lexington (0-2, 0-2) got on the board in the 3rd quarter on a 72-yard touchdown pass from Reese Marcum to Landon McMahon. Dutch Fork answered with 27 unanswered points, including 2 fumble recoveries for touchdowns by Travis Batts and Nick Wright in a span of 3 minutes.

The Silver Foxes return home for a non-region game against Spring Valley next week, while Lexington travels to Chapin.

Nation Ford 35, White Knoll 6 

The Timberwolves remained winless on the season following the non-region loss to the Falcons at home.

The lone score came with 5:58 left in the 2nd quarter on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Kennedy Ramsey to TJ Peebles. 

White Knoll (0-4, 0-2) plays host to River Bluff next week. 

Gilbert 28, Strom Thurmond 21

Prior to head coach Chad Leaphart’s arrival in 2016, the Indians had never won a region title.

On Friday, they traveled to Johnston and claimed their 3rd Region 5-3A title in 5 seasons under Leaphart.

"It is very sweet because I don’t think a lot of people gave us a shot to repeat as region champs because we graduated so many starters from last years team," Leaphart said. "Add (Brookland-Cayce) and (Orangeburg-Wilkinson) to the region and that made it a lot tougher. I'm just really proud of our guys. They come to work everyday and it pays off." 

The 2 teams exchanged touchdowns to exit the 2nd half tied at 14-14. A long run by Colton Mason to open the 2nd half set up a 12-yard touchdown by Izayah Whiteside to Jaden Allen-Hendrix on 4th down to put the Indians up 20-14. 

In the 4th quarter, Mason broke free for a 26-yard touchdown run. The 2-point conversion made it 28-14 with 8:55 left.

The Rebels quickly scored on a 68-yard touchdown pass by Patrick Westbrook with 7:58 remaining. They had a final opportunity to score, but the Indians regained possession and ran out the clock.

Mason finished with 228 rushing yards, Whiteside was 5-11 passing for 107 yards and Gage Gunter had 4 receptions for 95 yards. 

Gilbert (4-0, 4-0) returns for “Homecoming” next week to face Swansea, which is playing its 1st game since Oct. 1. 

Pelion 34, Barnwell 26

The Panthers returned to action for the 1st time since Sept. 25 and came away with an upset win over the defending Class 2A Lower State champions. 

Azwan James accounted for 2 touchdowns, including an 80-yard kickoff return for a score. The Panthers’ defense also accounted for 2 interception returns for touchdowns, 1 by Jacob Osmansk, who had a 62-yard fake punt for a TD, and the other by Michael Fields.

Pelion (1-1, 1-0) plays host Edisto next week. 

Gray Collegiate 59, Eau Claire 0

The 4th ranked War Eagles moved to within a victory of winning the Region 3-2A title with the victory over the Shamrocks.

KZ Adams rushed for 104 yards and 3 touchdowns and Tre Robinson threw for 165 yards and 2 TDs, both to Chris Rhone. He had 4 receptions for 109 yards. 

Gray Collegiate (4-0, 4-0) is scheduled to travel to Newberry, whose past 2 games were postponed due to covid-19 exposure.

South Aiken 17, Airport 14 

Laurens Academy 54, WW King 0 

Wardlaw Academy 54, Northside Christian 16 

Irmo 28, Lower Richland 20