Aug. 28—STROM THURMOND 44, MIDLAND VALLEY 12
GRANITEVILLE — This offseason may have been the best Antwaun Hillary has ever had during his years as Strom Thurmond’s head football coach — or since he’s been around the game.
That’s what made last week’s loss to Saluda sting so much. The Rebels turned the ball over, executed poorly and were dealt a confidence-crushing 52-20 beating against a rival.
Friday night’s game at Midland Valley very easily could have had that “here we go again” feeling when the Rebels fumbled twice inside the Midland Valley 5-yard line, leaving the score tied at 0 past the midway point of the second quarter.
Then Chris Barnes gave his team a spark.
Barnes burst through the line to block a punt out of the back of the end zone for a safety, getting the Rebels on the board for a 2-0 lead. They dominated the second half in a 44-12 victory for their first win of the season, spoiling Earl Chaptman’s Midland Valley head coaching debut in the process.
“It was huge, man,” Hillary said of the blocked punt. “Chris Barnes, hell of a game. He blocked the punt down there and almost went and got on it. Just really, really proud of our guys’ effort and the way they competed and the fact they got this monkey off their back. … I think we got our confidence back.”
It wasn’t just the blocked punt for Barnes — literally every time he touched the ball, he scored. He had three carries in the game for 136 yards, and he found the end zone all three times. That led a deep Strom Thurmond rushing attack — nine players logged at least one carry — that generated 392 yards and five touchdowns.
The Rebels (1-1) held a 16-6 lead at halftime, with a 10-yard Barnes touchdown run with 26 seconds left in the second quarter answering Antrone Butler’s 2-yarder 29 seconds earlier.
They took the field for the second half eager to prove that the margin should have been a lot more comfortable, and they aimed to atone for those early miscues.
“Second half, I thought we came out pissed off, just pissed off because we knew we were better than two first-half turnovers,” Hillary said. “That’s kind of been what’s getting us this year, a little bit, but just the way our guys battled back.
“G (Gregory) Bryant, my hats go off to him. For some reason, he didn’t do this last year, but just hasn’t had the best luck with holding onto the football. He just battled back. I got on him pretty bad over there, and he battled back. I don’t know how many yards he had, but it was a ton.”
Bryant rushed for 90 yards on nine carries and had three catches for 61 yards, including a 51-yard touchdown from Whitt Miller 56 seconds into the third quarter after he found himself wide open behind the Midland Valley defense.
Mike Blocker scored on a 2-yarder a few minutes later, then Barnes sprung free for two more — a 78-yarder late in the third quarter, then a 48-yarder midway through the fourth.
Midland Valley (0-1) kept fighting, and TJ McElmurray found Deorion James for a 33-yard touchdown that capped the scoring.
After the game, Chaptman stressed to his players that program rebuilds — coming into the season, the Mustangs were 6-40 since playing for the Class AAA state championship in 2015 — don’t happen overnight and to keep their heads up as they work to turn things around.
“One thing I know is that we have athletes and we have guys that can make plays,” said Chaptman, whose team was already shorthanded due to COVID-19 protocols and lost another two starters Friday before the game. “… More importantly, I’m encouraged with the way we finished the game. We could’ve given up a touchdown on the last drive. We didn’t. Our offense went down and got one late. It lets me know that they continue to fight.
“It’s gonna take us time to really get this thing going in the right direction. When you’ve had a lot of years of not being successful, like I said to them, it just doesn’t happen overnight. We’ve just got to continue to work and stay positive in our mentality and not get in that mindset of things are the way that they’ve been before, because it’s not that. We were way more competitive in the first half. We wore down a little bit, and mentally we kind of got a little discouraged there. We’ve just got to continue to work through that.”
McElmurray went 10-for-13 passing for 114 yards, and he showed some flashes in the run game that has Chaptman feeling like he can incorporate more of that in the offense. Butler (56 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries) and Preston McNair (32 yards on seven carries) had some tough runs, and Tyre Green (69 yards on four catches) made some acrobatic grabs above Strom Thurmond defensive backs.
The Mustangs continue their non-region schedule next Friday with a road trip to Pelion.
Strom Thurmond has a bye week — much earlier than in recent years — and it couldn’t come at a better time for Hillary and the Rebels. He’s hopeful he’ll be able to get some players back from injury before a Sept. 10 game against South Aiken.
“Just happy for that first win,” he said. “Our guys just need confidence. With the world that we’re in, kids need confidence. Just glad we were able to get it.”
ST 0 16 21 7 — 44
MV 0 6 0 6 — 12
SCORING SUMMARY
Second Quarter
ST — Chris Barnes blocked punt out of end zone 5:42
ST — Tyron Chapman 12 run (Nate Nordeen kick) 1:39
MV — Antrone Butler 2 run (conversion failed) 0:55
Third Quarter
ST — Whitt Miller 51 pass to Gregory Bryant (Nordeen kick) 11:04
ST — Mike Blocker 2 run (Nordeen kick) 7:56
ST — Barnes 78 run (Nordeen kick) 1:55
Fourth Quarter
ST — Barnes 48 run (Nordeen kick) 6:41
MV — TJ McElmurray 33 pass to Deorion James (conversion failed) 3:36
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
ST — Chris Barnes 3-136-3, Gregory Bryant 9-90, Leon Berrien 7-76, Devron Williams 5-49, Tyron Chapman 3-18-1, Israel Glanton 1-13, Whitt Miller 2-8, Mike Blocker 4-2-1, Wykavious Dugar 1-0. Totals 35-392-5.
MV — Antrone Butler 13-56-1, Preston McNair 7-32, Joenathan Peeples 6-20, TJ McElmurray 7-16, Trave Berrian 1-0. Totals 34-124-1.
Passing
ST — Whitt Miller 5-5-90-1-0.
MV — TJ McElmurray 10-13-114-1-0.
Receiving
ST — Gregory Bryant 3-61-1, Devron Williams 1-18, Mike Blocker 1-11. Totals 5-90-1.
MV — Tyre Green 4-69, AJ Mainer 2-51, Deorion James 2-40-1, Evan Phillips 2-24. Totals 10-114-1.