West has no trouble winning ninth straight over South

FLORENCE — West Florence entered Friday night’s regular-season finale against cross-town rival South Florence controlling it’s own playoff destiny.

The Knights took care of business and secured the third and final playoff spot in Region 6-4A with a 49-14 win against the Bruins at Memorial Stadium.

Because Sumter beat Hartsville on Friday night, West Florence (7-4, 3-2) would’ve made the playoffs regardless.

“We don’t want to go in just because somebody lost,” Knights coach Trey Woodberry said. “Our kids are playing as well as they’ve ever played. Our kids are ready.”

West Florence came out strong, scoring touchdowns on its first four possessions, while keeping South Florence (2-9, 1-4) out of the end zone until the third quarter.

“We came out and treated this as a playoff game by itself,” said Knights senior quarterback Paul Pizzuti, who completed 5-of-8 pass attempts for 165 yards and two touchdowns.

Pizzuti opened the scoring for West Florence with a 4-yard run up the middle on the Knights’ first drive. After holding the Bruins to a three-and-out, the Knights made it 14-0 less than two minutes later when Pizzuti connected with junior Broddick Jones on a 48-yard pass.

On South Florence’s ensuing drive, senior strong safety Landis Lane picked off Kaleb Griffin’s pass and returned it 36 yards to make it 21-0 with 4:37 left in the first quarter. Lane also scored in the third quarter when he returned a punt for 49 yards.

“All three facets of the game have been extremely well the last few weeks,” Woodberry said.

West Florence’s other three scores came on runs of 14 yards and 8 yards by junior Leon Richardson and a 17-yard double-coverage Pizzuti pass to Matt Connelly.

“We played a complete game,” Pizzuti said. “We’ve been playing complete games the last three weeks — getting some firepower going into the playoffs.”

South Florence’s touchdowns came on a 1-yard run from senior quarterback Troy Jones and a 10-yard pass from Jones to Jawan Dubose. Jones, who split time under center with Griffin, led the Bruins with 126 rushing yards.

West Florence will find out today who it will face next week in the first round of the playoffs.

“The kids worked hard and deserve (to go to the playoffs),” Woodberry said. “This is a great group of kids.”