Stallions bolt past Dark Horses
in state football playoff opener

Unbeaten SCHS to entertain Bunn in second round

Air Stallion

South Columbus High School quarterback Justin Duncan looks for a receiver on a roll-out in Friday night’s 33-7 victory over the visiting Clinton Dark Horses in the opening round of the state 2A high-school football playoffs. Duncan, a 6-foot-4, 180-pound senior, completed 14 passes for 275 yards and four touchdowns, as the Stallions’ season record climbed to 12-0. South Columbus had suffered playoff losses to Clinton three times since 1996 season. Coach Joey Price’s Stallions will entertain the Bunn Wildcats (9-3) Friday night in a second-round game.

South Columbus safety Lee Hemingway (8) halts a Clinton runner in the Stallions’ 33-7 victory in the opening round of the state 2A high-school football playoffs. South Columbus, now carrying a 12-0 record, took a 15-0 lead in the first quarter and led 27-7 at the half.

South Columbus High’s Andrae Jacobs (21) makes a bone-jarring tackle on a Clinton player on the game-opening kickoff Friday night. South Columbus won the state 2A playoff opener 33-7 to put its season record at 12-0.

South Columbus defensive standout T.J. Richardson is all smiles after the Stallions make another big stop.

VINEGAR HILL - The Clinton Dark Horses dared South Columbus to throw the football Friday night ... and so the Stallions took them up on it.

With junior quarterback Justin Duncan completing 14 of 18 passes for 275 yards and four touchdowns, the undefeated South Columbus squad opened the state 2A playoffs with a 33-7 victory over Clinton.

The win put the Stallion record at 12-0 and they will play host to Bunn (9-2) in this Friday’s night’s second round. Bunn advanced with a 21-10 first-round road victory over Greene Central.

Clinton, the 2005 state 2A champion and last year’s state runnerup, presented a nine-man defensive front to try to contain the vaunted Stallion running game that has been led all season by senior Justin Smith and junior Rashawn Grate.

But SCHS head coach Joey Price gave no hesitation to his passing game as quarterback Justin Ward threw two touchdown passes to senior Dakota Piver and other TD strikes to Jake Grimmett and Buster James.

Duncan completed passes to six different teammates during the game.

Piver had help set up the first two Stallion scores with a fumble recovery and a pass interception.

The Stallions led 15-0 after one quarter and 27-7 at the half.

“We had a real good night throwing the football,” said Price, whose team did not commit a turnover. “Justin did an exceptionally good job.

“It’s good to get the first-round win because Clinton is a team that came in here much better than their record. We were able to take advantage of a couple of their turnovers and put some points on the board early.”

Clinton, which had won all three of its previous state playoff games with South Columbus (dating back to 1996), got its lone score in the second quarter ... the first points scored against South Columbus in the Stallions’ last four games.

Clinton, a member of the longtime “rough-tough” East Central Conference, closed its season with a 5-7 record.

The Stallion defense limited Clinton to 127 yards of total offense and came away with three fumble recoveries and two pass interceptions.

Justin Smith led the South Columbus rushing game with 98 yards on 18 carries, including a 14-yard touchdown jaunt in the first quarter. The SCHS senior put his season rushing total over 1,100 yards. The Stallions had 147 yards rushing for the night.

Clinton fumbled the ball on its first offensive play of the night and Piver made the recovery. Moments later, Duncan passed to Piver in the end zone for the first score of the night with just over two minutes gone in the game. Donovan Watts scored on a two-point conversion out of the kicking formation.

A pass interception by Piver later in the quarter helped set up the next Stallion score - a 14-yard blast by Smith with 4 minutes, 25 seconds left in the half. Watts kicked the point after for a 15-0 lead.

Clinton used the remainder of the quarter to drive the ball to its only score of the game, a two-yard TD run by Carlos Brown. The extra point kick cut the Stallion lead to 15-7 with 11 minutes, 23 seconds left in the first half.

But the Stallions came right back with a score of their own with the points coming on a 10-yard pass from Duncan to Grimmett with 8:34 left in the half.

Just over a minute later, Duncan hit Piver on a 48-yard scoring strike to make the score 27-7.

The only score of the second half came when Duncan hit Buster James on a 13-yard waggle pass for the touchdown with 8:29 left in the third quarter.

South Columbus is now carrying a 12-0 record for the third time since 1998.

The Stallions area heading into second-round playoff action for the ninth time in 12 seasons.

A South Columbus win over Bunn this Friday would have the Stallions playing host to the Burlington Cummings-West Bladen second-round winner in third-round play on Nov. 23.

SC - Dakota Piver 10 pass from Justin Duncan (Donovan Watts run).
SC - Justin Smith 14 run (Watt kick failed).
C - Carlos Brown 2 run (kick good).
SC - Jake Grimmett 10 pass from Duncan (kick failed).
SC - Piver 48 pass from Duncan (kick failed).
SC - Buster James 13 pass from Duncan (kick failed