Hartsville blanks Darlington
Hartsville’s Jackson Moore with the carry. PHOTO BY DAWSON JORDAN
By: Don Gearhart
What set up to be a classic “Davey vs Goliath” never materialized. Goliath, aka the Hartsville Red Foxes, completely defeated the Falcons from Darlington be a score of 68-0.
Led by tandem running backs Carmelo Mcdaniel and J’Shawn Anderson, Hartsville dominated the opening period to lead 40-0. Included in that quarter were two defensive touchdowns by Drique Johnson. On a ball snapped over the Falcons quarterback’s head, Johnson pounced on the ball in the endzone for a score. Later, Johnson blocked a Darlington punt attempt that bounded to the 2-yard line where Johnson scooped and scored.
Early in the second quarter, Hartsville pulled out the starting lineups. That didn’t stop the scoring as the reserves tallied 21 points to give the Red Foxes a 61-0 advantage.
Not to be downplayed was a strong defensive effort which limited the Falcons to a negative yards rushing for the game.
With the mercy rule in effect to begin the third quarter, Hartsville was content to run down the clock and did manage to score a touchdown in that frame. Darlington, on the other hand, was forced to throw the ball. Success there fared better than the run game but three interceptions, a myriad of penalties, and hurried throws prevented the Falcons from generating any sustained offense. They did have one touchdown pass negated due to an offensive penalty.
Hartsville will travel to Camden for their next contest. Both teams stand at 2-0. Darlington hosts Lugoff-Elgin in their home opener. Darlington is 0-1 whereas Lugoff-Elgin goes into that game with an 0-2 record.