COLUMBIA – When Hartsville Coach Jeff Calabrese said in last Monday’s pre-game press conference that he was hoping to hang with the South Pointe Stallions, he was trying to be nice and complimentary. As it turned out, it was the reality of the situation.
The Red Foxes lost the Class 4A State Football Championship Saturday night 38-14 to the Stallions. It was the third loss in four years, and to the same team.
“We got beat by a really good football team,” he said. “Our kids fought like crazy, I’m proud of them.”
There is still plenty to take away from the season as a whole.
“Being Lower State Champions, it’s an awesome season,” he said. “But tonight, we ran into a really good football team, they executed better than us and they deserved to win the game.”
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Hanging around in a state championship game was not in the game plan.
“There’s no moral victory in the state championship football game,” he said. “You’re frustrated you couldn’t find a way to win. I’m frustrated we can’t find a way to beat them the last couple of times.”
Calabrese had nothing but praise for his senior class members.
“(it was a) small crew, these kids hung in there,” he said. “There are a lot of kids in that class that didn’t make it through. I’m real proud of these young men for seeing it through, and having a great season.”
Hartsville scored twice in the contest.
In the first quarter, A.J. Joyner scored from four yards out at the 4:04 mark. Caleb Caldwell tacked on the PAT. The drive went 61 yards on 14 plays.
The drive was set up by a fumble recovery by Keshari Pooler at the Hartsville 39-yard line.
Hartsville converted a fourth-and-three opportunity when South Pointe jumped off sides to keep the drive alive.
On its last possession of the game, Dariyan Pendergrass broke loose for a 26-yard run to set up first-and-goal, where he proceeded to punch the ball in on the next play. Caldwell hit the PAT.
Joyner had runs of 16 and 10 yards and Hartsville took advantage of a Stallions’ 15-yard penalty for too many players on the field.
Statically, Tiyon Evans had 80 yards on 16 rushes, followed by Joyner with 47 yards rushing on 15 carries. However, Joyner also lost 32 yards on rushes or sacks finish with a net of 15 yards.
Collins Bishop had 42 yards on nine carries followed by Pendergrass with 28 yards on two carries.
Donovan Lambert had 15 yards on nine carries and Zavaric Hines had 14 yards on three carries.
There are no seniors among the running backs this season.
Joyner was 4-for-6 passing for 45 yards, no TDs, no interceptions, but he was sacked five times.
Kevon Haigler and Zay Peterson led the team with eight total tackles. Haigler had a sack for a four-yards loss.
Hartsville finished the season with a 13-2 record.