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  Sports
Turnovers Seal Thurmond’s Fate, Central Wins 14-9 By Tim Crane web posted November 23, 2009 SPORTS – A huge crowd made the long trip to Pageland to watch the Rebel’s third round showdown with the Eagles. But they saw something they hadn’t witnessed all season; an abundance of turnovers. Four turnovers proved to be the difference in the game for Rebels on a night when it seemed they couldn’t get traction from spinning their wheels. Central opened the scoring as Mardu Smith caught a five yard touchdown pass from Jowan Henderson to cap off a 70 yard drive, at the 7:31 mark of the 1st quarter. After a successful two point conversion the Eagles led 8-0. Raleigh Yeldell would cough up the football on Thurmond’s very next play when he was sacked by Keagan Funderburk. Central recovered the ball at Thurmond’s 21 with 7:18 remaining in the first. Two plays later, Deikory Williams saves a “would be” touchdown when he intercepted Eagle quarterback Jowan Henderson at the four yard line. Thurmond couldn’t capitalize as they fumbled the ball back to Central just four plays later. This time, Central made the Rebels pay for the turnovers as they marched eight yards, in three plays, for a touchdown. Mardu Smith broke the plain with a four yard run at the 3:52 mark of the first quarter, to finish the drive. The two point attempt was no good and Central led 14-0. Demarkus Smith sparked some momentum when he returned an Eagle punt 45 yards to set the Rebels up at Central’s 20 yard line with 10:26 to go in the first half. Thurmond settled for a Sam Northrop 27 yard field goal, after the offense bogged down at the 13 yard line. Central led 14-3 with 7:24 remaining in the second quarter. Pageland received the ball to start the third quarter and the Blue Steel defense held for a three and out, while being cheered on by a very vocal crowd that knew the Rebels had much more potential than what they displayed in the first half. But the Rebel offense couldn’t find a rhythm during the third quarter as they had a few offensive miscues with overthrown balls and another fumble. Nick Williamson put the ball on the ground at Thurmond’s own 18 yard line and Central recovered with 2:03 remaining in the third quarter. With their backs to the wall once again, the Blue Steel defense rose up and held for a turnover on downs. Strom’s offense would finally show some signs of life when they marched 60 yards in nine plays for a touchdown. Nick Williamson plowed over a defender as he crossed the goal line on a ten yard run to cut Central’s lead to 14-9. ST’s two point attempt was not successful so the score remained 14-9 with 4:47 remaining in regulation. Final stand; after Central converted a 3rd and 15 with just over three minutes to play, the Blue Steel defense had to get a stop, quickly. Freshman Hykeem Brooks got the stop Thurmond was looking for when he picked off Jowan Henderson at Thurmond’s 42 yard line with 1:55 remaining. Central was flagged for an unsportsmanlike penalty and 15 yards were tacked on, which set Thurmond up at Central’s 42 yard line. Yeldell’s first pass was dropped for an incompletion after nearly being picked off. On 2nd and 10, Yeldell connected with Demarkus Smith near the sideline for an eleven yard gain and Thurmond appeared to be destined to pull this one out. 1st and 10 at Central’s 33 yard line, Yeldell calls his own number on a quarterback keeper and scrambles to Centrals 25 yard line, at which time he received a bigtime hit from Keagan Funderburk and fumbled the ball. It appeared the Rebels initially recovered but after the huge pile was unstacked the zebra’s indicated that Central came away with the ball and that was the ballgame. Pageland was able to run the clock out with just 1:31 remaining. What Happened: Rebels dug themselves a hole they couldn’t get out of with four turnovers. After going up 14-0 in the first quarter, Central was able to be extremely aggressive on defense by coming after Yeldell all night with no fear of Thurmond’s offensive potential. Strom’s Blue Steel defense played exceptional with their backs to the wall only allowing one score off of turnovers; Central recovered fumbles at Thurmond’s 21, 8 and 18. Tim's Final Thoughts: Although we didn’t win a state title, this was still a season to be proud of. A 10-3 record with a region title is an exceptional accomplishment. Only eight teams of the total 48 can make it to the 3rd round and we were one of those eight. Special thanks to the 15 seniors for your great play and memories over the past few years. Keep your heads up because the future looks bright with so much underclassmen talent coming up. We’ll get’em next year. What’s Next: Strom Thurmond (10-3) season over. Central (11-2) hosts Abbeville (12-1) for the upperstate title game. Recap by quarter: 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final penalty yards first downs total off. yards ST 0 3 0 6 9 1-5 9 177 PC 14 0 0 0 14 5-45 9 193 Individuals for Strom Thurmond Passing: Raleigh Yeldell 11 of 22 for 69 yards Rushing: Nick Williamson 16-52 yards, 1 touchdown Raleigh Yeldell 7-56 yards Receiving: Tyler Glover 1-1 yard Demarkus Smith 3-25 yards Desmond Davis 2-11 yards Nick Williamson 3-23 yards Jamell Jackson 2-9 yards Kicking: Sam Northrop 1-1 FG 27 yards Cullen Rhoden (punts) 5-177 yards, avg 35 yards Returns: Demarkus Smith 3-50 yards Nick Williamson 1-25 yards Martinez Gallman 1-25 yards © Copyright 2009
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