VINEGAR HILL - Playing on the road for the first time since Aug. 31, the South Columbus Stallions took an entire half to get unwound on offense against the host East Columbus Gators as they suffered five turnovers - two fumbles and three pass interceptions - in the first two quarters.

“East Columbus was coming after us hard on defense, but a lot of it we brought on ourselves” said SCHS head coach Joey Price, who held a precarious 7-0 lead over the Gators at halftime.

“We had a little ‘prayer meeting,’ at the half to get a few things straightened out,” Price said.

South Columbus, which went into the game ranked fourth among the state’s 2A high school teams, came back out to dominate the second half for a 46-0 victory. The Stallions put their season record at 7-0 and Waccamaw 1A-2A Conference record at 2-0.

South Columbus has a 17-0 record in its rivalry with ECHS which began in 1992.

It was the third straight conference loss for East Columbus, which saw its conference record drop to 4-4. The Gators, who have been beset by injuries to a dozen key players, were shut out for the first time this season.

South Columbus back Justin Smith rushed for five touchdowns while carrying the ball 26 times for 185 yards. Kevin Clay had the other two Stallion scores on runs of 45 and 35 yards and finished with 110 yards on five carries.

Coach Travis Conner’s East Columbus team gave the Stallions their toughest first-half test of the season as Shelton Long came up with a pass interception and fumble recovery. C.J. Ganus and B.J. Bracey each had a pass interception and Brian Locklear recovered a fumble.

South Columbus got its only score of the first half on a 14-yard run by Smith with 2 minutes, 53 seconds left in the first half. Donovan Watts kicked the extra point.

The floodgates opened for the Stallions in the opening minutes of the second half when Smith scored on a 10-yard run and added a seven-yard TD jaunt two minutes later. Before the quarter ended, Smith scored from three yards out and Watts kicked his third straight extra point for a 28-0 Stallion advantage.

Smith got his final TD of the night with just over nine minutes left in the game, and Kevin Clay added his two long scoring runs later in the quarter.

Conner said he was pleased with his team’s first-half effort, but that a quick letdown to open the second half let the game get out of hand.

“A game consists of two halves, and you have to be sharp in both,” Conner said. “Hopefully this game was another learning experience for our team and we can make improvements from it.”

South Columbus will play host to Pender Friday in its annual homecoming game this Friday while East Columbus will have an open date.

SC - Justin Smith 4 run (Donovan Watts kick).
SC - Smith 10 run (Watts kick).
SC - Smith 7 run (Watts kick).
SC - Smith 3 run Watts kick)
SC - Smith 7 run (kick failed).
SC - Kevin Clay 45 run (kick failed).
SC - K. Clay 35 run (Kick failed).