What We Saw: Hartsville Tops Dillon Behind Strong Run Game
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DILLON | Kamarion Singletary roared early. Hakeem Watters Hakeem Watters 5'6" | 170 lbs | RB Hartsville | 2025 State SC and Carmello McDaniel Carmello McDaniel 5'8" | 175 lbs | RB Hartsville | 2024 State SC proved that over…
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Continue ReadingDILLON | Kamarion Singletary roared early.
Hakeem Watters Hakeem Watters 5'6" | 170 lbs | RB Hartsville | 2025 State SC and Carmello McDaniel Carmello McDaniel 5'8" | 175 lbs | RB Hartsville | 2024 State SC proved that over time, two was better than one.
The pair of Hartsville tailbacks puts on a show Friday at Dillon, rushing for a combined 370 yards and six touchdowns in a 51-34 win that kept the Red Foxes perfect on the season. But it wasn’t just that the two players put up big numbers. They’ve been doing that every week.
No, this time, it was about showing this system could work when Hartsville needed it to most.
“It shows our team has great character, great resilience, and we’re able to bounce back from any adversity,” Watters said.
By adversity, Watters meant the two-touchdown hole the Red Foxes found themselves in at halftime.
Up to that point, the biggest influence on the game had been that of Singletary, the Wildcats’ reserve tailback who had just one carry for two yards in the team’s first two games.
Against Hartsville – with the running backs ahead of him out for a variety of reasons, Singletary went off for 180 yards and two scores in the first two quarters alone.
After halftime, it was a different story.
Inside of the first three minutes of the third quarter, Watters scored on a 30-yard run and McDaniel added a 39-yarder a mere 22 seconds later – thanks in large part to Hartsville recovering a pooch kickoff.
It set the tone of the rest of the second half.
Watters finished the game with 16 carries for 196 yards and four touchdowns, with three of the scores and 156 of the yards coming after halftime. McDaniel ended with 174 yards and two touchdowns, with 108 yards and both scores coming in the second half.
It was par for the course, as McDaniel is now over 700 rushing yards in four games this season while Watters is now north of 600.
But this wasn’t against someone like Conway or Darlington. This was Dillon.
And the performance was a statement.
“It’s emotional. A lot of people doubted us before we even got here,” McDaniel said. “We had to come out and show them what we are about: Come out and execute, play hard and out-play them. We got a good result.”
And if they could do this against Dillon, who could stop them? Anyone?
“We don’t think so,” Watters said.
OTHER HARTSVILLE NOTABLES
Da’Marion Coe Da’Marion Coe 5'9" | 175 lbs | DB Hartsville | 2025 State SC DB – Coe has been consistently improving year after year, and the junior showed Friday he’s still on the upswing. The defensive back lined up at both safety and corner and was all over the field. Unofficially, he had eight tackles before halftime. He then helped the second-half momentum swing with two huge stops on Dillon kick returns in which he planted the return man inside of the 20-yard line.
McKendrie Douglas McKendrie Douglas 6'3" | 195 lbs | QB Hartsville | 2024 State SC QB – Douglas didn’t have his best game, and after taking a shot at the end of the second quarter he was mostly just handing the ball off to Watters and McDaniel prior to being pulled for precautionary reasons. Still, he opened the game with a bang when he took the first Hartsville offensive play from scrimmage up the gut for 59 yards. It set up his 8-yard touchdown pass to EJ Smith three plays later.
Xavier Robinson and Hayden Wilson – Hartsville’s defense had a big second half, allowing only six points. It also did it’s part at some opportune times, including Dillon’s final real drive. On that series, three plays apart, Robinson and Wilson each recorded a sack that ended any threat of a last-minute Dillon miracle.
DILLON NOTABLES
Simrod McCallum LB/RB – McCallum is so valuable at linebacker that Dillon doesn’t want to overuse him at tailback, even when others are out. Still, he replicated his two-touchdown performance from a week ago over Wilson with two more scores against Hartsville. McCallum had just six carries for 19 yards, with five of those snaps coming on Wildcat sets near the goal line.
Josiah Oxendine Josiah Oxendine 6'0" | 185 lbs | QB Dillon | 2026 State SC QB – Much like Douglas, Oxendine didn’t have his best game. However, he made some quick reads en route to 114 passing yards. He also showed off a strong arm on mid-range throws and even scrambled for 38 yards in the loss.