By Thomas Grant Jr.
Irmo’s quest to halt a 35-year championship drought ended in disappointing fashion Friday at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium.
For the second straight year, the Yellow Jackets stood on the sidelines as Northwestern hoisted a second straight Class 5A Division II title. Instead of a last-second loss, Irmo was dominated in a 55-13 loss to the Trojans.
“I’m still proud of these days,” Irmo head coach Aaron Brand said. “I don’t want to take away anything that these guys did…we had a really good week of practice. It’s just that when you run into a buzz saw like that and you keep having mistake on top of mistake, these guys and coach Watford will always capitalize. They’ve been doing it all year.”
A 3-yard touchdown run in the first quarter by Maleek Miller and 12-yard touchdown pass by quarterback Dre’Von Dopson to Ethan Singletary were the lone scores for an offense that averaged just under 40 points a contest entering the final.
Meanwhile, junior quarterback Xavier Means accounted for four rushing touchdowns and one of his two scoring passes in the first half.
His 248 total yards, 168 on 14-17 passing and 60 rushing yards, was just 21 less than Irmo’s entire production.
In addition to Means, the Yellow Jackets committed three turnovers, two of which led to direct scores. “Mr. South Carolina Football” finalist Tamarion Watkins returned a Dopson interception 39 yards for a touchdown and Shrine Bowl selection Kam Vance blocked a punt and returned the football 12 yards for a score.
Vance also had a 10-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter. He and David Flood combined for 11 receptions for 159 yards and two touchdowns and running back Nigel Smith finished with 104 rushing yards.
Northwestern’s 43-point halftime margin enforced a running clock in the second half. The 55 points were also the most points allowed by Irmo since a 63-28 loss to South Florence to open the 2022 season.
The same year, the Yellow Jackets suffered its worst loss under Brand in a 49-6 setback to River Bluff. The 13 points scored Friday was also the Yellow Jackets’ lowest point total since a 20-14 loss to Richland Northeast that same year.
Irmo finished the season with a 12-2 record. Both losses have come at the hands of Northwestern and 3-time defending Division I champion Dutch Fork.
Since 2023, the Yellow Jackets have gone 37-5. All five losses are to teams who either advanced or won state titles.
“We’re on our way and if we can just keep churning and keep plugging at it, then we’ve got a chance to be right back here,” Brand said. “When we get back here, we’ve got to play better. We can’t get in a situation where we get behind as much and try to fight our way through some bad patches and all that stuff to get back in it.”
The Silver Foxes will seek a second 4-peat in program history at 7:30 p.m. Saturday against Summerville. It’s the third rematch from last season at this year’s “Weekend of Champions” with repeat champions Oceanside Collegiate Academy and Northwestern victorious so far.
