It took Houston County’s offense awhile to touch the football. Understatement. It took Houston County’s offense an entire quarter – a full 12 minutes – to touch the football.
That was the bad news. The good news was Sumter County, the host between the Bears and the Panthers and the ones stingy with the pigskin early on, had nothing to show for it – moving backward nearly as much as they went forward.
The best news was once Houston County did get the ball – Sumter punted as the first quarter ended to give it to the Bears – it scored almost immediately. It continued to do so – fairly quickly, most drives in the two-minute zone, on all accounts – and went on to a 41-7 win.
The Bears’ first score went 90 yards. It featured eight passes from quarterback Antwann Hill Jr. and a couple of runs by Ryan Taleb. Taleb’s second went for 10 yards and the score. A two-point conversion failed but with 10:22 the Bears led 6-0.
After forcing Sumter to punt, Houston County went 76 yards on eight plays. Taleb scored from the 5 and Thomas Bryant made it 13-0, which is where it stood at the half.
Ty Waters made it 19-0. The extra point made it 20. He scored on a nine-yard play and capped off a seven-play, 61-yard drive to start the third quarter.
Taleb again found the endzone on Houston County’s next possession. It came after the Panthers had turned it over on downs and was the end to a four-play, 75-yard drive. The point after made it 27-0 with 3:33 left in the third.
Recordo Toliver’s score made it 34-0 with the point after and finally, after Sumter County scored on four plays, quarterback Christian Stokes, one of a number seeing some late action, made it the final. He scored from the 1 and finished off an eight-play, 67-yard drive.
