Cougars to play Boiling Springs in team’s final nonregion game

The York Comprehensive High School football team travels to Boiling Springs Friday night for the last game before region play begins.

Kickoff time is set for 7:30 p.m.

While the Cougars were defeating Chester team 28-20 last week, the Bulldogs lost 54-34 to powerhouse Dutch Fork and running back Stephen Davis Jr.

“They are a real good football team, well coached,” head coach Bobby Carroll said of Boilings Springs. “They’ve got a lot of great athletes. Boiling Springs is probably the best 1-3 football team in the state.”

Last week, it became apparent from the outset that the Chester team brought its A-game.

“There’s no doubt the Chester kids believe in coach Victor Floyd,” said Carroll. “They’ve got some really good football players.”

Carroll said the Cougars failed to meet expectations.

“We helped them a lot,” he said. “That was bad football. I didn’t do a good job of preparing these kids for Chester. They beat us on the edges tonight.”

Though he was disappointed in the Cougars’ overall performance, Carroll said there were some positives.

“We were able to run the ball and makes plays when we had to,” he said.

Carroll said Javione Matthews running the punt back was huge.

“The score was 21-20 and he made it 28-20, which kind of iced it,” Carroll said.

Matthews, a junior defensive back and return specialist, said everything fell into place on the 43-yard punt return with 6:32 left in the game.

“We had the blocking up the middle,” he said. “I was doing what I was supposed to do. It’s what we do in practice, with everybody carrying out their assignments.”

Carroll said the defense played well for the most part, but pointed to missed tackles, penalties, missed blocks and assignments as drawbacks.

“We took a step backwards,” he said. “I don’t know how much that had to do with the loss to South Pointe. I hope it didn’t at all. We’ve got to put that behind us. To play bad and win might be a good thing.”

Carroll, who cited the need for better blocking up front, said there were times when the backs ran hard.

“My hat’s off to them,” he said. “We just played poorly and won. Hopefully, we can get things straight and get the ship right.”

With quarterback Cameron McKinney nursing a lower back strain, Wally Wilmore stepped in at quarterback.

The junior had a productive game, including a 52-yard touchdown toss to Shandon Cobb, a 30-yard touchdown run and a score from a yard out. Carroll said McKinney’s status is day-to-day.

This story was originally published September 14, 2015 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Cougars to play Boiling Springs in team’s final nonregion game."