Week 6 Game Balls: CSRA, Grand Strand & Pee Dee

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hurricane Ian shortened the prep weeks for just about everyone in the state of South Carolina.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>So most teams kept it simple.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>From the Pee Dee and Grand Strand across to the CSRA, four tailbacks carried the load and put up huge nights in one way or another. One added his name to a long list of offensive stars on his squad, one showed up when his team needed him most, another hit a pair of major career milestones despite limited touches in a blowout and a fourth proved himself to be a player to watch for next fall.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We'll just call this the Game Balls: Running Back Edition.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Deante Hopkins</strong> RB, Ridge Spring-Monetta</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Trojans are going through an obvious rough patch, starting just 1-5 overall and 1-1 in region play. But Ridge Spring-Monetta is not giving up on this year while also looking for players to rely on next year. Hopkins is starting to look like one of those guys who will be huge next year. In the loss to Denmark-Olar, the 6-foot-1, 170-pound junior was his normal self on defense, putting up seven solos stops and three assisted tackles. He also exploded on offense, rushing 18 times for 221 yards and three touchdowns.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Ty Martin</strong> RB, Dillon</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Loris struck first and actually led Dillon at halftime. But the Wildcats stuck to what their guns. And that meant Martin. The senior and first-year starter lifted Dillon in this match-up of previously undefeated Region VII-3A teams by rushing 19 times for 205 yards and two third-quarter touchdowns. His scores turned a six-point game into a 20-point contest, and the No. 2 team in Class 3A put up another dominating final without dominating for the entire game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Zavian Scipio</strong> RB, Wilson</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We know about most of the other Tigers playmakers by now. [player_tooltip player_id='443503' first='Tremel' last='Echols'] and [player_tooltip player_id='336114' first='Zandae' last='Butler'] and [player_tooltip player_id='139297' first='Jyron' last='Waiters'] have spent the season putting up big numbers. Add Scipio to the mix. The starting linebacker and part-time running back put up his best showing on the "other" side of the ball by rushing for 123 yards and two touchdowns on only 11 carries. Yes, the bulk of that was an 85-yarder in the second quarter. But Wilson having yet another home-run threat could be huge down the stretch in region play.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='262552' first='Tyler' last='J Smith']</strong> RB, Barnwell</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We could go on and on about how Smith - with just seven offensive touches, mind you - added four more touchdowns (three rushing, one receiving) to his senior year and kept his season streak of multi-touchdown games going another week. But, instead, we'd like to point out that in his 21st game as the Barnwell starting tailback, he topped 3,500 career yards on the ground and 50 career rushing touchdowns in the blowout win over Edisto.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->