Hilton Head Island High School came up just short of knocking off defending Region 8-4A champion Berkeley on Friday, falling 21-16 to open region play.
The Seahawks struck first on Collin Kaiser’s 85-yard touchdown pass to Nate Brown on the first play from scrimmage and forced a fumble on Berkeley’s first offensive play but couldn’t maintain the momentum.
Berkeley’s Eric Tuttle threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Devron Pesnell to even the score, and it was 7-7 at halftime. Tuttle hit DJ Chisolm for a 15-yard TD to give the Stags a 14-7 lead before Jonathan Orr’s 30-yard field goal pulled the Seahawks within 14-10 with 2:35 left in the third quarter.
Berkeley made it 21-10 with a fumble return for a score with 6:26 left, and Kaiser hit Diante Richard for a 5-yard TD pass to get HHIHS within five with 4:21 left before the rally fell short.
Hilton Head High (3-2, 0-1) continues region play next week at Cane Bay.
