Bulldogs headed to the playoffs

After a scoreless first half, the Marlboro County Bulldogs came back in the second half against the Lake City Panthers to defeat them 20-14 in overtime on Oct. 21.

The win means the Bulldogs are headed to the playoffs.

Coach Quin McCollum’s strategy in overtime was to get the ball first. At the end of the game, the score was tied at 14-14.

“We felt like if we could do that and get the two-point conversion, we would be okay,” he said. “The thing about it is we’ve depended on our defense all year, and they did a great job right there at the end.”

The Bulldogs didn’t get the two-point conversion but were able to get the six points. The Bulldogs are 5-4 overall, and 2-2 in the region.

McCollum said they had a couple of players that ran the ball. They were Timoun Byrd, Marte Simmons, and Dafonta Tyson.

He referred to those guys as the F-250s. “I wanted them to get the ball and I wanted to make sure when they got the ball that we put them in positions that would be advantageous for us as far as rushing the football,” McCollum said.

The player of game, sponsored by the Booster Club, was Timoun Byrd. “He played offense and defense,” McCollum said. “He played quarterback and then he turned right around and played either three-technique or defensive in four. He did an outstanding job.” The offensive player of the game was Dafonta Tyson. “He had a good ground game. Every time he touched the ball, he moved the chain for us,” McCollum said.

The defensive player of the game was Amari Rivers. “He was very instrumental,” McCollum said. “He had a couple of blitzes, and he got a couple of sacks. He also deflected that last pass that would have been a touchdown.”

He added it was a phenomenal play and those were things that you can’t coach. The special teams player of the game was Reginald Kelly. “He got off a couple of kicks that were a couple of punts that could have potentially been blocked, but he made the effort to get them off,” McCollum said.

The unit of the game was the entire defensive unit. “We felt like they played well as a whole,” McCollum said. “We felt like it might have been one of their better games of the year.”

As far as newcomer of the game, we moved the JV up and one of the JV guys was Kelly Marcus. “He went down on special teams for us a couple of times and made some good plays,” McCollum said.

Friday at Camden

The Bulldogs will travel to Camden (6-3, 4-0 in the region) for their final regular season game.

“We are getting ready to play a well-coached team,” McCollum said. “They are very athletic and physical.”

One of the challenges for the Bulldogs will be Camden’s defensive line. “Their D line is really good,” McCollum said. “They do a good job of creating a new line of scrimmage and they’re fast on defense.”

McCollum said their quarterback is a good-sized guy who looks like a linebacker back there. “We have to do a good job of trying to stop them from getting the run game going,” he said. “And then we have to stop them when they take their shots downfield.”

Playoffs

After Friday’s game, the Bulldogs head to Dillon for the first game of the playoffs. After defeating Darlington and Lake City, the team is one of four teams in the playoffs.

McCollum said he isn’t looking at things that are going to happen in the future but is concerned with today. “I’m preparing for Friday,” he said.