Ron Peduzzi calls his team Junkyard Dogs for a reason. On a night where their resiliency was tested, the Hilton Head Christian Academy Eagles lived up to their nickname and punched their ticket back to the SCISA 2A state championship game.
Jace Blackshear threw for four touchdowns, and Hilton Head Christian Academy overcame a one-point halftime deficit Friday to beat Pee Dee Academy 52-23 at home, ousting the Golden Eagles for the second straight season and advancing to a third consecutive state title game.
“We just kept coming at them offensively and made some plays,” head coach Ron Peduzzi said. “We put some guys in different places in the second half, and the fumble was the big turning point. You wanna be called Junkyard Dogs, you gotta come out like them. I thought they did pretty good in the second half.”
Pee Dee Academy’s run game started rolling from the outset, as Landyn Tyler and Coleby Sinclair both broke loose for big yardage on their opening drive. But a holding penalty
pushed the visitors back, leading to a 33-yard Drew Singletary field goal to open the scoring. Blackshear came up clutch twice on HHCA’s first possession, hitting Riley Shinn for a fourth-down conversion before throwing a 35-yard dart to Isaiah Anderson in the end zone to give HHCA a 7-3 lead.
Sinclair got right back to work for PDA, leading a 10-play drive capped off by a Hudson Spivey quarterback sneak before a missed extra point kept the PDA advantage at 9-7. Blackshear delivered again on fourth down to swing the hometown Eagles back in front, drilling a 24-yard pass to Riley Shinn to set up a four-yard Speedy Robinson pitch to the end zone.
It looked like Peduzzi’s group would take a six-point advantage into the break, but the visitors struck in a flurry to snatch the halftime lead. Sinclair got it started with a monster 33-yard run, and Tyler took it across the goal line to give Pee Dee a 16-15 edge at the break.
It felt like a must for Hilton Head Christian to score on its opening drive of the second half, and after Blackshear was called for intentional grounding, the Pee Dee fans were sensing their team’s moment to take control.
But Robinson made the moment his own. The senior star provided the spark on offense, reeling in a pass from Blackshear to set up a third-and-short before burning past the defense on a go-route for a 29-yard touchdown catch. After his defense forced the game’s first turnover on a fumble, Blackshear continued to feed the hot hand as Robinson darted 20 yards to the end zone for his third score of the night.
A 57-yard Tyler run gave Pee Dee Academy new life, and Spivey burrowed into the end zone from a yard out to make the state semifinal just a one-score game. With the momentum hanging in the balance on a fourth-and-8, the Eagles needed a lift from their go-to guy.
They needed their Bulldog.
In his HHCA home finale, Jackson Lanier came to the rescue, finding an open seam down the field and racing to the end zone for a crucial 41-yard touchdown catch. Shinn
pounced on a Pee Dee Academy fumble, and the Bulldog took care of the rest, storming past the defense for a 53-yard run to set up a Shinn touchdown catch before Lanier added one final score on the ground to send his Eagles back to the state championship game.
“He loves football and loves being out there,” Peduzzi said. “ He plays with everything he’s got, and it’s just a privilege to have young men like him on our team.”
Blackshear orchestrated another masterpiece through the air, throwing for 222 yards and four touchdowns while adding 30 rushing yards. Lanier was a beast in the run game, leading his squad with 119 yards and a touchdown alongside two catches for 49 yards and a score. Robinson ran for 53 yards and caught four passes for 42 yards with three total touchdowns, and Shinn added four receptions for 52 yards and a score. HHCA’s offense came up clutch in the biggest moments, going a remarkable 4-for-4 on fourth downs.
Just one step remains in the Eagles’ quest for back-to-back state titles, as Hilton Head Christian Academy (12-0) travels to Charleston Southern University on Saturday for a battle with Williamsburg Academy. His team has proven its dominance all season long, but Peduzzi knows that he’ll need even more out of his group to knock off the unbeaten Stallions and cement a Lowco dynasty.
“They’re good, they’re undefeated,” Peduzzi said. “They’re very aggressive, they play hard, they have 14 seniors, so we got a lot of work to do.”
By Wes Kerr
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