What We Saw: Hillcrest 56, Woodmont 17

SIMPSONVILLE | On a sunbaked afternoon at Hillcrest's Chandler Stadium, the Rams wrapped up their portion of Region I-5A's "four games in 14 days" schedule with a bang Saturday. [player_tooltip player_id='809746' first='Kalab' last='Sutton'] came off the bench and threw more touchdowns (three) than incompletions (two), [player_tooltip player_id='347516' first='Weston' last='Willis'] capped his phenomenal week by catching two of those scores, and five different running backs found the end zone as Hillcrest piled up 604 yards of total offense to roll past Woodmont, 56-17.   With two regular, old Fridays - a day no Region I-5A team has played on since the week before Hurricane Helene hit - left in the regular season, the Rams (7-1) are tied with Greenwood, JL Mann and TL Hanna atop the region at 4-1.   Last Sunday, Willis received his first Division I scholarship offer from Furman. On Tuesday, the senior receiver caught five passes for 145 yards and two touchdowns in Hillcrest's 38-14 win at Greenville. One of those scores came on a 93-yard reception from [player_tooltip player_id='1604046' first='Jackson' last='Free'] - the second-longest pass play in school history. On Saturday, he caught two bombs from Sutton on his way to a six-catch, 165-yard day.   "It's been 100 percent a good week, but we ain't proved nothing yet. We're just getting by one by one," Willis said. "We've got Greenwood at the house next Friday, so we've got to come out and have a good week of preparation."   Things didn't start off as rosy for the Rams as the final score would indicate. On the first snap of the game, Woodmont's [player_tooltip player_id='1254085' first='Ezekiel' last='Belcher'] took a push pass from [player_tooltip player_id='421471' first='Jordan' last='Sink'] around the right corner and down the sideline for an 85-yard touchdown. Hillcrest's ensuing possession ended on fourth-and-goal at the one-yard line, when a high shotgun snap led to [player_tooltip player_id='1013066' first='Brayden' last='Johnson'] being tackled for a one-yard loss.   As Sutton is one of quite a few Rams who have been a little banged up, Free has played a great deal of late. On Saturday, the sophomore became the first non-senior to serve as one of the game captains in Coach Bennett Swygert's two years as head coach. But after a few high snaps on that first drive, the taller Sutton came on for Hillcrest's second possession. That could've been the plan all along, but whatever the plan was it worked. After an incompletion on the first play, Sutton threw a 42-yard strike to Willis in the end zone and the game was tied 7-7 after one quarter.   On Hillcrest's first snap of the second quarter, Sutton and Willis connected for a 49-yard gain into the red zone. Four plays later, [player_tooltip player_id='1359171' first='Frank' last='Starks'] scored from a yard out. On the Rams' next possession another big opening play reached the red zone when Starks rumbled 52 yards to the Woodmont 15. Six plays later, Quayshad Harris scored on a one-yard run.   Hillcrest took a 21-10 lead into halftime after Wildcats' sophomore kicker Bradley Crowell drilled a 43-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.   After the Rams forced a Woodmont three-and-out to start the second half, another big play got them back in the end zone. Sutton completed a pass to Trevolis Walker over the middle. Thanks to some great downfield blocking by his fellow receivers, Walker weaved his way for a 60-yard score.   Belcher had an immediate answer as he took off for a 73-yard touchdown run on the very next play. That helped cut the lead to 28-17 and Woodmont (2-6, 1-4) was still very much in the game with that 11-point deficit until late in the third quarter. With 1:58 left in the third, the prettiest play on a day full of them occurred when Sutton threw a rainbow pass 55 yards to Willis in stride across the goal line.   "That was a beautiful ball. I made sure I said everything about that one to him," Willis said. "I said 'you'd better launch it up if I call another go,' and he launched it up for a perfect pass."   On the final play of the third quarter, Hillcrest's [player_tooltip player_id='1254104' first='Donavan' last='Briggs'] made a third-down sack forcing Woodmont to punt to start the fourth. That set the tone for the rest of the game as the Rams allowed just two more first downs for a total of three allowed in the second half.   "We feel really good about this win because that (Woodmont) team is a lot better than people think. ... We knew they're a big play team, and we didn't do so good on two of those but I thought for the most part our defense flew around and played hard through a hot day," Swygert said. "Then (on the other side of the ball) when you've got an offensive line like ours and you've got quarterback play like we've been getting from both of ours, that's pretty tough to stop."   It was a unusually hot day for late October - even by South Carolina standards - and Hillcrest's offense was able to run successfully against a worn down defense in the fourth quarter. Joshua Smith, freshman Ny Allen and Johnson (pictured) ran for touchdowns the rest of the way to wrap up the scoring.   Starks finished with 106 yards on six carries, while Johnson had 84 on 16 attempts as the Rams ran for 312 as a team. Sutton completed 7-of-9 passes for 232 yards, while Free was 6-of-7 passing for 60 yards also for Hillcrest, which didn't have a turnover. The 604 yards of total offense was the most in a game for Hillcrest since putting up 658 against JL Mann in 2017.   "We've got five backs who could be the one at any other school," Johnson said. "It definitely pushes us, but there's no jealousy or animosity about it. We just have to prove ourselves and if one of us is eating, we all have to eat."   Belcher ran for a game-high 137 yards on 17 attempts and was Woodmont's leading receiver with 93 yards on three receptions. Sink completed 7-of-14 passes for 134 yards with the one touchdown and no interceptions.

SIMPSONVILLE | On a sunbaked afternoon at Hillcrest's Chandler Stadium, the Rams wrapped up their portion of Region I-5A's "four games in 14 days" schedule with a bang Saturday. Kalab Sutton Kalab Sutton 6'3" | 175 lbs | QB Hillcrest | 2025 State SC came off the bench and threw more touchdowns (three) than incompletions (two), Weston Willis Weston Willis 5'11" | 165 lbs | WR Hillcrest | 2025 State SC capped his phenomenal week by catching two of those scores, and five different running backs found the end zone as Hillcrest piled up 604 yards of total offense to roll past Woodmont, 56-17.