Willie Fox had plenty of people question his decision to take the Swansea High football job.
He doesn’t hear too much of that talk lately.
The Tigers (5-1) won their final non-region game Saturday by defeating Columbia, 20-6, at Bolden Stadium. The matchup was delayed one day because of Hurricane Helene’s impacts on the area.
It was Swansea’s fifth win of the season after the program won just four games the previous four years combined. The Tigers started the 2024 season with a 16-game game losing streak.
But in stepped Fox, a Pelion High grad who has revitalized a once-proud program that’s won six state titles, the last coming in 1994.
“A lot of people said, ‘Why are you going to Swansea? Why are you going to Swansea? You can’t win there,’ ” Fox said. “I disagreed. Obviously, I thought we could win here and we have proven that. But we have a lot of stuff to clean up and we haven’t played our best football.
“Our kids have worked really hard. They have bought into what we are talking about. … It is just a testament to them. They have earned the success they have had so far.”
Fox has brought an old-school, run-the-ball-first approach that he used during his successful nine-year stint at Class A Wagener-Salley. The Tigers might only throw it a few times a game, if that, opting instead for smash-mouth football.
“We pride ourselves on what we do offensively,” Fox said. “We are going to line up and pound the football. We are going to control the clock and play good defense. It’s old-school football. Not many people do it anymore. And I think it gives us an advantage.”
Fox might be old school, but he does let the kids have fun. Following his postgame speech Saturday, he led the team in “up-down” exercises, his version of dancing because — in his words — he has no rhythm.
Swansea was able to control the game against the Capitals by running the ball and coming up with a couple of big turnovers. The Tigers had the ball for a nine-minute plus drive in the first quarter, but Columbia’s defense came up with a big stop.
PJ Larry scored on a touchdown run to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead in the second. The Tigers made it 14-0 minutes later on a Tysean Charley 2-yard run, one play after the Tigers recovered a fumble that went over the Columbia punter’s head.
Swansea made it 20-0 in the fourth quarter on Jacob Harper’s TD pass to Donnell Goodwin.
Columbia got on the board with just over two minutes left on a Darius Cunningham 18-yard pass to Damarius Fraizer. The Tigers held the Caps to less than 100 yards of offense.
With the loss, the Caps drop to 4-2 on the year heading to their region opener next week. Columbia’s four wins already are the most in a season since 2018.
Richland Northeast 19, Lancaster 6
NC State commit Will Wilson ran for two touchdowns and threw one as the Cavs continued their best season start since 2005.
RNE is 6-0 overall and 2-0 in the region.
The game was tied 6-6 at halftime before Wilson hit Camryn Buckley on a TD pass with 7:36 left in the third. Wilson added another TD run with 3:39 left.
Lancaster’s RJ Brown had a 2-yard TD to give the Bruins a 6-0 lead with 5:13 in the first quarter.
AC Flora 28, York 21
BJ Mack scored on a 9-yard run with 20.5 seconds left to give the Falcons a come-from-behind win.
York led 21-14 with 11:03 left after Zakiyen Davis returned a fumble for a touchdown.
AC Flora tied at 21-21 on Mack’s 1-yard run with 5:28 left. Mack finished with three rushing touchdowns.
York looked like it was going to take the lead but running back Ziggy Byers fumbled at the 1-yard line and the ball went out of the end zone, giving the Falcons the ball at their own 20 with 1:57 left.
The Falcons (4-2, 1-1) drove the ball down field and Mack capped it off with the game-winner.
Roper Wentzy also had a TD pass to Kendall Byrd for the Falcons.
Pelion 27, Eau Claire 12
Colin Williams scored a pair of touchdowns and Michael Cottrell rushed for almost 200 yards as the Panthers picked up their first win of the season.
Williams had a punt block for a TD, a fumble recovery for a TD and also picked off a pass. Cottrell carried it 28 times for 180 yards. Jamie Johns added 90 yards and a TD.
Alan Moore had a TD pass to Daniel Adkins.
Camden 20, Dreher 0
Greyson Rimpf threw two TD passes, one to Wyatt Thompson and one to Tylin Drakeford, as the Bulldogs (4-2, 1-1) bounced back from losing their region opener last week.
Rimpf was 16-of-22 passing for 222 yards. Navier Boykin also had a TD run for Camden.
Ridge View 16, Westwood 7
Ridge View (2-3, 1-0) snapped a three-game losing streak in winning its Region 5-5A opener Saturday.
It was the Blazers’ ninth straight win over the Redhawks (3-3, 1-1).
Tre Howard had a TD pass to Liam Mueller and Spencer Bobian had a TD run for the Blazers. Issaija Yohannes kicked a field goal in the fourth quarter for RV.
Fairfield Central 36, Andrew Jackson 7
The Griffins (5-1) won their fifth straight game as they headed into region play next week.
Fairfield has scored 30 points or more in each game during the winning streak and allowed eight points or less in five of the six games.
Buford 41, North Central 36
Noah Crump threw an 87-yard TD pass to Cole Carnes with 1:20 left as the Yellow Jackets (2-4, 1-0) rallied after blowing a 21-point lead.
North Central, which trailed 28-7 in the third quarter, rallied and took a 36-28 lead on Jon Clarkson’s 71-yard run with 8:21 left. Clarkson finished with 236 yards rushing and four touchdowns.
Buford cut the lead to 36-35 with 6:49 left on Marvin Rudolph’s fourth TD of the night.
The Knights (2-3, 0-1) couldn’t put it away and fumbled it with 1:41 left.
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