FLORENCE — Carolina Forest football coach Drew Hummel said his team carried a community on its back when it took the field against South Florence on Monday.
In a game that had been postponed due to the stabbing of a resource officer and subsequent shooting death of a student at Carolina Forest on Friday, the Panthers persevered on both sides of the ball.
Robert Gray’s third-quarter touchdown run and a missed field goal as time expired propelled Carolina Forest from a 13-point deficit to a 21-20 victory over the Bruins at Memorial Stadium.
With time running out on South Florence, quarterback Michael Muhammad led the Bruins on a final march. A long completion to Blake Vinson placed the ball on the Panther 26-yard line.
After an incompletion, Frankie Davis came on for a 43-yard field goal attempt for the win with one second left. But after the kick was low and sailed wide left, Carolina Forest ran off the field in jubilation.
Davis also missed a second-quarter PAT, which proved to be the final margin of victory for the Panthers.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of a team as I am right now under the circumstances,” said Hummel, whose Panthers are 3-5 overall and 1-1 in Region 6-4A action. “Sometimes sports are held in too high a regard because there are more important things in the world to worry about.
“But if we could give three hours to the Carolina Forest community when they needed us most, we had to do our best.”
Despite allowing seven sacks, the Panthers’ offense took full advantage of the gifts given to them by the Bruins’ offense. South (4-4, 0-2) committed six turnovers which led to all 21 points for Carolina Forest.
In addition to his eventual game-winning TD run, Gray fired a TD pass to Ronnie Moses. Marlon Horton also found the end zone on a 4-yard run.
“I challenged my team to give something to the community,” Hummel said. “I don’t know what else to say about their performance tonight.”
“You can’t expect to win a game when you commit six turnovers. Our defense played a great game tonight,” said Bruins coach Lynn Fleming, whose team has committed 12 turnovers in its last two games. “The offense let the defense down tonight.”
Fleming added the loss was devastating to his squad’s Class 4A postseason hopes.
“We still have a good football team, but we need to understand that,” he said. “We have to show up to play, no matter who the opponent is.”
Terrion Brown gained 192 yards on 14 carries with a pair of TDs to lead South Florence. The senior had a 93-yard scoring run in the second quarter.
Kaleb Griffin threw one scoring pass to Charles Nettles but threw three interceptions before re-injuring his left ankle at the one-minute mark of the third.
Said Fleming, “We didn’t play very well offensively. Until we learn how to hold on to the football, we’re gonna have a tough time winning games.”
South travels to Conway on Friday.
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