WHITMIRE, S.C. — The Rebels keep on rolling after completing the shut out against their rivals on the road. Mid-Carolina(3-0) dismantled Whitmire(1-2) 42-0 on Friday, Sept. 4th on the road to extend their win streak.
The Wolverines finally got a chance to play in front of their fans in the first home game of the season after opening the season on the road in back-to-back weeks. They also had to face one of the more explosive teams on their schedule without start defensive lineman Sam Moore, who didn’t suit up at all, and defensive back Brayden Rita, whom went down early in this game with a right shoulder injury. Mid-Carolina entered Friday’s contest hoping to keep their win streak going to start the season and make it three in-a-row against their rivals.
Whitmire got the ball first and went on a long drive to march down the field. They held the ball for six minutes to start the game with a slow methodical attack on offense, but came away with no points after senior safety Cash Knight came up with the interception for the Rebels.
Mid-Carolina quickly turned the turnover into points as senior quarterback Davis Ruff found Knight for a 46-yard receiving touchdown to give them a 7-0 lead in the early part of the first quarter. The two teams would exchange punts on their next two offensive drives as time expired in the first quarter. Mid-Carolina would lead 7-0 after the the opening quarter.
The home team would open the second quarter with the ball, but couldn’t get anything going and was forced to punt for the second consecutive drive. Knight then took a 62-yard punt return for a touchdown to extend Mid-Carolina’s lead to 14-0. The Wolverines were forced to punt again after another drive stalled for them. They did manage to punt away from Knight, but the punt landed in another dangerous returner’s hands. Senior Gavin Mitchell made his impact felt with 50-plus yard punt return to give the Rebels a 21-0 lead.
Whitmire finally got another good drive going towards the end of the first half. Landon Wulf made a huge play with a 20-yard reception on a critical fourth down to keep the drive going and put them on their opponent’s side of the 50-yard line. Unfortunately, the Wolverines couldn’t advance the ball to the red zone after senior defensive lineman Connor May came up with a huge sack on fourth down to end the drive.
Then, Mid-Carolina would get another score right before the half on just three plays later. Mitchell would take a short bubble screen 43-yards into the end zone for a touchdown and his second score of the night. The Rebels would take a 28-0 lead into halftime.
The third quarter was a bit slow on the offensive side of the ball for both teams until Rebels’ senior running back Ryker Woolstenhulme would break a 54-yard run for a touchdown to extend the visitor’s lead, 35-0. Debronze Wicker would put the Wolverines to bed late in the third quarter with a 45-yard touchdown reception from backup quarterback Jaycob Odom to give the Rebels a 42-0 lead.
“Special teams is big for us. We had two punt returns and I think we only had the ball for 17 plays in the first half. We[offensive coaches] were kind of frustrated because we made some mistakes and we were trying to clean those up. We got to the second half and played much better and we were able to get some young kids in late in the game. Our kids have practice hard, played hard and deserved to be good. I am proud of them but we still have a long way to go,” said Rebels head coach Jody Haltiwanger.
Both teams would play mostly backups for the entire fourth quarter and Mid-Carolina would move to 3-0 and win their third consecutive game in this rivalry series.
Mid-Carolina will now turn their focus to North Central in a road battle on Friday, Sept. 11th. Whitmire fell to 1-2 and needs a big bounce back game at home against Ware Shoals on Friday, Sept. 11th.
“They did a great job of scouting us but the first drive we go on a six and half minute drive that we got to find a way to punch that in. A couple of blown assignments on pass plays and not covering points then before you realize you are down 28-0,” said Wolverines head coach Andrew Campbell. “I think we played hard the whole game but we got banged up and had to roll a lot of people in. They[Mid-Carolina] are doing a good job and they are 3-0 for a reason. Our guys fought and we are comeback ready to play again next week.”