South Florence looks to knock another city foe

FLORENCE — One streak down. One to go?

A week after snapping a nine-game losing streak to West Florence, the South Florence Bruins have another opportunity to end a losing skid against a city rival.

The Bruins will face off against Wilson on Friday at Memorial Stadium in the Morning News Game of The Week.

The Tigers enter the game with four straight wins in the series, with the last South win coming in 2004.

While South is riding the momentum of an opening-week victory, Wilson is gearing up for its first game since Oct. 31, and the Tigers haven’t had another opponent to play in more than two weeks.

“We’re very eager to get on the field,” Wilson coach Darryl Page said. “We’ve been able to heal some bumps and bruises, and we’ve had a lot time to get in reps and work on fundamentals.

“Hopefully, that will translate over into the game Friday.”

A post-season suspension kept the Tigers from defending their Class 3A state crown last year, but several players who were key members of the 2007 squad are still on the roster — including quarterback Maleik McCall.

McCall presents a dual-threat at QB, having thrown for more than 1,000 and rushed for more than 400 in a season before.
With physical offensive and defensive lines, a turnover-generating secondary and an athletic corps of skill players, the Tigers hope to have enough weapons to shut down Bruins’ quarterback Kaleb Griffin and an offense that generated 41 points against West.

“Getting pressure on the quarterback is going to be key for us,” Page said. “We have to disrupt his timing while not having any blown coverages down field. We can’t allow the big play.”

And Griffin had plenty of them last week. The junior threw for four touchdowns, ran for another and had 293 yards through the air.

“We run a lot of our offense through him, and he did a good job making reads and getting our guys in position to make plays,” South coach Lynn Fleming said.
Going up against an aggressive Wilson defense will require a lot more good decision-making, Fleming said.

“Making sure he makes the right reads, takes what the defense gives him and also maintains a balance with (running back) Terrion Brown will help us be successful,” he said.

Containing McCall and making sure they continue to tackle well will be keys for the Bruins’ defense, Fleming added.

Players of the week

South Florence quarterback Kaleb Griffin completed 17 of 22 passes for 293 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another score to earn Offensive Player of the Week.

In a loss to Lee Central, Timmonsville’s Moses Harrell had 12 tackles, one tackle for a loss and one inerception to earn Defensive Player of the Week.