By: Robert Driggers
The Colleton County Cougars opened their season by traveling the short distance to Hampton. They hoped to start the season off with a win-however, Wade Hampton set the tone early and defeated the Cougars 21-7.
Wade Hampton received the opening kick-off and drove down the field to score. In the drive, they had to overcome a 4th and 15 play to keep the drive alive.
“Wade Hampton was every bit as good as advertised. They have gifted athletes all over the field and are very well coached and fundamentally sound,” said Cougar Head Coach Kris Howell.
Wade Hampton would score two more times to take a 21-0 lead at halftime.
The Cougars would be their own worst enemy, committing several penalties to stop promising drives and dropping a touchdown pass in the end zone.
“We just made too many mistakes in critical situations in the ball game. The bottom line is, their kids came up with the big plays when they had to, and we didn’t. You cannot expect to be successful against a good team like Wade Hampton with as many mistakes as we made. We gave up several big plays in the first half that really determined the outcome of the game, ”said Howell.
According to Howell, “Our defense played lights out in the second half, limiting the Red Devils to just three possessions without allowing any more scoring to be done. Playing with the lead, the Red Devils went to a ball control offense to limit the number of possessions we would have during the second half. We only had 3 possessions in the second half but managed to get a 14 yard touchdown pass from Quarterback Mykeem Gant to tight end Nick Williams to account for the only touchdown for the Cougars.”
The offensive line had a rough time in the first half but went to a 3 point stance and made adjustments in the blocking scheme, after which the team began to play better.
The Cougars were led by Quarterback Gant, who completed 18 of 28 passes for 150 yards through the air with a touchdown. Running back Troy White led the Cougars in rushing with 35 yards. Daren Stephens led the receivers with 50 yards on five catches.
The Cougars will be off this week, giving Howell and his staff an opportunity to address the mistakes and work on getting better at each position.
“We will take this bye week as an opportunity to correct the mistakes from last week’s game. All was not negative-there were some positive things to build on going forward into the season. I am confident that our young men will see their mistakes and work on getting better. There is still a lot of football left to be played,” concluded Howell.
