Strong first half not enough for Darlington
Darlington QB Joseph Scott drops back and throws a pass against Crestwood this past Friday night.
Photos by Drake Horton
By Drake Horton, Contributing Writer
Sumter – Sometimes the numbers are not in your favor, and sometimes the numbers can really be misleading.
That was the case for Darlington this past Friday in Sumter as the Falcons squared off against the Crestwood Knights.
Darlington ran 94 offensive plays compared to Crestwood’s 56 and compiled 498 yards of total offense to the Knights 468 yards.
Most of the time, if not all of the time, the team that leads in those categories win the game; but, no matter how well you do statistically as team, if make too many mistakes you are going to lose.
That unfortunately was the case for Darlington as the Falcons dropped their game against the Knights 63-28.
“We dropped our heads a little bit when we had some bad breaks in the third quarter and didn’t finish,” Darlington head coach John Jones said. “We got to finish and we didn’t and that comes down on coaching it up, coaching them through finishing.”
While Darlington did force four Crestwood turnovers, the Falcons committed six of their own, three that lead to 21 points.
If that was not bad enough, in the second quarter Darlington’s special teams failed to recover a deep Knights kickoff, giving Crestwood the ball at the Falcons 23-yard line. It took Crestwood only three plays to score a touchdown following that.
That was not the only special team blunder, however. Darlington rolled the dice to start the third quarter, attempting an onside kick. The attempt failed though and Crestwood started off with great field position. Three plays later it was another Crestwood touchdown.
Even the ‘85 Bears could not overcome that many mistakes, let alone a high school team still trying to find their way.
But despite all of the shortcomings before this game, there was a special feel for this game because this game was like the start of a new season.
This game, which marked the start of region play, gave Darlington a chance to wash off all of the disappointment of the non-conference schedule and get off to a good start with the games that determine who make the playoffs.
For one half it looked like that was going to be the case.
While the Falcons offense squandered an opportunity late in the opening quarter and were held scoreless, the Darlington defense held the opposing offense scoreless in the first quarter for the first time this season.
It was after that quarter when the fireworks came out for both teams offenses. Tied at zero at the start of the quarter, Crestwood went into the half up 28-21 on Darlington as each team seemly answered the others score.
That trend stopped right at the start of the third quarter.
Crestwood’s defense shut out Darlington’s offense in the third quarter while outscoring the Falcons by two touchdowns and also scored the first in the fourth quarter.
Darlington caught life following that touchdown, scoring a touchdown and recovering an onside kick. But another Falcons turnover and two more Crestwood touchdowns in the fourth sealed the deal.
What had the look of being a promising night, instead had turned into another lose for the Falcons, who now 0-7 overall, 0-1 in the region. But the loss and record should be taken with a caveat.
The Falcons have played one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the state and this game was the most complete game they have put together so far. With only the region games determining playoffs, Darlington is not in as bad of shape as most think.
“It’s just the first region game, two region wins can get us in and we got three left, two of three can get us in. We got a week off; we got to come back fighting, get better and get there.”
County Recap
The Hartsville Red Foxes dropped its first game of the season to Abbeville by a score of 32-21 and the Lamar Silver Foxes who are currently 6-0 on the year had the week off.
Trinity-Byrnes defeated Christian Academy 2-0 to improve to 4-2 overall for the season.