Lewisville loses 4th-straight to Lamar, but 1A SC football playoffs still within reach
Lewisville head coach Will Mitchell couldn’t find many rays of light on Thursday night.
His team, one that was playing about as well as any in 1A South Carolina football through its 3-0 start, had just lost its fourth game in a row — a 48-8 sledgehammer to Lamar in front of a home crowd.
And no matter where he looked, he couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed:
▪ The Lions notched 159 yards of total offense; the Silver Foxes recorded 477.
▪ Lewisville capitalized on Lamar’s only turnover on Thursday night, yes — forcing and recovering a fumble and a few plays later turning it into points via a KJ Hemphill 18-yard rushing touchdown. But the team also turned the ball over three times itself, and fumbled away late scoring opportunities as if its red zone was cursed.
▪ Lamar piled two tight ends, a split backfield and had its quarterback under center for every meaningful snap on Thursday night, all but shouting to the Lewisville defense that it intended to run the ball. But Lewisville still didn’t have an adequate answer: Lamar senior Quan Toney notched 106 yards on the ground; sophomore Travion McPhaile added 166 on the ground.
▪ And one of just two passes the Silver Foxes completed all night? A back-breaking 76-yard touchdown. Right before the half to push the score to 32-8.
So to not belabor the point: Yes, Mitchell was understandably despondent on Thursday night.
“On a good night, we can compete with most,” Will Mitchell told reporters postgame. “We have some injuries and some other things that are taking kids away from us, but that just means we gotta make fewer mistakes. And we sure made a lot of mistakes.”
He added: “We gotta do something to get our mojo back.”
The one thing Mitchell could take solace in, though? Lewisville’s playoff chances. Because Region 2-1A sends four of its five teams to the S.C. playoffs, the Lions still control their own destiny. Win once in the next two weeks — either to winless McBee next week or CA Johnson the one after that — and they’re in business.
And by then, perhaps they’ll have a few of their playmakers back, particularly on defense: Mitchell estimated that five or six guys were sidelined tonight because of injuries, among them senior defensive leader D’Arrius Edwards.
“I’m happy that we have a chance to get into the playoffs. Because if we’re healthy, we’ll make noise. We will,” he said. “But I’m not enthused because I don’t know how many of these guys we’ll get back. And still, we hurt ourselves so many times (tonight). ...
“I just want us to have a chance to finish the season playing the kind of football we’re capable of playing.”
Region 2-1A standings
Top four teams make S.C. playoffs. These are the region records as of Thursday night.
Lamar (3-2, 3-0)
CA Johnson (3-2, 1-0)
Great Falls (5-2, 1-2)
Lewisville (3-4, 0-2)
McBee (0-4, 0-1)
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