By Rocky Nimmons
Publisher

rnimmons@thepccourier.com

CENTRAL — The regular season is over. Despite a rollercoaster of a year that had huge peaks and deep valleys, the Daniel Lions now[cointent_lockedcontent]

John Bolton/BoltonPhoto.com
Daniel’s C.J. Scott goes up to make a leaping catch against Seneca on Friday night.

must put that behind them as they hope the next five games will define them far greater than the last 10 did.

Following a 35-17 loss to the rival Seneca Bobcats on Friday, the Lions finished the year with a rare losing mark of 4-6, but the four wins all came during Western AAA play. Those victories were enough to make Randy Robinson’s big cats finish fourth in the region and earn a trip to Rock Hill to face the defending AAA state champion South Pointe Stallions. The Stallions are just as tough as they were a year ago, with their lone loss coming to AAAA power Northwestern in overtime.

In spite of the loss, the Lions played hard against the Bobcats in their season finale.

“You know, we played a 9-0 team that has as much talent as anyone we have faced in quite a while, so I am not going to hang my head,” Daniel coach Randy Robinson said. “Our kids played hard. I asked them to play together and play hard, and we got that tonight. There is nothing to be ashamed of for playing hard.”

The difference in the game was the pounding running game Seneca offered up all night. Seneca’s running back tandem of Jacory Benson and Baxton Gambrell accounted for 342 of the Bobcats’ 530 yards of total offense.

“They are just bigger and stronger up front,” Robinson said. “They outweighed us at every position, but that is part of the game. They have a good offensive line and good running backs behind them. We watched it for nine weeks in a row, so we knew it was coming.”

The game started with the Lions keeping the explosive Bobcat offense in check. On Seneca’s first possession, it looked like things were going to go the Lions’ way, as following a three-and-out to start the game, Daniel’s punt was mishandled by Gambrell, with Daniel’s Lamar “Booboo” Woods recovering at the Seneca 41.

The Seneca defense was just too strong, and the Lions could not capitalize on the Bobcat mistake and were again forced to punt without picking up a first down.

The Daniel defense looked good and allowed only 18 yards of Seneca offense on the next possession, but again the Lions’ offense could not move the ball and had to give it up on a Justin Craig punt.

Seneca took over at its own 32 and strung together an eight-play series that was helped along by a 15-yard personal foul flag on the Lions. Gambrell capped the drive with a 14-yard touchdown run with 4:26 left in the first quarter. Hunter Pearson added the extra point to put the ‘Cats up 7-0.

The Lions evened the game at 7-7 following a Jacob Maloney interception the next time the Bobcats had the ball. The pick was the first of the season thrown by Seneca quarterback Elijah Turner.

Taking over at the Lion 31, Daniel quarterback Ben Batson finally rallied his troops and got his offense moving. He first hit C.J. Scott with a 13-yard pass and followed that up with a 16-yard scramble on the second snap. Batson went back to the air and tossed a five-yard completion to Jacob Wichelns. The touchdown was yet another pass, this time a 23-yard strike to Scott in the end zone to cap the four-play, 69-yard series with 9:59 to play in the half. Rivers Sherrill added the PAT.

The Bobcats answered two possessions later on a four-play, 57-yard drive. A huge 34-yard run by Gambrell sealed the deal with 5:56 to play in the opening half, as the powerful back seemed to hit another gear and raced to the Daniel end zone. Pearson was true on the PAT, and the ‘Cats were back on top 14-7.

The momentum seemingly turned for good late in the half. The Lions had been holding their own with the undefeated Bobcats, but a late drive seemed to suck the life out of the Columbia blue and gold just before intermission.

Seneca mounted a five-play, 51-yard drive that would not have been without the help of a pass interference flag on the drive’s fourth play. The penalty against the Lions moved the ball to the Daniel 9-yard line. On the very next play, Turner spied Daquan Mackey open in the end zone for a Seneca touchdown with only 17 seconds to play in the half. Pearson nailed the PAT, and the Bobcats were rolling 21-7.

The Lions came out after the break and tried to make a game of it. Jeff Fruster’s defense held tough and forced Seneca to punt the ball away on the opening series of the half.

Daniel took possession at the Lion 41 and began a march that would lead to a Sherrill field goal. The Lion started off big as Stephon Kirksey broke loose on first down for 23 yards. Two plays later, Batson found Scott open and connected for a 35-yard pass that pushed the Lions down to the Seneca 9-yard line. The Lions just could not get the ball across the goal line on three tries and called on Sherrill, who aced a 28-yard attempt with 6:32 to play in the third quarter to pull the Lions to with 11 at 21-10.

Seneca slammed the door in the fourth quarter, scoring a pair of touchdowns to put the game away despite a long Daniel touchdown that give the Lions hope.

Seneca scored on a 10-play, 47-yard drive that saw Benson going in from five yards out with 10:52 to play.

The Lions answered with a nice three-play drive that was highlighted by a 76-yard pass, catch and run from Batson to Scott. Sherrill added the PAT with 9:57 to play, making the score 28-17 in favor of Seneca, but the ‘Cats were not done yet.

Seneca ended the Lions’ hopes with a mauling 13-pla,y 75-yard march. It was a steady diet of Gambrell and Benson, as the duo picked up a handful of yards on each snap. Benson got the final touch, and the back slammed in from eight yards out to ice the game. Pearson was good on the PAT with 3:02 to play, preserving the Bobcats’ perfect season with a 35-17 victory at Singleton field.

“Seneca has ran a lot of people off the field,” Robinson said. “Our kids showed some Daniel pride and played hard. I have just been waiting on us to compete together. We have only done it twice this year as a group, and it was against the two biggest teams we played ,and they were BHP and Seneca. If we can do that again in two weeks in the playoffs, we have a chance to play a bunch of football. We have to play like we did tonight again.

“We competed. If our kids compete and play together, we can stay on the field with anybody. This Seneca team was as good and talented a team as I have seen in a long while.”

Class AAA schools will have to wait a week to start playoff action due to last month’s heavy flooding throughout the state, so the Lions have almost two weeks to prepare for their meeting with South Pointe.

“Next week we are going to work on a lot of self-corrections,” Robinson said. “We are going to work on getting better at what we do. We will get the film, and assuming it is South Pointe, we will break that down, but this coming week we are going to focus on us and what we do.”

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