By Noah Feit
BARNWELL - Coming into Friday night's high school football game, Barnwell head coach Eddie Moore said he was hopeful that his team would eventually get to the level where area rival Williston-Elko currently resides. That's among the very best teams in the state in its classification.
The Warhorses performance showed that they're well on their way to that lofty status, following a 32-20 win over the Blue Devils that clinched the Barnwell County championship for the host team for the second consecutive season.
The Warhorses (2-1) took the lead early in the second quarter and stayed in front the rest of the game in spite of a dogged effort by Williston-Elko to rally. While Barnwell got a strong performance from its starting quarterback, Javonte Dunbar, it was a less-heralded player that was the difference in the game. Freshman Shakur "Shaky" Chisolm had a huge game, rushing for 229 yards and two touchdowns and making two interceptions and a key deflection in the second half, ensuring a Warhorse victory.
"To be honest, on film he didn't have quite as much success as he did tonight," Blue Devils coach Dwayne Garrick said of Chisolm, who had touchdown runs of 39 and 66 yards. "He got the ball outside and continued to get better during the game."
Chisolm delivered the first score of the game. After Dunbar had knocked Williston-Elko's defense off balance with a series of successful runs on delay option looks that moved the ball to the 39-yard line, Chisolm then delivered a blow with a touchdown run up the middle of the field where he ran through the arms of would-be tacklers en route to the end zone. Following a 51-34 loss to Chesterfield last week, this was another rough outing for the Blue Devils' defense.
"We gave up too many big plays on defense and didn't tackle well," Garrick said. "They were more physical."
Barnwell expanded its lead to 12 points thanks to a pair of field goals, one near the end of the first half and another early in the third quarter. Just when it seemed on the verge of falling too far behind in the game, Williston-Elko rallied. Star running back Jarius Jenkins didn't have a great game, rushing for 54 yards on 17 carries. But he was battling a rib injury from the previous week that almost left him sidelined and Barnwell had to honor his presence, banged up or not. Jenkins finally got the Blue Devils on the scoreboard with a rugged 6-yard run midway through the third quarter, where he carried a number of Warhorse defenders with him into the end zone.
Barnwell led 12-6 at the start of the fourth quarter, when the defensive struggle between the two rivals turned into a shootout. The Warhorses responded to their advantage being sliced in half with a meticulous seven-play, 76-yard scoring drive that was culminated with a 10-yard Dunbar pass to Charles Williams. Barnwell looked to build an insurmountable lead on its next possession as Donte Mallory blasted through and around Williston-Elko defenders for a 27-yard touchdown run.
But the Blue Devils are a proud team, and as long as time was still on the clock they were going to try and mount a comeback. Williston-Elko pinned Barnwell inside its own 10 with a punt from Taylor Hearn. A three-and-out by the defense led to a punt that Antonio Coleman fielded just inside of midfield. He bounced around like a pinball before breaking out to the left sideline where he raced 47-yards for a touchdown.
"I'm proud of our kids for playing hard to the end," Garrick said.
Unfortunately, they still had to try and stop Chisolm. On Friday, that didn't happen. When Barnwell was trying to kill the clock, he changed the plans with a 66-yard touchdown run. He stopped two other Blue Devil drives in the fourth quarter with interceptions. Not even an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Jenkins was enough to overcome Chisolm's tremendous game that will leave the name "Shaky" on the tip of tongues of area fans.
In spite of the loss that knocked his team's record to 1-2, Garrick was upbeat.
"That's a AA program that has twice as many kids as we have and we fought them," he reflected. "We get back in Class A ball and I feel good about our chances. If we get better at tackling, we'll be in position to make plays and I still feel we can win our region."
Noah Feit is the Sports Editor for the Aiken Standard and has been a professional journalist for more than a dozen years after graduating from Syracuse University.
W-E 0 0 6 14 - 20
BHS 0 9 3 20 - 32
SCORING SUMMARY
SECOND QUARTER
BHS-Shakur Chisolm 39 run (Justin Wyndham kick no good).
BHS-Wyndham 36-yd Field Goal.
THIRD QUARTER
BHS-Wyndham 27-yd Field Goal.
WE-Jarius Jenkins 6 run (David Owens 2-point conversion run failed).
FOURTH QUARTER
BHS-Javonte Dunbar 10 pass to Charles Williams. (Dunbar 2-point conversion pass failed).
BHS-Donte Mallory 27 run (Wyndham kick good).
WE-Antonio Coleman 47 punt return (Dalton Mundy 2-point conversion pass to Jerry James good).
BHS-Chisolm 66 run (Wyndham kick good).
WE-Jenkins 85 kickoff return (Mundy 2-point conversion pass failed)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
WE-Jarius Jenkins 17-54 1 TD, David Owens 5-14, Faheem Richburg 2-5.
BHS-Shakur Chisolm 14-229 2 TD, Javonte Dunbar 11-58, Mallory Donte 2-22 1 TD, Kenyon Heyward 6-16, Raheem Bradley 3-11, Devonta Ashley 1-10, Tyrin Williams 3-9, Detravian Johnson 2-2, Travis Elmore 4-0, Team 1-(-2).
PASSING
WE-Dalton Mundy 12-29-131 2 INT.
BHS-Javonte Dunbar 3-4-63 1 TD.
RECEIVING
WE-Faheem Richburg 6-63, Jarius Jenkins 1-21, Jerry James 1-17, David Owens 2-14, Justice Wallace 1-10, Josh Owens 1-6.
BHS-Devonta Ashley 1-57, Charles Williams 1-10 1 TD, Shakur Chisolm 1-(-4).
INTERCEPTIONS
BHS-Shakur Chisolm 2-51.![]()
BARNWELL - Coming into Friday night's high school football game, Barnwell head coach Eddie Moore said he was hopeful that his team would eventually get to the level where area rival Williston-Elko currently resides. That's among the very best teams in the state in its classification.
The Warhorses performance showed that they're well on their way to that lofty status, following a 32-20 win over the Blue Devils that clinched the Barnwell County championship for the host team for the second consecutive season.
The Warhorses (2-1) took the lead early in the second quarter and stayed in front the rest of the game in spite of a dogged effort by Williston-Elko to rally. While Barnwell got a strong performance from its starting quarterback, Javonte Dunbar, it was a less-heralded player that was the difference in the game. Freshman Shakur "Shaky" Chisolm had a huge game, rushing for 229 yards and two touchdowns and making two interceptions and a key deflection in the second half, ensuring a Warhorse victory.
"To be honest, on film he didn't have quite as much success as he did tonight," Blue Devils coach Dwayne Garrick said of Chisolm, who had touchdown runs of 39 and 66 yards. "He got the ball outside and continued to get better during the game."
Chisolm delivered the first score of the game. After Dunbar had knocked Williston-Elko's defense off balance with a series of successful runs on delay option looks that moved the ball to the 39-yard line, Chisolm then delivered a blow with a touchdown run up the middle of the field where he ran through the arms of would-be tacklers en route to the end zone. Following a 51-34 loss to Chesterfield last week, this was another rough outing for the Blue Devils' defense.
"We gave up too many big plays on defense and didn't tackle well," Garrick said. "They were more physical."
Barnwell expanded its lead to 12 points thanks to a pair of field goals, one near the end of the first half and another early in the third quarter. Just when it seemed on the verge of falling too far behind in the game, Williston-Elko rallied. Star running back Jarius Jenkins didn't have a great game, rushing for 54 yards on 17 carries. But he was battling a rib injury from the previous week that almost left him sidelined and Barnwell had to honor his presence, banged up or not. Jenkins finally got the Blue Devils on the scoreboard with a rugged 6-yard run midway through the third quarter, where he carried a number of Warhorse defenders with him into the end zone.
Barnwell led 12-6 at the start of the fourth quarter, when the defensive struggle between the two rivals turned into a shootout. The Warhorses responded to their advantage being sliced in half with a meticulous seven-play, 76-yard scoring drive that was culminated with a 10-yard Dunbar pass to Charles Williams. Barnwell looked to build an insurmountable lead on its next possession as Donte Mallory blasted through and around Williston-Elko defenders for a 27-yard touchdown run.
But the Blue Devils are a proud team, and as long as time was still on the clock they were going to try and mount a comeback. Williston-Elko pinned Barnwell inside its own 10 with a punt from Taylor Hearn. A three-and-out by the defense led to a punt that Antonio Coleman fielded just inside of midfield. He bounced around like a pinball before breaking out to the left sideline where he raced 47-yards for a touchdown.
"I'm proud of our kids for playing hard to the end," Garrick said.
Unfortunately, they still had to try and stop Chisolm. On Friday, that didn't happen. When Barnwell was trying to kill the clock, he changed the plans with a 66-yard touchdown run. He stopped two other Blue Devil drives in the fourth quarter with interceptions. Not even an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Jenkins was enough to overcome Chisolm's tremendous game that will leave the name "Shaky" on the tip of tongues of area fans.
In spite of the loss that knocked his team's record to 1-2, Garrick was upbeat.
"That's a AA program that has twice as many kids as we have and we fought them," he reflected. "We get back in Class A ball and I feel good about our chances. If we get better at tackling, we'll be in position to make plays and I still feel we can win our region."
Noah Feit is the Sports Editor for the Aiken Standard and has been a professional journalist for more than a dozen years after graduating from Syracuse University.
W-E 0 0 6 14 - 20
BHS 0 9 3 20 - 32
SCORING SUMMARY
SECOND QUARTER
BHS-Shakur Chisolm 39 run (Justin Wyndham kick no good).
BHS-Wyndham 36-yd Field Goal.
THIRD QUARTER
BHS-Wyndham 27-yd Field Goal.
WE-Jarius Jenkins 6 run (David Owens 2-point conversion run failed).
FOURTH QUARTER
BHS-Javonte Dunbar 10 pass to Charles Williams. (Dunbar 2-point conversion pass failed).
BHS-Donte Mallory 27 run (Wyndham kick good).
WE-Antonio Coleman 47 punt return (Dalton Mundy 2-point conversion pass to Jerry James good).
BHS-Chisolm 66 run (Wyndham kick good).
WE-Jenkins 85 kickoff return (Mundy 2-point conversion pass failed)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
WE-Jarius Jenkins 17-54 1 TD, David Owens 5-14, Faheem Richburg 2-5.
BHS-Shakur Chisolm 14-229 2 TD, Javonte Dunbar 11-58, Mallory Donte 2-22 1 TD, Kenyon Heyward 6-16, Raheem Bradley 3-11, Devonta Ashley 1-10, Tyrin Williams 3-9, Detravian Johnson 2-2, Travis Elmore 4-0, Team 1-(-2).
PASSING
WE-Dalton Mundy 12-29-131 2 INT.
BHS-Javonte Dunbar 3-4-63 1 TD.
RECEIVING
WE-Faheem Richburg 6-63, Jarius Jenkins 1-21, Jerry James 1-17, David Owens 2-14, Justice Wallace 1-10, Josh Owens 1-6.
BHS-Devonta Ashley 1-57, Charles Williams 1-10 1 TD, Shakur Chisolm 1-(-4).
INTERCEPTIONS
BHS-Shakur Chisolm 2-51.