The Dillon Wildcats’ brand of tough, hard-nosed football has them in the lower state championship again.
They’ll need all they can muster to give coach Jackie Hayes another shot at that elusive title.
Dillon faces its toughest challenge of the year Friday when the Wildcats (10-3) travel to unbeaten Timberland (13-0).
The teams have met twice previously in the Class 3A playoffs. Dillon won both meetings, earning a 27-14 win in 2003 and a 13-12 decision in 2005.
“Timberland is a big, fast, strong and physical team, and it’s going to be a tremendous challenge for us,” Hayes said.
A big reason for Dillon’s postseason run has been the play of its defense. The Wildcats have allowed an average of 9.3 points a game and have won every game in which they’ve allowed less than 20 points.
But they’ll face a Timberland team that has more than 4,000 yards rushing this season and owns a tremendous size advantage.
“They probably outweigh us 150 apiece on the lines,” Hayes said. “But we’ll have to use our speed and play assignment football. We’ve come up big all year and, hopefully, we can do it one more time.”
Dillon’s defense has also been very opportunistic, recovering 26 fumbles and intercepting 19 passes.
“They thrive off giving their offense a short field to work with,” Timberland coach Art Craig said. “Every week in the playoffs, they’ve gotten a big turnover that’s led to a crucial score, so that’s a big concern for us.
“Their speed is also a tremendous challenge. Cheraw was the fastest defense we’ve seen, and I’m not so sure that Cheraw’s defense is better than Dillon’s.”
Offensively, Dillon will hope to control the ball behind a balanced attack of Travis Murphy and Roderick Jackson. Murphy has thrown for 1,218 yards and 16 touchdowns while Jackson has rushed for 1,240
yards and 11 scores.
“We control the ball a little differently than we have in the past,” Hayes said. “We control the clock more with the pass than with the run.
“We just have to make sure we read the secondary well, read our routes well and don’t turn the ball over.”
Although Murphy will be without one of his favorite targets in Lorenzo Allen (injured last week against Manning), Craig said Murphy is as much of a threat to score as anybody.
“We’re going to have to watch him because if he gets out in the open, I don’t know if we have anybody that can catch him,” Craig said. “Dillon is very good on offense. They’ve probably been overshadowed by their defense, but they can put points on the board if you’re not careful.”
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