Lexington Wins Battle of The Dam

The Irmo Yellow Jackets' domination of Lexington ended Friday night when the second-ranked Wildcats whipped their county rivals 48-10 at W.C. Hawkins Stadium.

On a crisp and breezy night, the Wildcats breezed to a victory and claimed the "Battle of the Dam."

After hanging tough with Lexington in the first half, getting as close as 14-10 in the second quarter, Lexington broke the game wide open in the second half behind an explosive offense and a stingy defense.

Irmo managed to largely keep Lexington star and USC Gamecock commitment wide receiver Shaq Roland in check for much of the game. It didn't matter. The night belonged squarely to Wildcat running back Kevin Miller, who rushed for 299 yards on 35 carries and scored four touchdowns.

Lexington (5-0) got on top quickly against Irmo (1-4), 14-0. But then Irmo began clawing its way back. Irmo's Paul Nelson peeled of a 50-yard kick return that culminated in a 1-yard scoring run by Marcus Smith.

Then, on Irmo's next possession, a 77-yard run put the Jackets in the red zone at the Wildcat 10-yard line. But the Jackets had to settle for a field goal and a 14-10 score. From then on it was all Wildcats.

The loss by Irmo put a damper on the number-retiring ceremony for 1990 High School All-American Chris Corley, who starred on Irmo's lone state championship team and later went on to star at South Carolina and play a season with the NFL's Seattle Sehawks.

The win by Lexington also ended 11 years of gridiron futility against Irmo, who had not beaten Irmo since 2000 when another tailback, Demetrius Summers, starred for the Wildcats. All told, Irmo still owns the overall series record against Lexington at 33-10.

Next week Irmo will attempt to rebound against Aiken at home, while Lexington returns home to play Dutch Fork.