Playoff losses result in football finales for BEHS and HHS
It was a case of one-and-done for the Bishop England and Hanahan football teams last weekend.
The first round of the Class AAA playoffs commenced Friday night, and the Bishops and Hawks took the first exit in pursuit of playoff success.
Bishop England, a No. 3 seed and an owner of an 8-2 regular-season record, dropped a 37-12 decision at Lake City.
Hanahan, a No. 4 seed, suffered an even harsher result as Dillon administered a 62-7 beating against the visiting Hawks, who finished with a 3-8 record.
It wasn’t a good night for the Region 7-AAA teams. In addition to BE and Hanahan, Manning, which finished second in the region, fell to Georgetown 26-14. Only region champ Timberland managed a victory. The Wolves topped Loris 21-6 and now face Gilbert on the day after Thanksgiving.
Bishop England coach John Cantey felt his team had the potential to make a deep playoff run and challenge for its first state title since 2012. But the Bishops lost in the opening round for the third straight year.
Bishop England led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter, but it was all Panthers after that. They took an 18-7 lead into the locker room and expanded the lead to 31-7 after three stops to push their record to 8-3
“It got ugly,” Cantey said. “We scored early, but couldn’t do much after that. They hit us with some big plays.”
Still Cantey was pleased with his team’s success in 2016. The Bishops lose eight starters on defense and five on offense. The good news is the team’s leader, quarterback Leo Albano, will be the headliner of returning starters.
“We did a lot of good things this year,” Cantey said. “We beat a Class AAAAA team (West Ashley). We beat Porter-Gaud and we beat Christ Church in a come-from behind win. This was a group of seniors who I really enjoyed working with.”
“We lose some key players,” Cantey added. “It’s going to be tough. There’s a big difference in the level of play at the Class AAA level. We will have to step up our level of off-season preparation for next year. I’m going to be walking our hallways to get more of our athletes out for football.”
Albano, who tallied 1,910 total yards and accounted for 27 TDs in the regular season, threw a 37-yard TD pass to wide receiver Christian Greavu for one score. Greavu will also return next year.
Senior running back Kevin Pampu had the other BE touchdown, scoring on a 2-yard run.
Hanahan, meanwhile, fell behind early against Dillon and never recovered as Dillon improved to 10-1 on the season.
Dillon led 7-0 after the first quarter and expanded the lead to 41-7 at halftime.
Jalen Williams led the Dillon running game with 140 yards and four TDs while Brayden Hawkins passed for 215 yards and a pair of scores.
Hanahan’s only score came late in the second quarter when Victor Colbert and Davonte Grant hooked up for a 70-yard touchdown pass.