Bulldogs looking for room to run tonight

Shaquez Wright (7) will be a part of the Bulldogs' running game tonight. Staff photo by Mike Adams.

That fact that Silver Bluff is still playing this deep into the year is a surprise to many. When October began, a third-round playoff game was the furthest thing from Bulldog fans' minds.

After a 3-0 start, the Bulldogs had lost three in a row at that point - including the worst loss in program history, a 52-7 thrashing at the hands of Strom Thurmond, and a 20-14 loss in the Region 5-AA opener against Swansea.

SBHS had lost one of its stars, running back A.J. Washington, to a season-ending injury, and it had scored only 53 points in six games, alternating back and forth from a spread offense to its traditional Wing-T. Things couldn't have been much worse in Petticoat Junction.

Since that time, Silver Bluff (8-3) has won five straight games. Playing without one of its top defenders, Jimmy Holmes, who was dismissed from the team for a violation of school policy, it finished second in the region, earned a bye through the first round of the Class AA, Division II playoffs and cruised in its postseason opener against Aynor, winning 34-6.

"I'm pretty proud of it," admitted Lown, whose team will take on Mullins at home in the third round tonight. "I think it's a testament to the kids that we didn't give up. We were 3-3, and things could have turned the other way. But our kids hung in there.

"I think it's a testament, too, to the quality of our assistant coaches. We've got a lot of coaches with a lot of experience, and we didn't panic. Our coaches went back to fundamentals, and we worked on blocking and tackling. It paid off for us."

Lown originally went away from the Wing-T attack that had made his program one of the most successful ones in the state prior to last season, in attempt to find the way to get over the hump and end a string of second-round playoff losses. The 2010 season ended just that way, though, with the Bulldogs falling in the second round, and after the frustrating start to 2011, the coach decided it was time to go back to what he knew best.

"We don't really have true wide receivers to run the spread, and (the Wing-T) also fits our offensive line better, particularly our guards," he explained. "Those guys can pull and are pretty fast, and that really fits the Wing-T better."

It's also fit the strengths of the Bulldog running backs. The trio of Tyler Fishalow, Shaquez Wright and RJ Stallings has combined to rush for 975 yards and 13 touchdowns, filling the role previously filled by Washington and taking some of the pressure off the quarterback, Clemson commitment Cordrea Tankersley.

The success to this point has SBHS players walking with their heads held high, but they're not done yet. The third-seeded Bulldogs will be at home tonight, thanks to No. 7 Mullins' upset of No. 2 Woodland last week, with a trip to the Lower State championship game on the line, and they have every intention of moving one step closer to their ultimate goal.

To do that, they'll have to defeat a Mullins team that may be better than its 7-5 record. The Auctioneers' losses came to Andrews (30-6), which advanced to the second round of the Class AA, Division II playoffs before losing to Marion, Georgetown (26-14), a playoff participant on the Class AAA level, Dillon (49-0), the top-ranked team in Class AA, Loris (10-0), also one of the top Class AA teams, and Marion (40-7), which plays Bishop England tonight in the other Class AA, Division II Lower State semifinal.

"They've played a good schedule; there's no doubt about it," said Lown. "They're the kind of team that if they come down here and get off the bus ready to play, they could be tough to beat. They've got some good-looking athletes."

The one that worries the veteran coach the most is wide receiver Tyre Constant. He leads the team with 216 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

"He's a pretty good-looking kid," said Lown. "He's made some good one-on-one catches out there."

Quarterback Justin Elliott likes to throw it up, and he's completed 46 passes for 591 yards and six touchdowns. He's also thrown 11 interceptions, a number Lown hopes his team can make even larger.

"We need to win some jump-ball situations against them," said the Bulldog coach, who has won two state crowns in his storied career. "They're going to throw the ball with four verticals down the field. They just chuck it up to those guys, and they've made some plays. We're going to have to win some of those situations."

The Mullins running game is based out of a double-wing formation, with some wishbone mixed in. Rembert Timmons, D.J. Johnson, Tracy Dewitt and Earnell Legette have all been productive, but none has taken the lead as the go-to guy.

Defensively, SBHS has to worry about Timmons, who has 92 tackles, 21 tackles for loss, four sacks, a forced fumble and an interception.

Although the Auctioneers are the probably the biggest, strongest team the Bulldogs have faced since Barnwell, Lown is confident that his offense will be fine if it avoids turnovers, something it's done well this season.

He also identified two major advantages he sees for his team. First, the Auctioneers have a number of players playing on both sides of the ball, while SBHS has avoided that temptation during its recent run. That could help the Bulldogs have the upper hand late in the game.

The other positive is that Lown's club will be playing at "The Bluff," a place where it doesn't usually lose.

"No. 1, we ain't got to get on a bus and go 3 1/2 hours," said Lown. "That's huge. We'll be in front of our home fans and can keep our normal routine. I hope that will be a big advantage for us.

"We'd like to have a lot of fans out there. We're one of the last four teams in the Lower State in our division, so it doesn't get much better."