Boiling Springs trailed by two touchdowns at the end of the first quarter on Friday night but it was a strong effort by their defense and some timely scoring that saw them make a tremendous comeback to defeat Greenwood 27-24.
"I told the guys at halftime the difference in the game was the first eight minutes of the game," said Bulldogs head coach Rick Tate. "Once we settled down we were able to get back into the game." The Bulldogs, ranked 10th in the latest media 5A poll, gave up a twelve yard touchdown run to Greenwood's Jaylin Tolbert and a fourteen yard touchdown run to Brett Spearman to fall behind 14-0 when the horn sounded for the end of the first quarter of play. Boiling Springs got their comeback started on the first play of the second quarter when senior quarterback Jalen Dodd found senior wide receiver Tedron Barber down the middle of the field for a thirty-seven yard touchdown pass to put the score at 14-7. Greenwood added a thirty-nine yard field goal to put the halftime score at 17-7 but did have a kick blocked as the halftime buzzer sounded that was returned to the Greenwood side of the field by Boiling Springs senior safety Dre Pinckney as it was one block away from being a touchdown return. With just under nine minutes to go in the third quarter Greenwood had worked their way to the Boiling Springs twenty-seven yard line when pressure by the Bulldogs defensive front caused the Eagles to fumble the ball which was then scooped up by senior defensive tackle Ethan Rennels and returned seventy-three yards for a touchdown to put the score at 17-14 in favor of Greenwood. Rennels gave credit to his teammates for helping him with coming up with the score on the return. "I appreciate my teammates for getting out there and blocking for me," said Rennels. "If it hadn't been for them I wouldn't have scored." Coach Tate said he was happy that Rennels hard work had gotten rewarded with that touchdown. ""We had to give him a little break after that long run," said Tate with a laugh. "That was great for him because he has been working hard as he just gets better every week and is really occupying the middle of that defense." Just over two minutes later after an interception by Bulldogs senior safety Caden Sullivan, his sixth of the season, Boiling Springs took their first lead of the game when Dodd found Barber on a thirty-four yard slant route to put the Bulldogs up 21-17. Tolbert found the endzone again for Greenwood when he ran in from nine yards out to retake the lead for the Eagles at 24-21 just two minutes into the fourth quarter. After the score Boiling Springs put together another offensive drive that started with a catch by Brent Fowler from Dodd down the right side of the field that saw many Eagles defenders unable to take him down to the ground. Running back Charles McFadden picked up a seven yard gain before Dodd went back to Fowler again, this time on twenty-one yard touchdown pass to give Boiling Springs a 27-24 lead with eight minutes left in the game. With the game on the line the Boiling Springs defense made two great defensive stands on fourth downs as the first one came with just over five minutes to go at the Boiling Springs forty-seven yard line when junior linebacker Jaylin Jones sacked the Greenwood quarterback to turn the ball over to the Bulldogs. The next play came at the Boiling Springs twenty-two yard line with just over two minutes to go when pressure by the front seven caused a fumble that was recovered by senior defensive lineman Caleb Mobley to once again give the ball back to the Bulldogs. "Our defense has really come a long way in the last three weeks," said Tate. "The defensive line is just getting a whole lot better and when you have four guys up front that can control the gaps like they can it frees up your other guys up to be able to do a lot more." Rennels said that the team felt like they had something to prove in the second half after their first half performance. "We came out slow in the first half and just looked like we didn't want to be here," said Rennels. "Coach Tate came to us and that just woke us up. We know we're the best defense out there we just got to start playing like it the whole game." As the defense took control of the ball again the offense needed to just make one first down to seal the game and on second down with eight yards to go Dodd broke a run down the right side for twenty-eight yards to seal the victory for the Bulldogs. Tate says that the play of Dodd and others has been big as they make the plays when they're needed. "When we needed a play back there Jalen found a way to make it happen," said Tate. "I'm really proud of Boyce Waters as he got thrown in the fire tonight and done a good job for us on the offensive line. Tedron Barber and Brent Fowler have came up with some big catches for us this season and especially tonight. We were down some people tonight and we just had some guys step up and make some plays." Boiling Springs will return to action on Friday night as they host Greer for their final home game of the regular season. On Tuesday night Boiling Springs held their annual Pink Night and the Bulldogs came away with a 3-1 victory over Spartanburg but for one Bulldog the night was a little extra meaningful.
The theme for the Bulldogs this season was 'Stronger Together' and this year the Bulldogs honored Jennifer Gregory, the mother of Bulldogs senior Madison Gregory, who lost her battle with cancer in March of this year. "My mom was diagnosed with a form of cancer called Leiomyosarcoma in February and she passed away in March," said Gregory. "Tonight was very special because everyone came together and supported me through it. With this being my final Pink Night as a player and her not being here it just meant a little more because everyone was playing for her." The shirts that the Bulldogs were selling this year to raise money for cancer research contained their theme along with two hands coming together to make a heart, which were the hands of Madison and her sister Elizabeth. "Madison lost her mom to cancer in the spring and tonight was special because we had our shirts designed to have her hand and her sisters make a heart design which inspired our theme Stronger Together," said Boiling Springs head coach Allison Elliot. "We're playing tonight for the girls that have faced this dreaded disease and the ones that will face it in the future. It's just something positive that we can do to turn a bad situation into something encouraging. So, tonight we're playing for Madison to encourage her and her family." The Pink Night for the Boiling Springs volleyball team is in its eleventh year and Elliot says that the growth in cancer research that she has seen in those eleven years has been remarkable. "In the eleven years that we have been doing this I have seen how advanced treatment and research has developed," said Elliot. "Things that you couldn't do eleven or twelve years ago are now available to help people in early detection. Although Madison's mom didn't have breast cancer it was still very impactful on our team and we wanted to recognize her tonight." Coach Elliot says that the Pink Night is something that the players look forward to every year and that the entire community just continues to support every year. "I ask the girls every year if they want to do the Pink Night and the answer is always absolutely yes," said Elliot. "I never started that first Pink Night eleven years ago with this intention but it's a great event as we get the whole school involved along with all kinds of businesses in the community that continue to make donations to help us raise funds with door prizes. We also have lots of players and parents who continue to return every year to be a part of the event." In the actual game the Bulldogs were able to come away with a 3-1 victory over Spartanburg. The Bulldogs were down 17-7 in the first set but rallied to get back within five before falling 25-17 but used the momentum from that rally to take control of the match. In the second set Boiling Springs grabbed a 25-16 win behind a service run by junior Logan Kenny that took the Bulldogs from a four point lead to an eight point lead at 21-13. The third set was all Bulldogs and junior Savannah Page ended the set with a kill off a Vikings defender's arm to grab the 25-11 win. The fourth set saw the Bulldogs jump out to a 10-4 lead when the Vikings called a timeout. After the timeout the Vikings got the score to 10-7 when Madison Gregory scored a point to stop the Spartanburg run and shift the momentum back to the Bulldogs on their to a way 25-16 win in the set and the overall victory in the match. "We started a little rough in the first set and I think that had a lot to do with all the festivities around tonight," said Elliot. "I think once we settled down we never looked back. After that first set we really focused on what we were doing well and that momentum carried us throughout the rest of the match." Gregory led the Bulldogs in assists on Tuesday night with nineteen while Alex Fyfe led the team in digs with twenty-four. Savannah Page led the team with fifteen kills while Logan Kenny in blocks with four. Both Kenny and Fyfe led the Bulldogs in ace serves with four aces each. Boiling Springs went to Chester on Monday to compete in the 5A Upper State Championship and came with a third place team finish along with the individual Upper State champion.
The Bulldogs finished the day tying for third place with former region opponent Byrnes after shooting a team score of 336 and finishing only six shots behind second place Dorman. All three teams trailed the Upper State champions Blythwood. Boiling Springs was led by individual Upper State champion sophomore Madison Dixon who shot a tournament low score of 70 on Monday. She wasn’t the only Bulldog to have a good day on Monday as senior MK Talledo shot a score of 72 to tie her for fourth place in the tournament. The Bulldogs will return to action next Monday and Tuesday as they compete in the state championship tournament that will be held at the Lexington Country Club. Boiling Springs celebrated their homecoming by crowning Simrin Channa as the 2020 Homecoming Queen and defeating Fort Mill 63-0 on Friday night in their final region matchup of the season. With the win the Bulldogs punched their ticket into the 5A playoffs as the second seed out of Region III-5A.
"This is what homecoming is all about and I told the kids there would be a lot of eyes on us to see if we could back up our second half performance from last week and I think we did just that," said Boiling Springs head coach Rick Tate. "I have to give a lot of credit to those kids from Fort Mill because they kept fighting the whole game but we were able to get some young kids in the game and they shined. Those young guys work hard in practice and I'm glad to see them get their chance to shine tonight." Boiling Springs scored five different times in the first half and all five of those scores came at the hands of Bulldogs senior quarterback Jalen Dodd. The first four scores all came on Dodd runs as he scored from ten yards out, eight yards out, one yard out and the final run was a thirty yard touchdown run down the left side to give the Bulldogs a 28-0 lead. The Bulldogs put the halftime score at 35-0 when Dodd found senior Caden Sullivan on a pass down the right sideline for his fifth touchdown of the night. Dodd finished the game with 257 yards of offense with 178 coming through the air and seventy-nine on the ground. The Bulldogs first half offensive output was helped by senior running back Charles McFadden Jr who started the night at linebacker but took over the lead running back role after an injury to starter Cam Mills. On the opening defensive stand McFadden came up with two big tackles for loss before taking over on offense and rushing for 102 yards but it's a moment that McFadden says he stays prepared for at all times. "My motto is if you stay ready then you'll be ready," said McFadden. "Coach Tate does a great job of getting me reps on both sides of the ball in practice so when the time was called for me to go into the game I was ready." Coach Tate was very happy with the performance by McFadden on Friday night because of his commitment to the team. "That's really good for Charles," said Tate. "We're using him a lot and he was thrown into a defensive position because we were thin there early in the year but he just kept getting better and better in practice and we couldn't take him off the field. He really started looking good at running back last week and that was good because we needed him tonight." Boiling Springs got their first score of the second half when junior running back Montavious Perry-Dillard ran the ball in from one yard out to put the Bulldogs lead at 42-0. Perry-Dillard added another three yard touchdown to start the fourth quarter as he finished the night with seventy-four yards rushing on fifteen carries and two touchdowns. In between the scores by Perry-Dillard was an amazing twenty-six yard touchdown run by backup quarterback Ke'Tron Adams as the Bulldogs led 56-0 with eleven minutes to go in the game. The Bulldogs final score of the game came on a ninety-seven yard punt return by senior safety Caden Sullivan who finished the night with a punt return touchdown and a receiving touchdown to go along with a defensive interception. The performance by Sullivan didn't surprise Coach Tate as he believes he's the best two way player in the state. "Caden worked hard this offseason and the results of that is really paying off this year," said Tate. "It's unbelievable seeing the growth he's had since his sophomore year to now and I'm not sure there's a better two way player in the state right now. The colleges in this state shouldn't be letting him get out of this state." Boiling Springs finished the night with 545 total yards of offense with 367 of those yards coming on the ground while the Bulldogs defense held Fort Mill to fifty-three total yards and negative forty-one yards rushing. The Bulldogs will start their non-region play next week as they travel to Greenwood for their last road game of the season. After the girls team finished the state meet with a thirteenth place finish on Saturday the Boiling Springs boys team picked up a thirteenth place finish of its own on Monday amongst a field of thirty teams.
Boiling Springs' boy's swim team also competed at the North Charleston Aquatic Center on Monday as they set multiple school records at the state meet. Will Humphreys led the way for the Bulldogs as he was the team's leading scorer finishing fifth in the 100y butterfly event and sixth in the 100y backstroke event. Humphreys broke the school record in the 100y butterfly event and also set a school record as part of the men's medley team which also included Ashton Threadgill, Samuel Jouault, and Garrett Watson. Boiling Springs will only be losing one senior, Luke Olson, going into next season and Boiling Springs head swim coach Lanie Peden is looking forward to the future for the team. "I'm pumped to see how these guys continue to improve and get stronger over the next couple of years," said Peden. When people in Boiling Springs talk about the Bulldogs tennis program there is one name that comes to everyone’s mind and that is of former head tennis coach Randy Gregory who spent many years leading the Bulldogs program.
Gregory, or Coach G as many of his players knew him by, passed away almost four years ago after a brief illness but his presence is still felt by his former players and his lessons are still being taught to the current crop of Bulldogs tennis players. “Coach Gregory was a legend around here and he’s the reason I do what I do now,” said Boiling Springs head girls tennis coach Jill Cooke. “He gave so much to the tennis program and was such a huge influence on both the boys’ and girls’ tennis teams here at Boiling Springs. He loved us like his own kids and was one of those coaches that changes your life for the better.” In recent years with renovations and the building of a new school that have caused the tennis courts he once roamed to disappear a former player of his wanted to make sure that his contributions to the tennis program wouldn’t be forgotten. “One of the guys that played tennis when I was in school asked me about when we practiced and I assumed he wanted to come hit tennis balls with my players because he is always commenting on stories about our matches of how proud he is of the team,” said Cooke. “I told him we didn’t practice on Fridays usually and he replied that he would just hook back up with us the next time he was in town.” Little did Cooke know that practicing tennis wasn’t the reason that the former player was reaching out about when the team would be practicing but it was so that he could surprise them with a sign that now hangs on the outside of the fence of the tennis courts that reads “Coach G Courts” honoring the contributions of Gregory to the tennis program over the years. “When we arrived to practice on Monday I saw this sign hanging here at the courts honoring Coach Gregory and it’s just amazing,” said Cooke. “We love it and everyone that played tennis under Coach Gregory has talked about how much they love it. He was a phenomenal man.” Cooke says that while it’s not an official naming of the courts, she has no plans of keeping the sign anywhere other than where it sits as long as she is there because the lessons he taught her are the ones that she’s still passing along to her players today. “The lessons that he taught me are the same ones I still try to pass along to our girls now,” said Cooke. “He used to tell us we have to have the ‘gonnas’ or the want to win and fight. Our girls showed that ‘gonna’ with their win tonight.” On Saturday the Boiling Springs girls swim team had a very strong showing as they finished in thirteenth out of twenty-eight teams with only seven swimmers at the state swim meet held at the North Charleston Aquatic Center.
"It was a sweet end to high school swimming for our five seniors," said Bulldogs head coach Lanie Peden. "They came together as a team and really swam their hearts out." Katelyn Mazurowski led the way for the Bulldogs as she was the team's top scorer finishing seventh in the 100y butterfly and twelfth place in the 100y backstroke. Molly Verdell had a great meet as well breaking a fourteen year old school record in the 50y freestyle event with a time of 26.06. It wasn't the only school record Verdell was a part of on Saturday as she was also a part of two of the three relay teams to set school records on Saturday. The medley relay team (Verdell, Mazurowski, Lauren Agnew, and Makenzy Carothers) and the 200y freestyle event team (Verdell, Mazurowski, Carothers, and Grace Sharp) set school records on Saturday along with the 400y freestyle event team (Mary Lauren Reese, Morgan Greenlee, Mackenzie Carothers, and Lauren Agnew). "To improve in this sport swimmers have to train hard all year, stay focused, be patient, and know if their hearts they have what it takes," said Peden. "These girls have bought into that mentality and it's awesome to see them grow as athletes and young ladies that represent their community in a great way. God has given them a gift and it's a blessing to watch how they use it to make a difference in those around them." While this meet ends the season for the Boiling Springs girls swim team, members of the boys swim team will be competing at the state meet on Monday in North Charleston. In an early morning makeup game on Saturday the Boiling Springs volleyball team had their fanbase on the edge of their seats throughout the game as they captured a 3-2 win over Clover.
"We don't normally play games like this on Saturday but with the makeup we had to wake up fast," said Bulldogs head coach Allison Elliot. "We were able to win the first two but they came back to win the second two and it became a battle over the final points in the fifth set." Boiling Springs jumped ahead early in the first set 3-0 and never trailed as they claimed a 25-18 set win on a kill to the middle of the Clover defense by the Bulldogs sophomore Cloe Wood. In the second set the Bulldogs trailed 20-17 before junior Savannah Page went on service run where Boiling Springs won the final eight points of the set to capture a 25-20 win. The service run was just another great performance from Page who has been strong for the Bulldogs all season. "Savannah is just amazing to watch as an athlete," said Elliot. "She can do it all and is just fun to watch. Her defense on the back row as a setter is really awesome and has a great swing at the net. Our team seems to move however Savannah moves and if she's playing well they all seem to relax and play better." The Bulldogs dropped the third and fourth seta to Clover 25-20 and 25-22 as they weren't able to find the runs they got in the first two sets. In the the fifth set the Bulldogs jumped out to a 10-1 behind a strong service run from senior Madison Gregory and it wouldn't even be her biggest play of the set. As Clover was able to fight their way back in the set tying it at 15-15 before the Bulldogs went back ahead 16-15. With Boiling Springs only needing one point to win Gregory stepped back up to serve for the Bulldogs. After the serve was returned by Clover, Gregory made a return hit that saw her facing away from the net and dropped it right in between the Clover defense to win the set 17-15 and give the Bulldogs the win in the match. "Madison is just a tough player and a competitor," said Elliot. "She has been in these pressure situations before as it her fourth year setting for us and it was just perfect that the point to win it was put into her hands." The Bulldogs were led in kills on Saturday by Cloe Wood with twelve while Alex Fyfe also had an amazing game with forty-five digs. Savannah Page led Boiling Springs in assists with twenty-one while junior Logan Kenny led the Bulldogs in blocks with four. After both had great service runs during the match it only seemed right that they both led the team in aces with four apiece. While the Bulldogs will get back to work this coming week making up games from earlier this season they are also looking forward to their upcoming Pink Game to raise money for cancer research that will occur on October 20th against Spartanburg. After a sluggish first half saw Boiling Springs trailing at halftime the Bulldogs scored thirty-five straight points to open the second half to grab a 38-14 region win over Clover on Friday night.
"We had a little meeting in the locker room there at halftime and they responded," said Bulldogs head coach Rick Tate. "That was probably our worst half of football there in the first half but I'm really proud of how they responded. By responding we showed signs of being a really good football team and allowed us to go on that twenty-one point run to start the second half." The Bulldogs only points in the first half came off the right foot of kicker Kaillou Touch who hit a twenty-three yard field goal with ten minutes to go in the second quarter before Clover was able to score with just seconds remaining in the first half to take a 7-3 halftime lead. Boiling Springs received the ball to start the second half and it didn't take them long to score as senior running back Cam Mills ran the ball in from eight yards out to cap a sixty yard drive and give the Bulldogs a 10-7 lead. The Bulldogs scored again just thirteen seconds later when senior safety Caden Sullivan intercepted a Clover pass at the forty-five yard line and returned in for a touchdown to give Boiling Springs a 17-7 lead just over three minutes into the third quarter. After another defensive stop for the Bulldogs they quickly capitalized again as Mills ran the ball in from twenty-one yards out for another touchdown to give Boiling Springs a 24-7 lead. The Bulldogs scored twenty-one points in just over four minutes to start the second half and took control of the game. Cam Mills scored two touchdowns during the Bulldogs twenty-one point run to go along with his game high 231 yards rushing on Friday night. "I just really got to thank my offensive line and wide receivers because they were just opening up the holes allowing me to maneuver around the defense," said Mills. "We came out in the second half looking at it as a playoff game and we turned up our intensity. We played the second half like it was our last game." Mills performance was no surprise to Coach Tate as he said Mills was one of the many to put in a lot of work on their own during the Covid-19 break. "That guy has worked his tail off in the weight room," said Tate. "He gained twenty pounds in the weight room and I'm really happy for him getting that performance tonight." The Bulldogs didn't quit after the twenty-one point run as senior running back Charles McFadden Jr, who has also started at linebacker this season, found the endzone on a four yard run with just under two minutes to go in the quarter to extend the Boiling Springs lead to 31-7. McFadden struck again with seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter scoring on an eight yard touchdown run to cap off the Bulldogs thirty-five point second half run and put their lead at 38-7. Clover added a score with six minutes left in the game when JK Thompson found the endzone on an eight yard run of his own to put the Boiling Springs lead at it's final score of 38-14. While Mills shined on the offensive side of the ball for the Bulldogs got a strong performance from their defense as senior Caden Sullivan had two interceptions on the night and the Bulldogs defensive line led by Ethan Rennels, Caleb Mobley, and Malik Harper wreaked havoc on the Clover offensive backfield most of the night. With the win the Bulldogs have helped their positioning for a playoff spot but will need to get a victory over Fort Mill next Friday to assure themselves of a spot and it's a fact not lost on Coach Tate. "We can't take any team in this region lightly," said Tate. "We need to come out and win and hopefully that will get us in the playoffs. Then it will be a one game season each week after that." The Bulldogs will host Fort Mill for homecoming this week in their final region matchup of the season. The Boiling Springs volleyball team honored their 2020 seniors on Thursday night by picking up a 3-0 victory over the visiting Byrnes Rebels.
"That was a great win for us tonight on senior night," said Bulldogs head coach Allison Elliot. "Our seniors all showed up and played their hearts out and the entire team rallied around them." Boiling Springs controlled most of the match as they won the first and third sets 25-17 with the only close set coming in the second where the Bulldogs walked away with a 25-23 win. The Bulldogs honored six seniors on Thursday night as Zoe Hughes, Alex Fyfe, Svetlana Semenuk, Simrin Channa, and Madison Gregory all walked away with wins on the 2020 Boiling Springs volleyball senior night. Semenuk led the Bulldogs in blocks on Thursday with four while Gregory led the team in assists with sixteen. Junior Savannah Page led the Bulldogs in kills with nine and also led the team in digs with twenty. Boiling Springs will return to the court on Saturday in a home region match against Clover at 11:00 AM. |
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