Williams, Dowling combine for 289 yards, four touchdowns in 39-14 win
POOLER — Pierce County’s 1-2 punch of Drake Dowling and Jae’Veon Williams combined for 289 yards and four touchdowns leading the Class 2A secondranked Bears to a 39-14 victory here Thursday over New Hampstead at the Pooler Recreation Complex.
The rare Thursday night kick was used because of the Phoenix and Savannah Christian sharing the facility. The Raiders hosted Fellowship Christian Friday night in a clash of Class A-3A private school powers.
Bears’ head coach Ryan Herring did not feel the short practice week had much bearing on the game.
“Everything was different for both teams,” he said. “It didn’t affect the mistakes we made ... there’s no excuses there. I’m extremely happy to come up here and win. If you told me before the game we were going to win 39-14 I would have taken that in a heartbeat.”
PCHS (4-0) pulled away from a 7-all tie midway through the opening stanza scoring 32 of the final 39 points against the Phoenix (1-4), who have dropped four consecutive games.
“We did not play well,” said head coach Ryan Herring to his team afterwards. “We played good enough to win ... we’ve got a lot of work to fix things.”
The Bears scored on five of their eight offensive possessions with four touchdowns and a 36-yard field goal by Garrett Stevenson. PCHS returned an interception and forced a safety on the defensive side of the ball.
“It was beautiful,” said Herring of the win. “We never got stopped. Any drive we got stopped was because of penalties — self-inflicted penalties.
“I’ve got to look at the tape to see if those holding calls were actually holding. They may have all been, but we literally stopped ourselves with penalties ... they never stopped us. If we were holding we’ve got to get that fixed.
“Defensively, we had some defensive backs make some great breaks on some thrown balls. Interior-wise, we’ve got a long way to go. We’re still a work in progress and we’ve got a long way to go.”
Williams finished the night with career- highs in carries (22) and yards (169). He scored three touchdowns on runs of 48, one and 13 yards. Dowling totaled 120 yards on 15 carries with one score. It was his third straight game surpassing the century mark.
The duo became the third set of teammates, 25th overall, to reach 100 yards twice joining D.J. Bell and Jimarion Guyton (eight times - 2022-23) and Tyler Simpson-Travis Grant (twice - 2002).
“I thought our guys ran hard,” said Herring of Dowling and Williams, who each had a 45-plus yard gainer.
New Hampstead’s Christian Kinlaw clipped Williams for game-high rushing honors accumulating 170 yards on 25 carries. Kinlaw scored both Phoenix touchdowns on runs of 33 and 11 yards.
“He was a load,” Herring said of Kinlaw. “We (coaches) knew he was a load, so that wasn’t a surprise at all. We’ve still got to do a better job of when we get there to lock up.”
Each team scored on its opening possession. The Bears moved 67 yards in three plays ending with a 48-yard sprint off left tackle by Williams with 10:13 showing on the clock was followed by Stevenson’s first of our PATs for a 7-0 lead.
New Hampstead put together an 11-play, 80yard march with Kinlaw carrying on seven of the plays. His 33-yard burst with 6:18 left in the opening stanza pulled the Phoenix to within 7-6. Nahmir Williams’ PAT crawled over the crossbar to tie the score.
Following Pierce County’s first punt of the season on its second offensive series, the Phoenix were pinned inside their own 20 facing fourth-and-nine. An errant snap in punt formation was gathered in the end zone by the punter who threw the ball away under pressure. An intentional grounding penalty for a safety gave PCHS the lead for good with 2:17 to play in the opening period.
The Bears increased the 9-7 lead to 12-7 following the ensuing free kick. Starting at midfield, Pierce County drove to the New Hampstead 19 settling for a 36-yard field goal by Stevenson 9:37 before intermission.
The next possession for the Phoenix ended with safety Chance Williams undercutting an errant pass and racing 52 yards with the interception for a touchdown with 6:08 left in the half. Stevenson kicked the margin to 19-7 with the PAT.
The two teams did not score on their final two possessions of the half.
After an exchange of punts to start the third period, New Hampstead had a 45-yard touchdown run by Kinlaw wiped out by penalty on its second possession. A fumble recovery by the Bears’ Noah Delaney at the PCHS 40 thwarted the drive.
Pierce County moved 60 yards in five plays with Dowling’s 45-yard scamper on the initial snap the big play. He capped the scoring drive with a oneyard run up the gut of the Phoenix defensive alignment. Stevenson’s PAT with 1:47 left in the third period extended the lead to 26-7.
New Hampstead followed with its second 11--play, 80-yard scoring drive with Kinlaw carrying on seven of the plays. He covered the last 34 with runs of 16, seven and the final 11 for his second score. The PAT by Nahmir Williams had a little extra air in clearing the crossbar cutting the margin to 26-14 with 8:55 remaining in the game.
Jonathan Stone’s recovery of the ensuing onside kick set PCHS up at it own 47. Pierce County covered the 53-yard distance in eight time-consuming plays eating up 4:20.
Dylan Johnson (four carries, 42 yards) ripped off a 30-yard gain on a third-and-eight setting up Jae’Veon Williams’ second touchdown of the night two plays later with a one-yard run. Stevenson tacked on the PAT for a 33-14 advantage.
Following a fourth down stop on New Hampstead’s next possession, the Bears added one final touchdown with a sixplay, 35-yard scoring drive. Jae’Veon Williams had a 14-yard gain on second down and raced 13 yards unscathed for the score with a 13-yard run around left end on fourthand- six with :32.4 on the clock. Stevenson pulled the PAT left of the upright leaving the score at 39-14.
