Dec. 9—There was a potentially season-altering pair of plays late in the final seconds of the first half of Saturday's Class AA state championship football game.

Top-ranked Strom Thurmond was firmly in control against No. 5 Hampton County, with the Rebels' Blue Steel defense suffocating Class AA's No. 1 scoring team while the offense continued to make the necessary plays to extend drives and get into scoring position.

Deonte Phillips found the end zone for the second time in the first half to make it 18-0 with only 24 seconds on the clock, putting all of the momentum squarely in Strom Thurmond's favor.

Then, a spark. Desmond Mathis returned a short, angled kickoff all the way to the 10-yard line, and Hampton County was going to have a chance to score on the final play of the half.

Still, making those kind of last-second stops has kind of been Strom Thurmond's thing during the Rebels' run to the title game — the stopped two-point conversion to beat Batesburg-Leesville in the Region 2-AA opener, the forced incompletion in the end zone with no time left against Saluda and the stopped two-pointer against Fairfield Central in the Upper State championship were all evidence of that, and, while Saturday's stakes were higher, this wasn't as pressure-packed of a situation.

Touchdown, Hurricanes.

Mathis bobbled and pulled in a pass in the end zone with no time remaining, and after the extra point Hampton County was only down 11 and would be putting the ball back in the hands of its explosive offense to start the second half.

Suddenly the Hurricanes had life, and surely that score would be a big boost going into the break for a "Don't let them get hot" kind of football team.

Strom Thurmond didn't.

The Rebels squeezed that life right back out of Hampton County, with Shaheed Williams blowing up a reverse on fourth down to get the ball back and then making an acrobatic 11-yard touchdown catch from Bri'Shaun Lee on fourth down to punctuate a drive that chewed up more than six and a half minutes of the game clock.

Ballgame.

Now the Rebels were up 19 with only 1:33 left in the third quarter, and Hampton County was going to have to score more in 13 minutes and change than Strom Thurmond's first-team defense had allowed in a game in two months.

A team that doesn't throw it a ton was going to have to get out of its comfort zone and go airborne, and Strom Thurmond's secondary issued a harsh reminder that the area they patrol is a strict no-fly zone. Jalin Collins intercepted consecutive pass attempts, and Williams picked off the next one for good measure to put the final peach in the basket and allow the Rebels to kneel out the clock on a 26-7 victory at South Carolina State's Oliver C. Dawson Stadium.

The seniors checked off the final box on a lofty to-do list that included a Region 2-AA championship, an undefeated record at home and the program's first state championship in 20 years.

"Every chance I've had to brag on this group of seniors, I've done it," head coach Andrew Webb said. "They're our best players. They're our best leaders. They're our best people. They have led us since last November. They've done an outstanding job and they take pride in playing Rebel football, and they love each other. I'm proud."

The stop-and-score in the third quarter was just a slice of how the Rebels delivered every time a big play was required.

Williams knocked the ball loose from Hampton County quarterback Tarell Grant on a promising opening drive, with Kaleb Simpkins scooping it up at the Rebels' 8-yard line and returning it 62 yards to the Hurricanes' 30. Two snaps later, Phillips scored from 37 yards out to give Strom Thurmond the early lead.

Lee found Simpkins for a 55-yard touchdown pass on the Rebels' next drive, and Simpkins was credited with the tackle on a fourth-down stop on the Hurricanes' ensuing possession.

Another deep ball from Lee to Simpkins put them in scoring position, and Phillips powered in from the 4 a few plays later for the 18-0 lead.

Speaking of Phillips, he both out-gained and out-scored Hampton County counterpart Jaylen Singletary, who came into the game leading the South Carolina High School League in rushing yards and touchdowns. He had 47 total scores for the season and had his eyes on 50, but Strom Thurmond gave him zero.

Phillips, on the other hand, rushed for 155 yards and two touchdowns and was named player of the game. Williams must have been a close second after leading the team in tackles, forcing a fumble, intercepting a pass and catching a touchdown. Simpkins had 107 receiving yards and a score, and Lee was an efficient 5-for-7 for 126 yards and two touchdowns.

"I told these boys before the game, the outcome of this game ain't got nothing to do with how much I love them," Webb said. "I love them no matter what. I'm so thankful for them. When (Simpkins) had chances to make plays, he made them. When he looked at me and said, 'Run this,' I ran this. He made plays for us, and I'm proud of him."

The Rebels held a team averaging 46 points per game to a lone touchdown set up by a busted play on special teams. They kept the state's leading scorer out of the end zone, they limited an offense averaging 373.3 yards per game to only 208, and they caught more of Grant's passes (three) than his own receivers did (two). Hampton County had been held to only seven points once this season — by Class AAAA Bluffton back on Sept. 12.

"Awesome. We shouldn't have gave up the kick return before halftime. But, Blue Steel defense," Webb said. "They played great. They take pride in it in the peach fields, and they played their best tonight."

That's how it's been nearly all season long for Strom Thurmond, which held seven of its 15 opponents to a single digit on the scoreboard. Three of those occurred in the playoffs during a run in which the Rebels outscored their opponents by an average of 24 points per game, extending their win streak to 10 games and finishing it with a victory on the state's biggest stage.

The win set off a celebration 20 years in the making, with the Rebels bringing home their third state championship in program history and first since 2005, which was also their last appearance in a title game. That drought is now over, as this historic senior class has left its stamp on a legacy and a tradition they grew up hearing about from brothers, dads, uncles, cousins and anyone else before them that played football in the peach fields.

"Where we're from, this means everything," Simpkins said. "My family is rooted in tradition here. Just to bring something back home that hasn't been here in 20 years is special."