Cheraw spoils Boyd’s return to Lamar sideline

LAMAR — For the Lamar Silver Foxes, Friday’s game marked the return of legendary coach J.R. Boyd.

For the Cheraw Braves, it marked the return to business as usual.

Travis Small and Montrell Evans combined to rush for 218 yards and five touchdowns as the Braves spoiled Boyd’s return with a 42-0 thumping at Donald R. Poole Stadium.

“I was real pleased with the way we came out and got after them in the first half and really set the tempo,” Cheraw coach Johnny White said. “Travis and Montrell are big players, and it’s hard to key on one or the other one will pop loose.”

Small rushed 20 times for 110 yards and three touchdowns while Evans had 108 yards on 12 carries and two scores.

But the running attack wasn’t the only part of the Braves’ offense working. First-year quarterback Gray Stafford completed four passes for 78 yards and a touchdown in the first half.

“We made some big plays in the passing game,” White said. “There wasn’t an over-abundance of it, but we were efficient throwing the ball.”

The Silver Foxes, meanwhile, had a rough go offensively, tallying just 95 yards of total offense and seven first downs. They were also penalized six times for 40 yards.

“It’s just things we have to keep working on,” Boyd said. “I thought we had a good game plan and made a few good halftime adjustments, but the execution wasn’t where it needed to be.
“We’ll watch the film and see who got after who and make our adjustments accordingly.”

Cheraw’s running game picked up right where it left off in last year’s Class 2A state championship. Small and Evans combined to rush for 46 yards on Cheraw’s opening drive.
But it was Stafford who had the biggest play. The senior QB connected with Chad Wilkes on a 22-yard pass to set up Small’s 1-yard touchdown run as the Braves took a 7-0 lead with 6:43 left in the first quarter.

Cheraw made it 14-0 on its next possession. A pass interference call on Lamar extended the Braves’ drive, and Small finished off the 10-play drive with a three-yard TD run.

The Silver Foxes’ one sustained drive in the half came midway through the second quarter. Quarterback Trevor Norris found Chris Peoples for a 9-yard gain as Lamar drove to its own 44-yard line.
But Norris’ ensuing first-down run was negated with a fumble picked up by Cheraw’s Jonathan White. Evans punched it in from 10-yards out as the Braves took a 21-0 lead with 3:22 left in the first half.

Cheraw delivered a knockout punch just before the half. Stafford found Kenyatta Gary on a 33-yard touchdown pass as the Braves took a 28-0 lead into the break.
A Lamar fumble on the second-half kickoff led to another TD run by Evans, and Small capped off the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 23-yard scamper into the endzone.
Cheraw (1-0) will host Marlboro County on Friday while Lamar (0-1) hosts Andrews.