The Irmo Yellow Jackets were left off the media preseason top ten poll. They won’t be off that list for long as they impressed many across the state with a 49-3 win over Chapin on the road.

“We got big ole running backs, big ole receivers and a quarterback who’s 205 pounds,” Irmo head coach Aaron Brand said after the game. “We were the better team tonight without a doubt.”

Chapin got on the board first with a Chase Cline field goal on the opening drive and led 3-0 with 8:35 left in the first quarter. 

Irmo immediately answered with a drive that was continued with an AJ Brand fake punt for a 19 yard gain. More Brand first down runs led to a five-yard touchdown run by Telvin Smith to put Irmo up 7-3 with 1:54 left in the opening quarter.

Brand connected with new sophomore receiver from Donovan Murph for a 35-yard touchdown to go up 14-3. 

The Yellow Jackets continued that momentum in the second quarter with yet another stop on defense and a 24-yard touchdown run from Jaden Allen-Hendrix. 

Brand scored his first rushing touchdown of the season with a 44-yard scamper near the end of the first half and gave Irmo a comfortable 28-3 cushion going into halftime.

The halftime break didn’t cool off Irmo. The visitors scored on the opening possession of the second half when Joey Albritton caught a pass from Brand for a nine-yard score. 

The lead stretched to 42-3 after another defensive stop and a string of Allen-Hendrix angry runs (including a mean stiff arm to break multiple tackles) led to a score from Allen-Hendrix from four yards out. 

The final score of the game happened when Anton Jones Jr. broke off a long touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.

After Chapin kicked a field goal on their opening drive, they didn’t make it past the 50-yard line the rest of the night. The Chapin offensive line was overwhelmed by the Irmo defensive front led by Jylil Favor.

“Besides AJ and the running game and Don and all those guys, the key tonight was our defense,” coach Brand said. “The defense played very much up to par and those guys, Jylil Favor, Marquel Lewis and all those guys just dominated up front. That’s what we gotta have if we want to reach the goals we talked about all spring and all summer long.  

AJ Brand threw for a pair of touchdowns and ran for one and for him, it was all about the team being locked in all day.

“Ever since we got on the bus at about 5:15, our captains instilled in everybody to be locked in,” Brand said. “On the bus ride here there wasn’t much talking. When we were pregame eating, there wasn’t much talking. I could just tell my guys were dialed in.”

Offensively, Allen-Hendrix put on a show. He ran for countless first downs and was constantly picking up chunks of 10-15 runs at a time including for two touchdowns. The additions of him and Murph over the off-season have helped push the offense to another level.

“When Donovan moved down here, he wanted to work out every day so I was just like ‘Alright bro, whenever you’re free just hit me up,’ so he kept hitting me up and we just worked out a lot,” AJ Brand said. “Quentin Stroman, he came from Dutch Fork, I played with him when I was six and we played together a long time. We’ve just been connected ever since. I love having them over here.”

When it comes to the snubbing in the media poll, coach Brand didn’t hold back when whether or not it factored into the blowout Friday night.

“We don’t give a damn,” coach Brand said. “We don’t care about any of that. We don’t care about any rankings or anything like that. We know we have a good football team, we know we beat a good 5A football team and we’re a team to reckon with for this 4A battle for a state championship in December and if you don’t rank us next week, guess what. We don’t care again. We’re gonna go out and give everything we got next week and we’re gonna try to come out with another victory.”

For Chapin head coach Justin Gentry, it was a teaching moment for his team.

“I told them I saw enough good stuff to feel positive. They exploited a lot of our weaknesses so that gives us an opportunity to fix some of those weaknesses and see those weaknesses,” Gentry said. “We’re not gonna sit around and cry over spilt milk. They were more athletic than us at every position. I tip my hat to them. There’s nothing we can do about that but we can get ready to come out and play Mid-Carolina next week, which is gonna be a tough game for us. It’s a big rivalry.” - EC

Lexington wins defensive battle over West Florence

As the Lexington Wildcats opened their season against the West Florence Knights, they came to the field with a new head coach, Dustin Curtis, who is not only a Lexington High alumnus, he’s a former Wildcat football player. His homecoming went well as Lexington earned the win, 17-7.

With it being a non-region contest for both teams and their opening game, one might expect some mistakes and unforced errors. The Wildcats offense made their first big one of the night with just over five minutes left in the first as the Knights defense interrupted a Lexington drive with an interception at the three-yard line.

 As it would for most of the night, however, the Wildcat defense held and forced a three-and-out and a punt that handed the ball back to the Lexington offense at the West Florence 30 yard line.

Senior quarterback Taiden Mines did the rest, lobbing a thirty yard touchdown pass to notch the team’s first score of the game and the shortest scoring drive at a single play. 

For the remainder of the first half, neither team seemed able to sustain much of an offensive drive, but the Lexington defense capitalized on mistakes and penalties on West Florence to keep them scoreless in the first half. 

The Wildcats offense put three more points on the board with only a minute left in the first half, as Tyler Chavis kicked a 38 yard field goal.

In the second half, The Knights offense managed to move the ball with some short yardage plays, but as they neared the red zone, the Wildcats defense broke up pass plays and on a fourth down attempt, Lexington defensive back Terry Lowery ended the West Florence drive with an interception at the 10 yard line. 

In addition to some hard defensive play from linebackers Broxton Grantt and Dylan Bolin, the Wildcats special teams delivered big plays when they needed to. In the fourth quarter, Matt McCauley blocked a West Florence punt at the two yard line, and one play later, Cam Morris punched it in to make the score 17-0, incidentally, the second one-play drive of the night for the Wildcats.

 The Knights would manage one offensive touchdown with a drive in the closing minutes to make the final score 17-7.

“Somehow I’ve never been a part of an opening game loss, but this one probably means the most of any of them to me,” head coach Dustin Curtis admitted after the game. “I put a little bit more pressure on myself than usual, I didn’t want to let my home town down.”

As for his team’s performance on the field, Curtis acknowledged the mistakes while praising the effort that earned them the win.

“The kids played hard, they battled all night,” He said. “West Florence is an athletic, physical team and we made just enough plays to win. Offensively, we tried to putter around and not make it happen, but ultimately all three phases of the game tonight helped to get us the win.”

Curtis liked what he saw in the attitude and the perseverance of his squad, too.

“You have to praise them for playing physical and staying in it,” He concluded. ”There were a lot of times tonight we could have tapped out and let the momentum flip, but every time we needed to make a play, we got our backs up and did it, especially on defense. Hats off to them, our defense rose to the occasion.”

The Wildcats play at home again Friday, Aug. 25 against South Aiken. It’s “Hall of Fame Night” as they celebrate new members of the Lexington High School Athletics Hall Of Fame.

Other Lexington County Scores

River Bluff- 47 Lugoff-Elgin -13

White Knoll - 49 Orangeburg-Wilkinson - 0

Airport - 36 Swansea - 2

Brookland-Cayce- 45 Harding University - 6

Gray Collegiate- 49 Christ Church Episcopal- 21

Pelion - 22 Bethune-Bowman- 8

Northside Christian - 45 First Baptist - 42

Clinton- 50 Batesburg-Leesville - 28