Abbeville landed several big blows on Friday night allowing them to pick up a 32-7 win over Chesnee and advance to the AA Upper State Championship.
"We knew we had to be perfect on both sides of the ball to have a chance,” said Chesnee head coach Clay Lewis. “We knew we could compete with them and that's one thing I can say about our kids tonight is they competed. We didn't make enough plays but we had our chances." The Panthers grabbed the lead in their first drive as Navi Marshall found the endzone on a twenty-one yard scoring strike but were limited to six points as Eagles senior Corey Seay bulldozed through the line and blocked the extra point try. Abbeville added a second first half score as Martico Jackson ran it in from forty-one yards out but were once again held to six points as the two point try came up just short keeping the Panthers lead at 12-0 heading into halftime. Chesnee’s defense did a good job limiting the Abbeville attack in the first half as they held them to a season low in points. The Panthers started the second half with a big play as Martico Jackson fielded an onside kick attempt before racing to the opposite sideline and then upfield for a thirty-six yard return to set the Panthers up in the Chesnee redzone. The Panthers took advantage of the great field position by scoring on a Tyrell Haddon sixteen yard run to put Abbeville up 18-0 to start the second half. The Panthers were held to six on their third consecutive scoring drive as Corey Seay blocked his third point after attempt in two games. Abbeville added another score as Ty Cade returned an interception for a touchdown with just over eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter to give the Panthers a 25-0 lead. Praise Edrington gave Chesnee good field position on the ensuing kickoff and was followed by a thirty-three yard run by Dylan Bennett to set the Eagles up deep in Panther territory. Quarterback Nyquille O'Fair picked up a touchdown on a run from sixteen yards out becoming the first player this season from the state of South Carolina to score on the Abbeville defense and pulled the Eagles to within 25-7 with just under six minutes left. Haddon added his second touchdown on the night for the Panthers when he ran it in from twenty-one yards out to deliver the 32-7 final score, as the thirty-two points was the lowest point total for the Wildcats this season. Chesnee's Camden Burns finished with another one hundred yard game as he had one hundred and seventeen yards on the ground. The total pushed Burns over the one thousand yard plateau for the season as he averaged nearly one hundred and twelve yards a game at over seven yards per carry. Corey Seay led the Eagles defensively with seven and a half tackles and two blocked kicks while also adding half a sack. Cole Hoskyns picked up an interception and a half sack of his own. The Chesnee senior class took a team that set a school record for losses in 2018 to a region title and a 7-2 record in 2020. "Our seniors have been outstanding all season long,” said Lewis. “These kids really put in a lot of work after last season was over. They were determined to come out and be a better football team than they were before and I think we accomplished that." Senior defensive end Colby Davis is proud of the mark he and his fellow seniors are leaving behind on the Eagles program. "It's amazing to see the culture change at Chesnee,” said Davis. “To see the big turnaround in our program it just makes me excited about the future. We worked really hard this offseason to try and win a state championship but we are going to make sure they will be back next year." Comments are closed.
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