Marion, Mullins football season ends

Danny Croghan threw for 155 yards and the Bishops racked up 335 yards of offense in advancing in the Class 2A Division I playoffs with a 28-14 win over Marion (7-5).

Bishop England running back Andrew Bunch ran for a game-high 66 yards for the Bishops, who led 21-0 at halftime.

Finding little success on the ground in the first half, Marion opted to throw the ball. And for the most part, it worked. The Swamp Foxes quickly cut the lead 28-14 at the end of three quarters.

But each time the Swamp Foxes threatened thereafter, Bishop England was up to the task.

Marion quarterback Devante Gilbert completed 14 of 40 passes for 260 yards, one touchdown but threw four interceptions for Marion.

Auctioneers held off late at Silver Bluff

PETTICOAT JUNCTION — Silver Bluff used a strong defensive effort and found just enough offense Friday night to down Mullins (7-6) 21-7 in the third round of the Class 2A Division II playoffs.

The win earned the third-seeded Bulldogs (9-3), winners of six straight games, a berth in the lower state finals, where they will meet top-seeded Bishop England.

“It’s really gratifying,” Silver Bluff coach Al Lown. “We’ll go down to Bishop England and see what we’ve got.

Lown will have to share some of that bird with defensive coordinator Eric Hofstetter. His unit held Mullins to 54 yards of total offense. Quarterback Justin Elliott didn’t complete a pass all game, and the Auctioneers’ only score came after a snap went over the head of Bulldog punter Pedro Zambrano late in the second quarter, giving Mullins the ball on the 6-yard line.

Elliott scored on a 1-yard run.

The first came in the final seconds of the opening quarter when Elliott fumbled a handoff and Silver Bluff’s Blake Robbins pounced on the ball at his own 47. Six plays later, after a roughing the passer penalty and a 30-yard pass from Coredea Tankersley to McKenzie Wilson, who jumped over Mullins defender D.J. Johnson to haul in the catch, RJ Stallings found the end zone from 3 yards away to give the Bulldogs their first lead.

Silver Bluff extended the lead to 14-0 on Shaquez Wright’s 30-yard run.

Prior to this year, the Swamp Foxes hadn’t won a playoff game since 2007 and hadn’t been to the lower state semifinals since 2000. After two-year playoff drought, the Auctioneers made their deepest run to the lower state semifinals  since 2005's slim 20-19 defeat at Cheraw. 

Silver Bluff 0 14 0 7 – 21

Mullins 0 7 0 0 – 7

Second quarter

SB – RJ Stallings 3 run (Pedro Zambrano kick) 10:11

SB – Shaquez Wright 30 run (Zambrano kick) 4:25

M – Justin Elliott 1 run (Miguel Renteria) 0:41

Fourth quarter

SB – Tyler Fishalow 35 run (Zambrano kick) 1:44

Individual statistics

RUSHING: SB – Shaquez Wright 9-59-1TD, Cordrea Tankersley 14-42, RJ Stallings 5-14-1TD, Tyler Fishalow 14-104-1TD, Rekem McCorkle 1-1, Dontay Ingram 2-5. M – Rembert Timmons 7-9, Earnell Legette 6-15, DJ Johnson 3-4, Justin Elliott 7-(-14) 1TD, Tracy Dewitt 7-39.

PASSING: SB – Cordrea Tankersley 5-9-53-0TD-0INT. M – Justin Elliott 0-8-1INT.

RECEIVING: SB – McKenzie Wilson 1-30, RJ Stallings 1-3, Shaquez Wright 2-7, Blake Robbins 1-13.