FLORENCE, S.C. — Remember West Florence coach Jody Jenerette talking about his team at a crossroads last week?
On Friday, those crossroads were trampled by Darren Lloyd.
The senior rushed for 177 yards and two touchdowns during the first half, and the fourth-ranked Knights rolled to a 52-27 victory over Lugoff-Elgin in the first round of the SCHSL’s Class 4A playoffs. West hosts Myrtle Beach in next Friday’s second round.
Against the Demons, Lloyd finished with 360 rushing yards and five touchdowns.
“Darren is a good player. And, I really liked the adjustments we made,” Jenerette said. “He popped some long ones; he’s special, and he’s tough.”
Now, about those crossroads.
West was 9-0 in the regular season before losing 45-14 to top-ranked South Florence last week. After the game, Jenerette explained his team was at a crossroads, and he was curious to see how the Knights would respond.
They responded with a vengeance.
“After last week, it’s good to see (Lloyd) get hot again,” Jenerette said.
After accounting for 33 yards total offense during the first quarter, West (10-1) accounted for 292 during the second for a 31-7 halftime lead.
“We came out flat and had a blah effort in the first quarter,” Jenerette said. “The kids really stepped up in the second quarter and mashed the gas a little bit. We made some great adjustments on offense. (Offensive coordinator Darryl Page and receivers coach Braxton Ivery) did a great job of putting us in the right spots.”
Not long after the Demons scored first on a 63-yard touchdown pass from Jake Morris to Zaquawn Murphy, it was all West after that.
It started with a 54-yard scoring run by Deuce Hudson, who finished Friday’s game with 200 yards total offense (108 passing).
“That kind of gave us the excitement and we finally woke up and it was time to play ball,” Lloyd said. “It was a great play by Deuce and a great read. He just does what he does.”
The Knights took the lead for good after Kelvin Hunter blocked a Sky Harter punt, and Jaylon Turner recovered it in the end zone for a 14-7 advantage.
Lloyd then took command with touchdown runs of 41 and 26 yards, both on fourth down.
“It was great blocking by my teammates,” Lloyd said. “It just wasn’t me. Everything is not just what I do. It was a great game by my teammates.”
West started its final first-half possession at its own 22. After a 12-yard run by Lloyd, Hudson completed a 46-yard pass to Bryson Graves which put the Knights at the Demon 20. Sam Spence then kicked a 37-yard field goal to close out the first half.
Lloyd was far from done after halftime, scoring on third-quarter runs of 37, 39 and 75 yards.
But Jenerette was not entirely happy with the win because the Demons scored three second-half touchdowns.
“We’ve got to play better than we did in the second half on defense,” he said. “I don’t know what that was. That’s not us.”
But what the Knights can take away from Friday is although it took a quarter for them to get dialed in, they got there.
“We don’t get down on ourselves,” Lloyd said. “We just keep playing. We keep fighting. We just carry that on throughout the whole game.”
L-E;0;7;14;6—27
WF;0;31;21;0—52
SECOND QUARTER
L-E — Zaquawn Murphy 63 pass from Jake Morris (Ell Branham kick), 11:25
WF — Deuce Hudson 54 run (Sam Spence kick), 11:05
WF — Jaylon Turner blocked-punt recovery in end zone (Spence kick), 8:50
WF — Darren Lloyd 41 run (Spence kick), 5:22
WF — Lloyd 26 run (Spence kick ), 2:01
WF — Spence 37 FG, :00
THIRD QUARTER
WF — Lloyd 37 run (Spence kick), 11:09
L-E — Sky Harter 14 run (Branham kick), 9:44
L-E — Harter 3 run (Branham kick), 7:10
WF — Lloyd 39 run (Spence kick), 5:13
WF — Lloyd 75 run (Spence kick), 1:27
FOURTH QUARTER
L-E — Keith Carter 16 run (pass failed), :7.6
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — L-E: Morris 7-20, Harter 19-121, Carter 8-52, Christian Harrell 1-6, Murphy 1-1. WF: Hudson 9-92, Lloyd 27-360, Kelvin Hunter 2-2.
PASSING — L-E: Morris 10-28-0-162. WF: Hudson 6-11-0-108
RECEIVING — L-E: Harter 2-2, Kristian Golden 3-47, Murphy 3-89, Jeremiah McNeill 3-24. WF: Bryson Graves 2-58, Steven Smalls 3-35, Lloyd 1-15.
RECORDS: L-E 4-7, WF 10-1.
NEXT: West Florence hosts Myrtle Beach in the second round.
November 4, 2022 | Morning News (Florence, SC)
Author/Byline: SCOTT CHANCEY Morning Newsschancey@florencenews.com | Section: Sports