By DAN BISER

For the last four years, the South Columbus Stallions have come away with the long-standing “braggin’ rights” in their annual football battle with border rival Loris, S.C.

Coach Joey Price’s Stallions hope to come away with their fifth straight win in the series Friday night when they play host to the Lions at 7:30 p.m.

Pending effects of Tropical Storm Ernesto, Friday’s game is subject to postponement or cancellation.

Since Price became Stallion head coach in 1997, South Columbus has won seven of the last nine “Border Battle” match-ups. Two of those Stallion victories came in overtime. In fact. Price’s very first win as SCHS head coach came in a 40-34 overtime thriller in 1997 at Loris.

“It was tied at the end of regulation and I was ready to put our kids back on the bus and head back to North Carolina,” Price recalled. “We had lost to Mullins the week before and I didn’t want to start out 0-2. But the officials said we had to play it off, and fortunately our kids gutted it out and came out on top.”

Price will be going after his 98th career victory as Stallion head coach on Friday.

The Stallions hold a 9-5 edge in the series that opened in 1992 when South Columbus was formed by the consolidation of Tabor City, Nakina and Williams Township high schools.

South Columbus, the two-time defending Waccamaw 1A-2A Conference champion, is coming off an impressive 27-14 victory over Wilmington Laney in last Friday’s season opener.

Loris, under new head coach Maurice Murphy, fell to North Myrtle Beach 42-22 in its opener last week. The Lions held a 14-9 halftime lead before being overpowered by the Chiefs in the second half.

South Columbus won last year’s game by a 34-21 score en route to a 12-2 season. Loris finished its 2005 season with a 4-7 record. The Lions compete in South Carolina’s Region 7-AA.

In the 2004 Stallion-Lion game played at South Columbus, the Stallions ran to a 45-0 win behind the all-around play of Bryan Dixon, now a defensive back for the North Carolina Tar Heels.

In last Friday’s game at Laney, junior running back Justin Smith scored three of the SCHS touchdowns, including a 75-yard run and a 70-yard pass interception return. The Stallions dominated the final three quarters after the 4A Laney squad had charged to a 14-7 first-quarter lead.

“The way things started out, it looked like it was going to be a long night for us,” Price said. “They were running right through us for most of the first quarter. We made some adjustments and settled down some after that. We need to have a much better start this week.”

In last week’s game with North Myrtle Beach, Lion quarterback Xavier Taft completed 15 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns.

South Columbus’ last loss to Loris came in 2001 when the host Lions dominated second-half play en route to a 48-13 decision.The game was played on Saturday after it had been postponed by heavy rain on Friday.