The Irmo Yellow Jackets breezed past the River Bluff Gators 42-0 on Sept. 1 to improve to 3-0 on the young season. Just like their first two games, they were in complete control from start to finish.

The Gators received the opening kickoff and actually gained some steam early on as they strung together a few first downs on runs from Toriaun Leaphart. A close miss on a touchdown pass made it seem like the Gators might be able to scheme up a score since they made their way down to the Irmo 20 yard-line. What would’ve been a first down deep into the red zone turned disastrous for River Bluff when a fumble was recovered by Irmo’s Darius Goodson to kill the Gator drive. It was the closest they would get to scoring all night.

Irmo methodically drove down the field despite a few penalties and got first down after first down with the help of bruising junning back Jaden-Allen Hendrix, who ran for over 200 yards for the second time this season.  Irmo got the scoring started with an electrifying 33-yard touchdown rush from quarterback A.J. Brand. 

The Gators went three-and-out and once again, Irmo capitalized. A touchdown pass to Caleb Alexander was wiped off the board after a penalty but on the next play, Brand hit wide receiver Donovan Murph with a perfect pass down the sideline for a 32-yard score. 

In the second quarter, Irmo kept piling it on. River Bluff suffered another turnover as Yellow Jacket defensive end Marquel Lewis picked off Parker Murray. Following the takeaway, Brand found Alexander for a 28-yard passing touchdown while throwing on the move and this time, the touchdown counted with no flags on the field. They got the ball again when Jylil Favor jumped a pass and picked off Murray deep in Gator territory.

The Yellow Jackets concluded the first half scoring with a six-yard rushing touchdown from Anton Jones Jr. to push the growing lead to 28-0.

Irmo milked almost half of the third quarter clock with their 80-yard drive to start the second half that ended with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Brand to Alexander, his second receiving score of the game. 

The final score of the game came in spectacular fashion. From the River Bluff, 32 yard-line, Brand dropped back to pass and fired a beautiful strike into the end zone where Murph high pointed the ball, got interfered with and snagged it out of mid-air before falling on his back in the end zone.

“Murph makes those types of plays every day,” Irmo head coach Aaron Brand said. “He’s a high-pointer of the ball and if it’s a 50-50 ball, it’s gonna be his.”

The pass by A.J. Brand was his fourth passing score of the game.

“A.J. is the best player in the state. Right now, in the early voting for MVP it would 100% be AJ,” Brand said about his son and quarterback. “He’s done everything we’ve asked of him and he’s stayed injury free and he just does some good things and he continues to lead.”

Brand also wanted to credit the defense’s spectacular performance, forcing three turnovers that were turned into 21 first half Yellow Jacket points. He said that the coaching staff’s energy and preparation was key in getting them ready to pitch the shutout against River Bluff.

Irmo has shaped into one of the best teams in 4A after three weeks and will have a bye week before facing their toughest challenge yet, a 3-0 Hartsville team that is also considered to be one of the favorites to win the 4A state crown. 

For River Bluff, they’ll have to regroup before facing an 0-3 South Aiken team at home on Sept. 8. - EC

Gray Collegiate handles Hammond

With many questions surrounding the rest of its season, Gray Collegiate took the field at Hammond Friday night knowing they just have to take it one game at a time.

The result was a dominant performance on both sides of the ball as the War Eagles defeated the Skyhawks 52-14. 

“(We) just finally came out doing what we needed to do," Gray head coach Adam Holmes said. “Got the ball out in space to our playmakers and that's what kind of opened the game up for us. But the defense did a great job in the first half of causing two turnovers.”

Gray continued its two quarterback experiment, playing both Tyler Waller and Dre'von Dopson. Both played well, with Waller passing for three touchdowns and Dopson scoring one in the air and one on the ground. 

“They understand that's the deal,” Holmes said. “Dre comes in, does his thing, Tyler comes in and does his thing. We get to a point where if one of them feels better than the other, we kind of go with that … tonight, both guys are making plays and we're just gonna keep working. So any day you’ve got two guys that know how to play in the system if one has to come out.”

The trio of Jamarious Lockett, Zai Offord and BJ Montgomery made the majority of plays for the War Eagles’ offense, combining for multiple big plays. 

“I told the offense this whole week going into the game that they couldn't mess with it,” Offord said. “We got a lot of speed on the offense.” 

Lockett was all over the field, making plays both offensively and defensively. He recorded five receptions for 140 yards and two touchdowns, and had an interception on defense. 

Gray’s defense started the game holding the Skyhawks to a three-and-out. A poor punt gave the War Eagles strong field position to start their drive. 

The drive went backwards before a fourth and 12 touchdown conversion put Gray on the board. Lockett beat his man off the line to get wide open for a 35 yard reception from Waller.

Both teams exchanged three-and-outs before Gray Collegiate added to its lead thanks to the defense. 

Rilam Cunningham intercepted a pass from the Skyhawk quarterback and returned the ball to the Hammond 38. A few plays later, Gray kicked a field goal to go up 10-0. 

Hammond responded to the Gray field goal by scoring its first touchdown of the night. The Skyhawks marched down the field and punched it in with a rush from five yards out. The snap was fumbled on the extra point, making the score 10-6 late in the first quarter.

The Gray defense came up big again early in the second quarter when a defensive lineman rocked Hammond’s quarterback, forcing a fumble in the process. Gray recovered and brought its offense out with another chance to put points on the board. 

It didn’t take long for the War Eagles to find the endzone. Offord pulled in a pass from Waller before carrying it 37 yards for the score.

After trading possessions with no scores, Hammond put points on the board for the last time after a 48 yard completion from the quarterback. 

Gray scored twice more before the end of the half to build its lead to 17. 

The first score came within 20 seconds of the previous Hammond touchdown. Lockett made his largest play of the game, catching a pass this time from Dopson, and took it 64 yards before reaching the end zone.

“We saw corners soft and linebackers breaking down, so it's just easy to pass against soft defense,” Dopson said. 

On the following Hammond possession, the defense again made big plays. Kaine Williams intercepted the ball and ran 60-plus yards to score the final points of the half. 

 “That really kind of opened it up,” Holmes said. “Kaine’s been playing great on the defensive side of the ball. I think he had 20 tackles the first week, almost 20 tackles second week. He's really our run stopper there in the middle. He caught his key right there, broke on the ball and made a really big play.”

Gray’s defense did not let up after halftime, despite being up multiple possessions. The team forced two more Hammond turnovers, bringing the total to five for the game. 

Lockett almost got the War Eagles’ second pick-six of the night, after he snatched a ball out of the sky. His team. however, committed a block in the back infraction on the return, negating the touchdown but keeping the ball in Gray’s possession. 

“I just seen it coming, and I just made a play,” Lockett said. “Being a dog, just making a play.”

The offense scored three more touchdowns to turn the game into a blowout. 

Montgomery scored two of the touchdowns. One was through the air off a pass from Waller, and the other was on the ground from two yards out. 

The game's final points came in the last 10 seconds of the third quarter when Dopson snuck it in for a one yard touchdown. This allowed Gray to bleed the clock in the fourth. 

The victory improves the War Eagles record to 3-0 on the year with one more game before region play is supposed to start. 

Next week’s match against Camden could potentially be the final game of the season for Gray since their regional opponents are likely to forfeit its games because of fair play and competitive balance concerns. Regardless, Holmes is keeping his focus on the next game up. 

“We're playing a very good football team in Camden,” Holmes said. “They're doing some things differently offensively, spreading the ball around, and defensively, they've made some plays against Myrtle Beach that really kind of turned the tide. So it's gonna be another tough battle.”- JP

Scores from around Lexington County

Lexington 25, Stratford 24

Hough (NC) 20, Dutch Fork 17

Chapin 38, Spring Valley 7

Gilbert 49, South Aiken 35

Airport 10, Lamar 2

Batesburg-Leesville 52, Ridge Spring-Monetta 12

Pelion 35, Eau Claire 28

Orangeburg Prep 15, Northside Christian 3

White Knoll @ Colleton County (Sept.  2)