By Robert Neely
Special to MaxPreps.com
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – On a sloppy day, the South Carolina football all-stars sputtered.
But the Sandlappers eventually eliminated their errors and then unleashed “The Beast” to pile up 21 unanswered points in the second half and earn a convincing 24-16 victory over North Carolina in the 72nd Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas at Gibbs Stadium on Saturday.
“I told (the players) at halftime that we’re our worst enemy,” South Carolina head coach Ted Luckadoo said. “Finally we got to the point of putting something together on offense.”
That something was a running game featuring quarterback Stephon Gilmore of South Pointe, who broke a 47-yard run to set up South Carolina’s first touchdown. Gilmore netted 71 rushing yards and earned South Carolina offensive most valuable player honors.
“The first half, since we only had one week (of practice), the offensive line wasn’t as gelled as it should be,” Gilmore said.” We were getting along, but we weren’t gelled.”
South Carolina offensive tackle Denzelle Good of Gaffney said: “At the half, we went in and we started talking about what we should do, what we needed to do. (After that) we were out there communicating and picking up blocks. Everybody was looking out for each other.”
Gilmore wasn’t the only running quarterback in the Sandlappers’ arsenal. Cornerback Walt Canty (Dorman), who earned South Carolina defensive MVP honors with two tackles for loss, also starred as a quarterback running out of a specialized short-yardage formation called “the Beast.”
The Beast featured two offensive linemen and a tight end lined up in the backfield with Canty to create a monstrous wall of blockers. Canty scored a touchdown and ran for 63 yards, all out of the Beast alignment.
“It’s pretty fun when you’ve got a big offensive line and you can run right behind it,” Canty said. “It makes it easy on me.”
After Canty’s third-quarter touchdown, South Carolina put together a 68-yard drive, capping it off when Jarrett Neely (Northwestern) took an end-around handoff 13 yards for the go-ahead score on the opening play of the fourth quarter.
“(South Carolina) got the momentum in the second half,” North Carolina head coach Gary Fowler said.
South Carolina’s second-half success on offense fed the defense, which completely stymied the Tar Heels over the final two quarters. The Sandlappers held North Carolina to just 17 total yards and one first down in the second half, while forcing two turnovers, including an interception that cornerback Jerrodd Williams (Daniel) brought back 59 yards for the clinching score with 5:19 remaining.
“Once the offense started doing something in the second half, we started feeding off that, and we had a lot more energy,” South Carolina safety Justin Bright (Byrnes) said.
A botched field-goal attempt and a busted all-out blitz cost the Sandlappers in the first half and enabled North Carolina to build a 16-3 lead.
Early in the second quarter, an interception by Canty set up a go-ahead field-goal attempt for the Sandlappers, but the snap was low, and North Carolina’s Terry Shankle picked up the ball and rumbled 59 yards for a touchdown.
Two drives later, North Carolina quarterback Desmond Lowery, a mid-week injury replacement, broke free from a South Carolina blitz and scored on a 54-yard touchdown run that gave the Tar Heels a 16-3 lead going into the break.
Lowery, who ran for 68 yards, won offensive MVP honors for North Carolina.
Spencer Shuey, who had eight tackles and two tackles for loss, took defensive MVP honors for the Tar Heels.
Notes - South Carolina, which won for the second straight year, now leads the Shrine Bowl series 40-28-4.
Robert Neely is a sportswriter for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.
North Carolina 3 13 0 0 - 16
South Carolina 0 3 7 14 - 24
First quarter
NC - Matt Millisor, 29 field goal, 12:41
Second quarter
SC - Grant Clayton, 44 field goal, 14:53
NC - Terry Shankle 59 fumble recovery (run failed), 11:30
NC - Desmond Lowery 54 run (Millisor kick), 5:26
Third quarter
SC - Walt Canty 9 run (Clayton kick), 7:06
Fourth quarter
SC - Jarrett Neely 14 run (Clayton kick), 14:50
SC - Jerrodd Williams 59 interception return (Clayton kick), 5:19
Att - 7,000
