Electrician Contractor in Powdersville, SC

POWDERSVILLE, S.C. —

The Powdersville Patriots are coming off their most successful season in program history, finishing last year with a 13-2 record and making it to the 3A state title game. The Patriots came close to winning a championship, but ultimately lost to Beaufort 41-31.

"We were so close," Patriots head coach Robert Mustar said. "It ought to make it sting a little bit more when you're that close and you don't accomplish your ultimate goal but that makes you want to get back even more."

"There's a lot of mistakes we made in that game," Patriots safety Brendan Wertz said. "So we have to build off that for this season."

The Patriots had one of the best running backs in the state last year in Thomas Williams, who is now at Virginia Tech, so he will be a key player to replace, but overall, the Patriots have a lot of key offensive players returning, including starting quarterback Eli Hudgins and wide receivers Xavier Huggins and Jack Hunsinger. Mustar said Hudgins is like another coach on the field.

"He's going to be a four-year starter," Mustar said. "Never played a down in JV football. To have him back with us, we're excited. He understands the game, but more than anything, he's a competitor."

While the Patriots did not achieve their ultimate goal last year — Mustar said it did show his players a blueprint for success. This year, he said his message to the team is to just be 1-0 every week.

"Year in and year out we're not going to talk about winning state," Mustar said. "We're going to talk about winning that first game. This year for us, that's week zero against Broome. That's where our focus needs to be. Hopefully, you stack up those Ws and by the end of the season, you've had a pretty successful season."

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — Powdersville could almost taste the AAA state championship until Beaufort pulled away late to win 41-31 on Thursday night.

The Patriots took the heartbreaking loss while chasing their first football championship in school history.

Home run plays were rampant as Virginia Tech commit Thomas Williams and Beaufort star running Kacy Fields went blow for blow at Benedict College.

During the second quarter, Williams broke off a 69-yard touchdown run. Fields returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown. By halftime, Williams had two rushing touchdowns with 215 rushing yards on 14 carries. Fields had a 93-yard kick return for a touchdown and 76 yards rushing as Powdersville led 24-21.

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An empty drive later on essentially decided the game.

While trailing 34-31, Powdersville went for it on fourth-and-3 and was stuffed. Beaufort took over near midfield with 10:16 left in the quarter. The Eagles marched downfield and used its traditional running attack to seal the victory with a touchdown.

Beaufort spent nearly five minutes on the drive.

Williams ends his high school career following a phenomenal performance with over 250 yards total offense, three touchdowns and a forced fumble.

"It's obviously not the outcome we wanted, but man, what a heck of a season, a heck of a run," Powdersville coach Robert Mustar said. "Hats off the Beaufort, they were here last year, and they came back and they had something to prove.

"It's kind of a Cinderella story, a lot of people thought, but we expected to be here. ... Down this playoff stretch, we had battle after battle after battle, it felt like. And to sum it up the magic just kind of wore out."

Joshua Miller covers high school sports for The Anderson Independent-Mail. Have questions, story ideas, scores and stats involving high school athletics? Send them to his email at jdmiller@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @NameIsJoshua

It was a history-making night for the Beaufort High football team.

The Eagles won the school’s first state championship with a 41-31 victory Thursday night over Powdersville in the Class 3A title game at Charlie W. Johnson Stadium.

“It is so exciting. I’m just stuck in the moment right now,” Beaufort running back Kacy Fields said.

Beaufort is the first state champion from the county since the Beaufort Tidal Wave won two titles in 1935 and 1945 before integration.

Beaufort was playing in its second straight championship game, something that hasn’t been done in the Lowcountry since defunct H.E. McCracken High School made two straight appearances in 1976 and 1977.

South Pointe defeated the Eagles 41-7 last year in the Class 4A championship game. Beaufort moved down to Class 3A this year because of realignment.

Beaufort coach Bryce Lybrand said he has yet to watch last year’s championship game. Two-way standout Colton Phares said the team got rid of that game’s film in the spring.

Beaufort won’t want to get rid of Thursday’s game film, full of highlights and moments worth watching and remembering for years to come.

Players and fans started their celebration as the final minutes ticked down off the clock Thursday. Lybrand was doused with Gatorade as the final horn sounded, and some players made their way into the stands to celebrate with the big crowd that made the two-hour plus trip to Columbia.

“We said we didn’t want that feeling again, so we worked all spring, all summer,” Phares said. “We knew we had a championship-caliber team, so we had to keep working, trust each other. One team, one family.”

Beaufort finished the season with 13 straight victories and came from behind to win its final three playoff games. The Eagles trailed 24-21 at halftime against Powdersville.

The Eagles’ dynamic running back duo of Kacy Fields and Phares, along with a physical offensive line, paved the way for the championship. Fields and Phares combined for 417 yards and six touchdowns as the Eagles wore down Powdersville, which was making its first championship appearance.

Lybrand went with a two-back approach during the team’s second playoff game against Crestwood and rode that plan to the championship game. Fields started the season as a receiver but moved to running back in the third game.

“They are unbelievable and deserve it. But they would be the first ones to tell you it takes a whole group,” Lybrand said.

Fields, who finished with 219 yards rushing, had the go-ahead touchdown on a 75-yard run in the third quarter to put Beaufort up 34-31. He also had a 93-yard kickoff return for a score.

Phares, who is committed to Appalachian State, finished with 198 yards and also had some big plays on defense. Beaufort didn’t attempt a pass in the game.

“We just wanted to keep on pounding the rock. No need to pass it if you are going to run it like that,” Lybrand said. “We are big up front. Kacy and Colton are big, physical kids and they are hard to handle. We just kept leaning on people, and that is what we were able to do.”

After Beaufort took the lead, the Eagles stopped Powdersville running back and Virginia Tech commit Thomas Williams on fourth-and-2 at the Eagles’ 43-yard line. Williams finished with 236 yards but had only 21 in the second half.

Beaufort then put together a 12-play drive capped off by Fields’ 1-yard run with 5:36 left.

“I told them, let’s just get one stop,” Lybrand said.

Beaufort’s Carter Bowsox then recovered a fumble on Powdersville’s next possession to seal the victory.

——First quarter——

PWD (9:17): Eli Hudgins 6 yd run (Nate Spearman kick), 7-65/2:43

PWD (5:06): Thomas Williams 25 yd run (Spearman kick), 7-55/2:42

——Second quarter——

BFT (9:35): Colton Phares 5 yd run (Jack Troutman kick), 18-82/7:31

BFT (4:28): Phares 31 yd run (Troutman kick), 9-74/3:16

PWD (3:34): Williams 69 yd run (Spearman kick), 2-69/0:54

BFT (3:12): Kacy Fields 93 yd kickoff return (Troutman kick)

PWD (0:22): Spearman 36 yd field goal, 8-47/2:50

——Third quarter——

BFT (7:34): Fields 12 yd run (Troutman kick blockd), 11-66/4:26

PWD (5:00): Williams 1 yd run (Spearman kick), 5-56/2:34

BFT (3:35): Fields 75 yd run (Troutman kick), 3-81/1:25

——Fourth quarter——

BFT (5:36): Fields 1 yd run (Troutman kick), 12-57/5:11

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: P: Williams 20-236; Hudgins 17-46. B: Fields 37-219; Phares 28-198; Bonds 2-7.

PASSING: P: Hudgins 4-8-0 99. B: None.

RECEIVING: P: Huggins 1-47; Williams 1-37; Hunsinger 1-9; Rice 1-6. B: None.

* denotes playoffs

, @BeaufortFB doesn't waste time to answer, 2,000 yard rusher Kacy Fields goes for 75 yards Eagles lead 34-31 3:35 in 3rd pic.twitter.com/HL6jaGWX62

— Lou Bezjak (@LouatTheState) December 2, 2022

This story was originally published December 1, 2022, 10:20 PM.

In case you can't make your way down to Columbia this week for the 2022 South Carolina high school football state championships, you'll still have options to watch all the action on your television or connected devices.

Starting at 7 p.m. Thursday with Powdersville (13-1) against Beaufort (12-1) in the Class AAA title game, all five clashes will be televised on Sinclair's broadcast channels throughout the state.

Where to watch the SCHSL football championship games

For Upstate viewers, tune into WMYA (My40 Asheville-Greenville) to catch each game. For Columbia viewers WACH.2 (TBD Network) is where your dial needs to be. In Charleston, the games will be shown on WCIV (MyTV Charleston), and on WWMB (CW21 Myrtle Beach) in Myrtle Beach.

If you prefer to stream the games via connected devices, the NFHS Network is where you can watch championship week live, but it does require a subscription — which costs either $79 for a year or $11.99 for a month.

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Schedule for SC high school football championship games

Thursday's game

Class AAA: Powdersville (13-1) vs. Beaufort (12-1), 7 p.m.

Friday's games

Class AA: Abbeville (12-2) vs. Oceanside Collegiate (12-1), 2 p.m.

Class A: Christ Church (13-1) vs. Johnsonville (13-0), 7 p.m.

Saturday's games

Class AAAAA: Dutch Fork (13-1) vs. Fort Dorchester (11-3), 12 p.m.

Class AAAA: Northwestern (13-1) vs. South Florence (14-0), 7 p.m.

Powdersville is on its way to its first football state final.

The Patriots defeated Clinton 27-14 on Friday night in the Class AAA Upper State championship game behind a stifling defensive performance.

Clinton entered averaging 48 points per game, but Powdersville only allowed one offensive touchdown. The Patriots kept a lid on Mr. Football finalist Bryson James, and Clinton couldn't find any other ways to unlock the Patriots' swarming defense.

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Linebacker Harrison Jefferies returned an interception for a touchdown to give Powdersville (13-1) a three-point in the third quarter, and that was the turning point. Clinton (13-1) didn't score the rest of the way.

"This game shows that times our offense don't show up, our defense will show up," running back and Virginia Tech commit Thomas Williams said. "There's been a couple of games where our defense didn't show up and our offense showed up.

"There's been a couple games where both sides showed up and that's what led to a blowout. But this game our defense did show up and our offense played on top of that."

As a unit, the defense played lights out in the second half, but one player continuously made his presence felt: junior defensive end Xavier Fowler.

Fowler ended his night with four sacks and seemed like a one-man band at times as he barged through Clinton's offensive line.

"Xavier played like a wild man," Powdersville coach Robert Mustar said. "Man, that kid right there, he is a ball of energy. And tonight he showed it on the field and he came up huge for his team."

"I was seeing it, like, what they were doing and all that," Fowler said of Clinton's offense. "They kept going around every time, they kept trying to swing it. I'm like, 'Nah, that's crazy.' So, I just kept hitting the hole, hitting the gap ... They couldn't stop me there."

As for Williams, who typically ends the night with absurd offensive stats, he had a significant impact on the defensive side that overshadowed what he did on offense. At defensive back, he made several solo tackles with some for a loss or no gain and was always around the ball.

"This was a defensive game for me today," Williams said.

Of course, Williams couldn't go without hitting the end zone. He did so twice, once rushing and once receiving.

Powdersville is on the way to the grandest stage, and Mustar has been at the helm since the very beginning. Powdersville High School opened in 2011 and started varsity athletics in 2012. In their first season, the team went 0-10. Now they can etch their names in the history book, and Mustar takes pride in what his players have built.

"This is a special group of kids," Mustar said. "The core of this group was playing youth ball together and I don't know if you get that everywhere these days. But here, you do. And we're not looking for any outsiders, any transfers.

"(If) they happen to come in, OK. But we're not going looking for them. We've got some homegrown talent and it's just a special group. And I'd like to capture this lightning in a bottle."

Powdersville will play Beaufort (13-1) next week in the AAA state championship game.

"They've got to be ready," Fowler said of Beaufort. "Because we're coming."

Joshua Miller covers high school sports for The Anderson Independent-Mail. Have questions, story ideas, scores and stats involving high school athletics? Send them to his email at jdmiller@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @NameIsJoshua