Dillon Christian pulls away from The Byrnes Schools

QUINBY — Fireworks exploded in the end zone Friday night as The Byrnes Schools raced onto the field for its meeting with Dillon Christian.

Offensively, fans expected fireworks as well. And for the most part, they got them. Dillon Christian, however, used a 36-point second quarter to hammer the Trojans en route to the SCISA Region 1-A prep football championship with a 66-30 victory.

As the No.1 seed, the Warriors (10-1 overall, 6-0 in region) look to defend their SCISA Class A state title when they open the playoffs at home against Holly Hill Academy on Friday.

“We practiced very hard for this game,” Dillon Christian running back Ray Thomas said. “We wanted to take advantage of their small size with our power.”

From the outset, Byrnes (7-3, 5-1) looked to trade scores with the Warriors and found some success. Quarterback Lee Schurlknight found open receiver after open receiver, tossing a touchdown pass and rushing for another as the Trojans took a 12-0 lead into the second quarter.

“What you saw were two explosive offenses,” Byrnes coach Jared Amell said. “We were as good as any team in SCISA in the first quarter.”

The wheels fell off for the Trojans in the second quarter, however. Schurlknight tossed three interceptions in the quarter, and Dillon Christian capitalized with its powerful rushing attack. Thomas scored twice on the ground in the period, and Kyle Johnson added another rushing TD.

“We started out with a little press-man defense, and (Schurlknight) was picking us apart,” said Warriors coach Kelly Williamson, whose team has won 22 straight regular-season games against SCISA opponents. “Then we switched to our base 4-3, and we got some interceptions.”

“(The Trojans) came out strong with some slants,” said Johnson, who finished with 99 yards rushing and two scores on a season-high 17 carries. “But when our defense made some plays, our offense took advantage.”

The Warriors’ ground game then opened up big plays in the passing game. Stephen Johnson threw two scoring passes in the final 24 seconds of the half to help the Warriors race into the locker room with a 36-24 advantage.

Thomas finished with 182 of Dillon Christian’s 341 rushing yards on 27 carries. Johnson went 4-of-5 passing for 87 yards and four TD.

“I picked my times to throw the football, and we had four touchdowns,” Williamson said. “I can’t say enough about (Stephen’s) efficiency.”

Schurlknight finished 23-of-32 for 303 yards and four TDs. The senior also threw four picks and rushed for 30 yards and a score.

“Dillon Christian is extremely big and extremely fast,” Amell said. “This game needed to be a tennis match where we exchanged volleys, but we committed too many turnovers.”

Shaq Bacote led Byrnes with 123 yards receiving and a TD. Clay Dickson caught two scores, and Barrett Goodson had 77 yards receiving and a score.

“Our receivers did a fantastic job tonight,” Amell said. “If you would have told me we would have scored 30 points against (the Warriors), I would have been pleased.“

As the No. 2 seed in the SCISA Class A playoffs, the Trojans host Palmetto Christian at 7:30 p.m. Friday.