Irmo beats Hornets, Demons visit Friday

By CT McDonald

After last week’s 28-20 non-region win against the Lower Richland Diamond Hornets, Irmo’s varsity football team has recorded only one loss thus far, and that one to the region’s undefeated A. C. Flora Falcons.

The Yellow Jackets (3-1 overall, 2-1 region) took their first loss two weeks ago against A. C. Flora (3-0, 3-0) when the Flacons dominated the second half at Memorial Stadium to take the 45-14 victory.

Then, last week after rescheduling the Region 4-4A game versus Westwood to November 6, the Yellow Jackets played host to non-region opponent Lower Richland (LR) in what turned out to be a high school Friday night thriller.

It was back-and-forth on the scoreboard with Irmo holding a 14-8 lead at halftime but the Diamond Hornets making it 14-14 by the end of the third quarter. Then LR scored first in the fourth quarter to go ahead 20-14; Irmo responded to take a 21-20 lead; and then, with less than three minutes left to play, Irmo did it again to go ahead 28-20, and that’s how it ended just minutes later.

Now, currently sitting at No. 2 in Region 4-4A, Irmo has two region games and a non-region District Five matchup left in the regular schedule. The first of the two region contests is at home Friday against the Lugoff-Elgin (LE) Demons.

Lugoff-Elgin (1-1, 1-1) is currently in the middle of the pack in the region, along with Westwood, then Dreher and Richland Northeast occupy fifth and sixth, respectively.

Irmo’s game with Westwood has been rescheduled for November 6, with District Five rival Chapin now sandwiched between LE and Westwood on October 30.

With at least two Region 4-4A games now set for November 6, the final region lineup won’t be official until they are recorded. On its current path, Irmo is a top contender for a berth in the playoffs.

Class 4A playoffs begin November 13.