Irwin County stops Pelham 23-6

Pelham Head Coach Dondrial Jenkins said earlier this week that his team had to keep the Irwin County offense off the field in three plays or the Indians would wear down the Hornet defenders and win the game. That is exactly how Irwin County dominated late in the game and took the 23-6 victory over Pelham. Irwin County (13-0) will now fave region rival Clinch County (12-1) in a rematch of last year’s state championship game. Clinch won last year’s battler, but the Indians won the game between the two earlier this season.

Pelham looked like the better team early in the game. The Hornets dominated field position in the first half and actually had three excellent opportunities to score. The Hornets moved down to the 22-yard line, the 14 and the 11 as well. All three times Pelham chose to go for the first down or touchdown on fourth down, instead of trying a field goal. On their last opportunity of the first half, Patterson threw a strong pass to Jordan Bennett in the end zone, but the ball was batted away. The only score of the first half came on a last-second field goal for Irwin County. The Indians had moved quickly down the field with about a minute to play in the half and took advantage of confusion on when the clock should be stopped. It turned out that Irwin had three seconds left on the clock after a play where the clock should not have been stopped. Time should have expired, but instead, the Indians set up a 20-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead into the half.

The second half was a different story. The Indians took the opening kick off all the way down to the 17-yard line and quickly moved in for the touchdown and the 10-0 lead. The Hornets responded with their only touchdown drive of the night. It was a near perfect example of how the Hornets worked all season long. Runs by Javoris Williams, Malik Mango, and Kendrick Patterson, with passes by Patterson and Darrell Starling to Jordan Bennett and Treun Pace and the Hornets moved 89 yards in 10 plays to close the gap 10-6. The extra point attempt hit the goal post and bounced out.

From there it was all Irwin County. The big running backs for Irwin County pounded the ball down the field time and again. On several occasions, the Hornet defense was able to stop the Indians and force a fourth down play. Each time, the Indians would go for the first instead of punt. Each time, they were successful against the Hornet defenders. When the Hornets got the ball, on the other hand, the Indians found ways to keep Pelham from moving. Twice the Hornets turned the ball over on interceptions.

The loss ends the Hornets’ season at 12-1. It was Pelham’s first-ever perfect regular season and only the second time the school has ever reached the semifinals of the state playoffs. The Hornets will lose three key starters on the team – Treun Pace, Javoris Williams, and Malik Mango, but the rest of the team will return to try again next season.