Lamar grabs Tigers by the tails
By Don Gearhart
The initial game of the 2023 season couldn’t have gone smoother for the Lamar Silver Foxes. In addition to rewarding first-year coach, Stephen L. Burris with his first coaching victory at Lamar, a stout defense limited the visiting team from Hemmingway to a negative 18 yards in total offense in taming the Tigers to the tune of 43-0.
Hemmingway received the opening kickoff and after gaining four yards on a reverse simply went backwards and were forced to punt from their own endzone. A full-out rush by the Silver Foxes resulted in a blocked punt that was caught in the endzone for a touchdown by Alvion Ward with 8:52 left in the first quarter. Grayson Booth drilled the point-after-touchdown through the uprights to give the hosts an early 7-0 lead.
Hemmingway’s second possession wasn’t much different except they were able to get off a short punt and turned the ball over to Lamar two minutes later. From the Tigers 43-yardline, Ward bounced outside for a 25-yard gain and Zori Pierce hit Kamon Miller with a 14-yard pass play. A penalty by Hemmingway set the ball on the 14-yardline and Ward rushed the final yards to paydirt. Ward made it 15-0 when he rushed for the two-point conversion at the 5:22 mark of the period.
The Tigers third possession resulted in three downs with negative six yards on the plays. Punting from their own 10-yardline, they got their best field position of the night when the punt was touched by a Lamar defender and recovered by Hemmingway at their own 26-yardline. From there, it was more of the same with a punt coming from their own 12-yardline. The short punt actually took a very favorable Lamar bounce and was recovered at the Tigers 3-yardline. Pierce punched it in from there as the quarter ended. Booth once again split the uprights to give Lamar a 22-0 advantage.
Hemmingway could not figure out the staunch Silver Foxes defense and punted deep in their own territory. The punt managed to cross the line of scrimmage this time but not by much. Lamar got the ball back with 7:00 remaining in the second quarter with what was now a moving clock at the behest of the Hemmingway sideline. With only 19 players dressing and injuries mounting, it was a judgement call by the Tigers coaches to avoid further problems. Lamar’s fourth touchdown came on a seven-yard strike from Pierce to Miller in the corner of the endzone. Booth made it 29-0 as the first half came to a close.
Lamar received the second half kickoff and wasted little time scoring again. After two rushing plays gained a first down, Pierce hit Nyshaun Quillin in the flats and he broke several tackles on his way to a 43-yard score. Booth booted the PAT to make it 36-0 in favor of the hosts.
The third quarter ended on Hemmingway’s next possession and Lamar’s final offensive drive started at their own 45-yardline and ended with Zoom Jackson scooting around the left end for a 25-yard score. Booth completed a perfect night with conversions to make the final score 43-0.
In other Darlington County games:
Darlington 34, Central 20.
Hartsville 55, Conway 7.
Cardinal Newman 42, Trinity Collegiate 12.