Foxes run away from Spring Valley

The Hartsville Red Foxes’ offensive lineman and running backs worked together Friday night to put up 418 yards rushing on the Spring Valley defense on their way to a 41-10 victory.

The Foxes’ defense wouldn’t be outdone as they held the Vikings to only three points after the opening touchdown.

A light rain fell for most of the game that put a slight damper on both teams’ offensive plans early and made ball security an issue.
Spring Valley’s offense ran out of a spread for most of the night, including three and four wide receiver sets.

The Foxes received the opening kickoff and Damian Dixon fumbled. Spring Valley recovered and took over on the Hartsville 30-yard line.
The Vikings only needed 16 seconds to put seven points on the board, and Spring Valley led 7-0 with 11:44 remaining in the first quarter. That would be their last touchdown, however.

The Foxes responded quickly on their next drive that was capped off by a Ronnie Jackson touchdown run with 9:25 remaining in the first quarter.
Hartsville’s defense kept the Vikings at bay for the remainder of the night. The Foxes’ defense was led by cornerback Damian Dixon and linebacker Donovan Malloy. Both players finished with 15 tackles apiece for the game. Dixon added an interception in the first quarter and had several hard hits on Viking receivers. Deshane Fox, Tevin Blair and Blake Johnson all had seven tackles each for the Foxes as well.

Hartsville quarterback Shawn Smith hooked up with Jackson twice for scoring passes in the first half. The second pass was a 34-yard pass that gave Hartsville a 20-7 lead with 5:07 remaining in the first half. Smith was 4 for 8 with 132 yards passing and 3 touchdowns. He also ran for 25 yards.

Spring Valley managed a first and goal late in the first half, but the Foxes’ defense held the Vikings to a field goal to bring the score to 20-10 at the half.
Both teams exchanged punts in the sloppy conditions during the third quarter and neither team managed to find much rhythm.

Hartsville’s offense had four fumbles during the game and a few penalties that negated big gains and a touchdown, but the Red Fox defense held the Vikings’ spread offense in check. Spring valley switched to an I-formation offense for much of the final quarter but still had no success. The Foxes’ defensive players swarmed around the ball most of the night. Spring Valley was able to complete some short passes, but Hartsville defenders were there to stop the play immediately.

The Red Fox offense came to life, however, with 1:56 left in the third. After an Adam Peterson interception set the Foxes up with the ball, Smith found Omar McDaniel for a 36-yard touchdown pass. McDaniel dove and bobbled the ball as he crossed the goal line; however, he reeled in a great catch.
Craig Anderson’s extra-point increased the Foxes’ lead to 27-10 at the end of the third quarter.

The Foxes put together another scoring drive in the fourth quarter capped off by an Eric Williams 5-yard touchdown run that gave Hartsville a 34-10 lead with 8 minutes left to play.

Hartsville made some substitutions after that possession, but running back Jeremy Abraham peeled off a few long runs and got the ball in the end zone with under three minutes remaining in the game to give Hartsville a 41-10 lead.

Hartsville’s offense started slowly, but they ended the game with over 500 yards of total offense. Dre Scott was a sparkplug for the offense as he gained 177 yards on 15 carries averaging nearly 12 yards per carry.

Jackson finished with 88 yards on 12 carries, and Eric Williams gained 57 yards on 7 carries.

Spring Valley head coach Quay Farr was noticeably disappointed after the game. “Well, we had opportunities to score a lot of points tonight. We just didn’t execute at times.” He also said he felt the Vikings should have had 28 points by halftime but failed to execute.

Farr applauded the efforts of the Foxes. “Jeff and those guys do a great job with this team,” he said. “Their kids play hard. If you give them a crack, they can go the distance. They get after it.”

After the game, Hartsville head coach Jeff Calabrese said he knew this was going to be a tough game. “The kids from Spring Valley fought really hard . . . It was a dogfight.”

The coach also said he felt the team made some mistakes through penalties and turnovers, but they managed to fight for the win. “I’m not going to sit here and say it was a perfect ballgame, but I am also not going to say when you beat someone 41-10 it wasn’t a good ballgame.” After the initial touchdown by Spring Valley, Hartsville outscored them 41-3.

Calabrese added the players are becoming more comfortable in the offensive scheme, and the results are showing with the play from players like Smith, Scott and McDaniel. As the passing game improves, the coach said, it opens up more opportunities for the running game as well. “The comfort level is improving,” he said. “I was very pleased with that.”

The Foxes also had three defensive starters unable to play the game. “I think we had three defensive starters out tonight and some of the young guys who hadn’t gotten a chance to play certainly came up with some big plays.”

Damien Blakney, Lee Cable and Jacob Cole were all out of Friday’s game.

The Foxes improve their record to 4-2 on the season and now heads into their bye week. They will be off on Friday, Oct. 3, but they will host Carolina Forest on Friday, Oct. 10. Carolina Forest is a newcomer to Region 6-AAAA. The two teams will meet at Kelleytown Stadium at 7:30 p.m.