Dreher running beats Lower Richland passing
Dreher 28
Lower Richland 20
Story and photos
by Warner M. Montgomery
Warner@TheColumbiaStar.com

Dreher's Nick Bethea is pursued by Lower Richland's Lewis Gunter. Bethea ran for an astounding 309 yards. Gunter had 12 tackles.

The teams had contrasting offensive styles - passing from the spread versus running from the wing T. The result? An exciting game!

Lower Richland's new coach, J.W. Montgomery, used a no-huddle spread to capitalize on the talents of quarterback Joshua Johnson. Dreher's Bill Bacon kept the ball on the ground and ran halfbacks Nick Bethea and Alex Ramos between the tackles all night.

The Diamond Hornets outplayed and out-scored the Dreher Blue Devils in the first quarter. Toby Goodson scored on a 37-yard pass from Johnson, and Trayton Owens scored on an eight-yard run. It looked like the Lower Richland winless drought was over.

After LR's second score, the Diamond Hornets pushed Dreher back to their own 6-yard line. Then, to the surprise of everyone except Coach Bacon, Nick Bethea cut off left tackle, broke three tackles, and raced 94 yards for a score. At halftime the score was LR 14, DHS 7.

Lower Richland quarterback Joshua Johnson had 151 yards passing, 53 yards rushing, two touchdowns, one fumble, and one interception. The Diamond Hornets scored 20 points against Dreher. They scored 23 points total in 2005.

The second half was all Bethea's. By the end of the game he had carried the ball 22 times for 309 yards. Ramos added another 110 yards, and Dreher came away with a 28-20 win.