After winning two straight games at home to open their 2024 season, the Irmo Yellow Jackets hit the road for the first time this year, traveling to a familiar place. 

Head Coach Aaron Brand came to Irmo from Charlotte, and his son A.J. spent his childhood there.  Both Brands were happy with their return, as A.J. accounted for over two hundred yards of total offense, including running in the go-ahead touchdown in overtime, as the Yellow Jackets outlasted the Butler Bulldogs to win 35-34.

Irmo, who also scored 35 points in their previous wins, started hot.  They drove 69 yards on 12 plays during their opening drive.  Jaiden Bryant capped the drive with a 6-yard touchdown run.  

After a Bulldog three and out, the Yellow Jackets ran off another 13-play drive, this time covering 85 yards and ending with an A.J. touchdown pass to Donovan Murph, giving Irmo a 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter.

“We thought we could run the football on them because we thought they were a little bit finesse on the edges, and we thought we could get our tight end on their edges and make a play in our run game early on,” Coach Brand said about his early success on offense.

The Bulldogs answered on their next drive, aided by several Yellow Jacket mistakes. Butler started at their 46-yard line, thanks to a facemask penalty on the kickoff.  A crucial pass interference penalty on a third down kept the drive alive and set up Butler with first and goal at the six-yard line.  Two direct snaps to Kamorrie Prather got the Bulldogs on the board.  

After the Yellow Jackets next drive stalled, Butler again relied on its running game, this time getting three big carries from Jayden Williams, including a 37-yard score to tie the game at 14.  Williams led the Bulldog offense, carrying the ball 14 times for 107 yards.  

Irmo tried to answer with a drive to end the half, and made it into field goal range, but Anton Jones pushed the 42-yard kick wide left as time expired, leaving the game tied at the break.  

At the start of the second half, it was Butler’s turn to make an untimely mistake.  After a three and out on their first drive, a muffed snap on a punt set up Irmo on the Bulldog ten-yard line.  Four plays later, A.J. kept it from one yard out, giving the Yellow Jackets a 21-14 lead.  

The two teams then traded unproductive drives, but Irmo would have a punt blocked late in the third quarter, giving Butler excellent field position at the Yellow Jacket 20-yard line.  Four plays later, Bulldog quarterback Zach Lawrence snuck the ball into the end zone on the second play of the fourth quarter for a touchdown.  The extra point snap was bobbled and the point after was no good.  The Yellow Jackets kept a 21-20 lead.

Irmo had a little momentum going on its next possession, but A.J. made one of his few mistakes on the night when he threw an interception with the Yellow Jackets driving inside of Butler territory.  

The Bulldogs then ground out a 12-play drive that culminated in five straight Damorian Thomas-Wright carries, the final one a 10-yard touchdown run.  After a successful two-point conversion, the Yellow Jackets trailed 28-21 with just over four minutes left.

On the next Yellow Jacket drive, A.J. and Jaiden Bryant took turns punishing the Bulldog defense on the ground.  A.J. carried the ball four times, and Bryant capped things off with a two-yard touchdown on his third carry of the drive.  With 1:36 left in the fourth quarter, the game was tied again, at 28.

Butler had the chance for one final drive, and they got to midfield with thirty-five seconds left.  The Bulldogs then had three straight passes that looked like sure touchdowns, but one was dropped, one was overthrown to a wide-open receiver, and a final play that got down to the one-yard line had no chance to stop the clock. Time ran out and the game went to overtime.

Coach Brand’s message to his team to start the overtime was simple.  “I told my team we were going to win the game, I felt like we were going to win the football game, no matter what happened. I felt like we were going to win.”

Irmo wasted no time in the extra period.  On their first play from scrimmage, A.J. took it ten yards into the end zone on a designed quarterback draw to make it 35-28 Yellow Jackets.  

“It was open and I knew I had to score, so when I got the ball it was all green ahead so I was like, I might as well just end it here,”  A.J. said.

Butler answered on their overtime drive with two quick passes to Kamorrie Prather, the second one a six-yard TD.  However, after initially setting up to kick the tying extra point, the Bulldogs called timeout.  

Coming out of the timeout, Butler lined up in their direct snap formation with Jayden Williams.  This time though, the snap was too low for him to handle and he was tackled in the backfield to seal the Irmo win 35-34.

After the game Coach Brand said that the performance made his homecoming a special one.

“This was what you want a football game to be,” he said. “I didn’t want it this close coming back to Charlotte, but I’ll take the win any way we can get it. We played hard, so win lose or draw I thought we were going to be ok ”

His son echoed the coach's sentiments. 

“Just getting a win on the road versus a great team from Charlotte, you know, coming back home originally where I’m from, it’s just a blessing,” he said.

Irmo moves to 3-0 on the year.  Next week they travel to Myrtle Beach to face Carolina Forest. 

Week Two Area Scoreboard

Chapin: 49, Spring Valley: 14

Dutch Fork: 38,  Ridge View: 0

Lexington:  25, Midland-Valley: 14

River Bluff: 35, Nation Ford: 30

White Knoll: 42,  Brookland-Cayce: 14

Orangeburg-Wilkinson: 14,  Airport: 9

Swansea:  39, Wagener-Salley: 15

Batesburg-Leesville: 37,  Abbeville: 35

Branchville: 42, American Leadership: 14