Gaffney football throttles York 51-20

The Gaffney Indians jumped on York on the game’s opening 12-play possession and never let up in defeating the Cougars 51-20 Friday night at The Reservation.

The loss was within one point of being the Cougars’ worst under coach Bobby Carroll thanks to a 23-yard touchdown pass on the last play of the game from Wally Wilmore to Tyquan McCray. The previous worst loss was a 32-point defeat to the Northwestern Trojans in the 2013 playoffs. York fell to the Trojans 36-7 last week. The last few minutes the clock never stopped running and the Cougars didn’t attempt the extra point after their final score.

Turning point

Wilmore was sacked in the end zone for a safety on York’s opening drive. The drive started at the 6 after the kickoff was fumbled at the goal line and the Cougars were penalized half the distance on an illegal block on the return.

That put Gaffney up 10-0 and it drove 49 yards on 10 plays after the free kick to go up 17-0. Wilmore fumbled on the second play of the next drive and the Indians took two plays to score on a 19-yard screen pass. That made it 24-0 with 2:40 left in the first quarter.

Critical

York got behind early and was never able to establish a running game. Wilmore was constantly scrambling around unable to find open receivers, which led to him just tucking and running for minimal gains. The Cougars had trouble wrapping up elusive quarterback Bryson Ward who left them grabbing for air with some shifty moves. Gaffney had a 15-play drive that made it 31-0 in the second quarter. Twice the Indians scored on fourth-and-three plays, including the first touchdown pass from Ward to Scott McCluney.

Star contributions

York’s lone bright spot was junior Javione Matthews who had punt returns of 80 and 78 yards for touchdowns in the second half. McCluney had 11 catches for 101 yards for Gaffney and Ward was 18-for-27 for 203 yards and ran for another 59 on eight carries. Ward threw for two scores and ran for two more. DJ Logan ran for three touchdowns for the Indians.

This story was originally published October 9, 2015 at 10:57 PM with the headline "Gaffney football throttles York 51-20."