Spartanburg football secures home playoff game with win over Dorman in 'City Rivalry'
ROEBUCK — If you only get one offensive play over the final eight minutes of a football game, a kneel down is highly recommended. Spartanburg had the ball for barely eight minutes in the second half at Dorman Friday night, but the Vikings had it for the final 41 seconds. That’s all they needed to take one knee, kill the clock and hang on for a 42-41 victory to wrap up another thrilling chapter of the “City Rivalry.”
That one last snap occurred when Spartanburg got the ball after Dorman just missed recovering its third onside kick in four attempts Friday when the ball quite didn’t make it 10 yards. The victory wraps up second place in Region 2-AAAAA for the Vikings (6-4, 3-1), while the Cavaliers (8-2, 2-2) finish third. The official playoff pairings will be announced Saturday, but it appears that Spartanburg will host Nation Ford next Friday while Dorman will travel to Clover.
“That’s the best play in football ‒ the victory formation,” Spartanburg coach Mark Hodge said. “We always talk about getting one more point and we found a way to finish with one more point.”
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A flu bug threw the Vikings’ week of practice into upheaval, but both teams came out swinging as there were five touchdowns in the opening quarter.
A key sequence occurred late in the quarter. Dorman’s dynamic D.J. Porter got the start at quarterback, but he was injured on a hard tackle and didn’t return. On the next play, Spartanburg’s Jayden Coleman returned an interception to the Dorman 15. Four plays later, standout quarterback Raheim Jeter kept for a 1-yard touchdown as the Vikings took a 21-15 lead.
That lead grew to as many as 20 and was never relinquished, but it was much closer than it appeared it would be.
After Jeter scored on another 1-yard run to push the lead to 35-15 with 3:39 left in the third quarter, Spartanburg only had one more sustained drive the rest of the way. Jeter made it count when he hit Andrew Dantin on a third-and-8 pass. Dantin carried defenders into the end zone for a 17-yard score to extend the lead to 42-28.
Dorman’s offense had the next 23 snaps of the game, which included a pair of touchdown runs by Demarius Foster sandwiched around a recovered onside kick. Foster’s final touchdown cut the lead to 42-41 with 41.7 seconds left.
Facing a Spartanburg defense that had to be exhausted, the Cavaliers decided to go for two. After 6-foot-5, 300-pound offensive lineman Markee Anderson successfully ran for a two-point conversion earlier in the game, Dorman tried another big lineman for this one. D.J. Geth, a 6-4, 295-pound senior who successfully ran for a two-point conversion last week, was stonewalled well short of the goal line.
“Our defense just had to dig in there. … We’re out of gas and had a lot of kids sick this week, but you’ve just got to try to go make a play,” Hodge said. “Tonight, both sides just kept making plays. Fortunately, we made the one that we had to have to win the ballgame.”
Jeter completed 9-of-15 passes for 118 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions, and also ran for 45 yards and three scores to lead Spartanburg. Freshman Rah’Keith Kelly also had 138 yards rushing on 15 carries, including a touchdown.
Foster finished with 263 yards and three touchdowns on 36 carries for Dorman.
“I can’t say enough about Dorman. They had all kind of opportunities to fold and they didn’t. Coach (Dustin) Curtis did a great job of keeping the plan,” Hodge said. “That’s what this rivalry is all about. … I’m just blessed to be a part of it.”
This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: SCHSL football: Spartanburg defeats rival Dorman
