Hilton Head Christian, Thomas Heyward earn spots in SCISA football title games

Hilton Head Christian rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit to knock off defending state champion Florence Christian in the SCISA 2A semifinals on Friday.

The Eagles face Trinity-Byrnes for the state title next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Benedict College.

Florence Christian led 28-14 at halftime on the strength of three Marshall Brown touchdown runs.

But the second half belonged to HHCA, which got big performances from Hayden Shinn and John Peduzzi. The duo combined for five touchdown passes.

Shinn was 22-of-36 for 331 yards. He hit Peduzzi for on a 28-yard pass to tie it at 28 with one minute left in the third. HHCA took the lead on Shinn’s fifth TD pass of the game with 10 minutes to go. The scoring drive came after a Hilton Head Christian goal-line stand.

Peduzzi put the game away with an interception return for a touchdown. He also finished with eight catches for 111 yards.

Thomas Heyward 20, Pee Dee Academy 7

Thomas Heyward used a big second half to earn its second straight trip to the SCISA Class A championship.

The Rebels face Bethesda Academy for the state title next Saturday at noon at Benedict College. Bethesda beat THA, 28-16, on Oct. 18

Bruzza Pusha ran for two touchdowns, including the go-ahead one in the third quarter to make it 14-7 in the third quarter. Peyton Bennett hit Zack Black on a 21-yard TD pass to put the Rebels up 21-7 in the fourth.

Pusha led THA with 145 yards rushing. JR Patterson added 112 and John Clark Tilton had 93 for the Rebels.

Hartsville 34, Beaufort 17

Hartsville’ s Dariyan Pendergrass scored three rushing touchdowns as the Red Foxes advanced to the third round of the Class 4A state playoffs with a 34-17 victory over Beaufort on Friday.

The game was tied at 14 following the first quarter but Pendergrass’ 29-yard TD put Hartsville up 21-14 in the second quarter.

Beaufort had a chance to tie just before halftime but the Red Foxes picked off Daniel Phares.

The Eagles got within 21-17 on Brayden Sarathy’s 26-yard field goal midway through the third quarter.

But Darian McMillian had a TD run with five seconds left in the third quarter and and J’Shawn Anderson added one in the fourth for Hartsville.

John Dagin had both of Beaufort’s touchdowns on runs of 42 and 19 in the first quarter.

Oceanside Collegiate 28, Whale Branch 0

Keegan Williams rushed for 266 yards and two touchdowns as the Landsharks ended the Warriors’ season.