Despite a lot of new faces, including a new coach, the Lamar Silver Foxes and Carvers Bay Bears will find themselves in familiar territory this Friday —
playing for the Class A Division I lower state championship.
For the third straight season, Lamar and Carvers Bay lock horns to decide who goes to Orangeburg in the Morning News Game of the Week.
The Bears have won each of the first two meetings and, this year, will have home-field advantage.
“It’s always nice not to have to take that bus ride,” Carvers Bay coach Nate Thompson said. “Other than that, it’s going to be a tough football game. Lamar has gotten better as the season has gone on, and both teams are going to have to be ready to play.”
After losing starting quarterback Arlington Scott to a torn ACL against Latta on Sept. 19, Carvers Bay fell to third in Region 8-A with back-to-back losses to Hemingway and Lake View.
The offense has suffered slightly as the Bears averaged just 20.8 points during their last seven games. But Thompson believes new quarterback Carlton Linnen and the offense have started to gel.
“I think Carlton’s done a good job coming in under fire and learning things on the fly,” Thompson said. “He’s performed well, and our running game has helped that.”
One of the biggest concerns Thompson has is facing a well-balanced Lamar team. Jonathan Dargan leads a Silver Fox rushing attack that has gained 2,835 yards this season.
Quarterback Trevor Norris has also thrown for 830 yards, including 151 last week against Hannah-Pamplico.
“It’s something we have not faced a lot of this season,” Thompson said. “We’ve seen a lot more smash-mouth teams this year, so the passing game is something we’re going to have spend time on in practice.”
Lamar coach J.R. Boyd returns to the lower state championship for the first time since 2004, the last of three straight Class A championships with the Silver Foxes in his first tenure.
“It means a great deal, especially from the way we started and where we’re at now,” Boyd said. “We had our best effort all season last week, and I’m proud of the guys for what they’ve been able to accomplish so far.”
A major key for Lamar will be making sure Carvers Bay running backs Clayton Geathers and Davious Chestnut don’t get off to good starts, Boyd said.
“We have to make sure we wrap them up early and don’t let them get into the open field,” he said. “They’re both excellent runners.”
Carvers Bay’s defense has been as stout as ever, registering 13 sacks and coming up with 37 turnovers in 12 games.
“We’d like to keep a good mix with the run and the pass, but the main thing is making sure we stop penetration,” Boyd said. “Hopefully, we can get three or four yards a run and keep the ball out of their hands.”
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