Region title up for grabs at Kelleytown

In each of the last three meetings with Sumter, Hartsville has needed a victory over the Gamecocks to qualify for the Class 4A Division II football playoffs.

That won’t be the case Friday night. Hartsville and the Kelleytown Stadium faithful welcome Sumter with the Region 6-4A championship on the line in the Morning News Game of the Week.

“This game is for the region championship, and we’re playing for home-field advantage in the first round (of the Class 4A Division I playoffs,” said Sumter coach Paul Sorrells, whose Gamecocks are 8-2 overall and 4-0 in region play. “It was the first of our goals the kids have worked for all season.”

“The last three years, we needed to beat Sumter to get into the playoffs,” Hartsville coach Jeff Calabrese said. “We don’t have that problem this year.
“I like this scenario a lot better, and I hope the kids play well.”

Last season, the Gamecocks snapped a three-game losing skid to the Red Foxes (9-1, 4-0) in a rout that ended Hartsville’s postseason hopes. Calabrese added getting revenge won’t be easy against one of the best teams in Class 4A.

“Sumter’s a good team. They beat us pretty good last year, 62-26,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of talent.”

“They’re a pretty good team, and they had a three-year winning streak against us,” Sorrells said of Hartsville. “Our guys played pretty good that night.

“We know Hartsville is aware of what happened last year, and I want our players to be ready for them.”

After dropping their first pair of games, the Gamecocks have rolled over opponents during an eight-game winning streak. Sumter has outscored its last five opponents 212-45, including a 55-14 blasting of Conway last week.

“They have approached the last eight weeks very businesslike,” Sorrells said of his squad. “We’re in for a tremendous battle, and we’re gonna need a great week of practice to get ready for (the Red Foxes).”

With all the focus on the Red Foxes’ offense during Calabrese’s tenure at Hartsville, the team’s defense has been a maligned and marginalized unit. That is also not the case this year.

Led by standouts Greg Thompson, Jr., Adam Peterson, Jacob Cole and Bruce Funderburke, Hartsville’s defense has transformed from a unit once likened to a sieve to one that has allowed 21 points per game.

The Red Foxes’ defenders turned away South Florence four times from inside the Hartsville 2-yard line last Thursday, capped by Stephen Segars’ stop on Terrion Brown with a second to go, preserving a 27-20 win.

“We’re very proud of what our defense has done,” Calabrese said. “Hartsville has prided itself on defense for the last 50 years, but in the first four years I’ve been here, we haven’t been as good.”

The Red Foxes’ defense picked up the offense against the Bruins. Quarterback Shawn Smith had his troubles, tossing his first two interceptions of the season.

Said Calabrese, “We need to take care of the football (against the Gamecocks). South Florence played great defense against us, and that’s about all I can say. You’re gonna have games like that every once in a while.”

Fortunately for Hartsville, the team still has Dre Scott. The senior rushed for 130 yards and a score in the win and needs 99 yards against Sumter to become his school’s all-time leading rusher.

“It’s a large task,” Calabrese said, “but if we can keep (Sumter’s) offense off the field and not make mistakes when we get the ball, we have a chance.”