What We Saw: Jeter, Spartanburg Down Dorman

The numbers weren't eye-popping. But when Spartanburg needed him most, their Mr. Football finalist put the Vikings on his back.   [player_tooltip player_id='89339' first='Raheim' last='Jeter'] threw for two touchdowns, ran for three more, and the Vikings survived the City Rivalry with a stop on a two-point conversion with less than a minute to play and a 42-41 victory over Dorman to grab second place in Region II-5A and a home playoff game against Nation Ford in the next week's first round.   "It's Spartanburg-Dorman," Vikings' coach Mark Hodge said. "It just comes down to the lore of those games, and it's exciting to be a part of it with the Doc Davises and the Gutshalls and 1994, and you can just name all those different years. This is another monumental moment in the rivalry, and we're just blessed to be a part of it. I'm super-proud for these kids."   The win capped a strange week for the Vikings. With both players and coaches suffering from the flu, the team got one full practice all week. They looked uneven in the opening stages of the game despite converting a 50-yard opening kickoff return by [player_tooltip player_id='284138' first='Rah'Keith' last='Kelly'] into Jeter's 3-yard TD run. DJ Porter threw a 34-yard TD to Emo Fowler to tie the game, and Dorman went up 15-7 on Dyquan Nesbitt's 40-yard fumble return for a score.   Jeter rallied Spartanburg immediately. He found Andrew Dantin wide open for a 56-yard score, hanging in the pocket and delivering a strike. A hard hit from the Vikings knocked Porter out of the game, Spartanburg notched an interception on the next play, and Jeter led a drive capped by a one-yard run to make it 21-15.   And that was just the first quarter.   Both teams settled in, allowing nothing else in the first half. Spartanburg's defense notched another takeaway, and got a third on the first drive of the second half, with Dorman driving deep in Spartanburg territory.   That one proved pivotal, as the Vikings responded with a 92-yard drive capped by Kelly's 11-yard score, a 14-point swing. Jeter ran for a one-yard score on the Vikings' next possession, pushing the Vikings' lead to its largest at 35-15.   Dorman scored twice to cut the lead to 35-28, but Jeter responded again, lofting a prayer under pressure to Dantin, who fought his way into the end zone for a 42-28 lead. Dorman again fought back, scoring with 41 seconds left to cut the lead to 42-41, and lined up for a game-winning conversion. Spartanburg stopped it, and recovered an onside-kick attempt to win it.   "Give them a lot of credit," Hodge said. "Two or three times we had people in the right place, they just made a play. That says a lot about them. But in the end, they called timeout and it was probably good because our defense had been on the field so much. Legends can be made on a two-point conversion. We were still winning. Go make a play. I don't know who made it, but I'm super excited that they did."   Big Night From Dantin   Dantin, who scored a dramatic game-winner in last year's version of the City Rivalry, had a relatively quiet night by his standards. All he did was catch three balls for 74 yards and two all-important scores, including the eventual game-winner for the Vikings.   Freshman Phenom   Kelly continued his unbelievable freshman season, rushing for 138 yards and a score on 15 carries. He also caught a pass and added 75 kickoff return yards.   Foster Shows Flash   With Dorman down to its third-string quarterback due to Porter's injury, the offensive focus, and that of Spartanburg's defense, fell squarely on [player_tooltip player_id='262701' first='Demarius' last='Foster'].   Man, did he deliver   Foster ran for 263 yards on 36 carries, scoring three times. His five-yard score with less than a minute left set the stage for the late two-point conversion attempt.

The numbers weren't eye-popping. But when Spartanburg needed him most, their Mr. Football finalist put the Vikings on his back.