This past Friday night was special at Lugoff-Elgin Stadium.   The Demons celebrated Senior Night for football players, athletic trainers, cheerleaders and band members.  They were not dissapointed as Lugoff-Elgin defeated the A. C. Flora Falcons, 35-14, to earn a spot in the 3A playoffs.

The Demons and Falcons battled to a scoreless first quarter as both squads worked on getting the better field position.  However, the second quarter saw 28 points be put on the scoreboard.

Lugoff Elgin would strike first and never look back as Senior running back, Steven Bonaparte would find the end zone from two yards out.  That score came with 8:51 left in the half and Grayson Quick would add the extra point for a 7-0 LE advantage.

The Demons would hit on big plays again as Forrest Koumas would connect with fellow senior, E. J. Ruiz on a 36 yard pass.  E. J. would catch the pass near the sidelines, then cut it back inside leaving his defender wondering what just happened while Ruiz would jaunt into the end zone.  That touchdwon would come with 3:59 left in the first half. 

Lugoff-Elgin would hold A. C. Flora to a three and out on their next series and get the ball back.  The Demons would line up at their own 31 yard line and had no time outs on the clock.  It wouldn't matter as Koumas would find four year starter Julian Baxter on another long pass with 2:25 showing on the second quarter clock to go on top 21-0 after the extra point was good.

Flora would show some grit as they got on the board with only 24 seconds left in the half off of a 35 yard run by Terry Cherry.  Their pat was good and we went into the halftime locker with a 21-7 Demon lead.

Lugoff-Elgin would get the ball to start the second half and make the most of the opportunity.  E. J. Ruiz would find the end zone for the second of his three TD's from seven yards away just 1:55 into the third quarter.  The pat was good and LE would be enjoying the 28-7 lead.

Ruiz would get the hat trick with an eight yard run with 4:34 left in the quarter.  Quick's kick once again split the uprights and Lugoff-Elgin thoughts on where LE would be playing in the first week of the playoffs.

The Falcon's Ricky Williams would close the night's scoring on a nice 34 yard TD run in the fourth quarter to close the advantage at 35-14.

A. C. Flora would be threatening again with 6:02 left in the game, however, E. J. Ruiz would snatch the errant pass in th end zone for a touchback and LE would punch thier ticket to the playoffs with a 7-3 regular season record and a 3-2 conference mark.

Demon Tidbits

--  Lugoff-Elgin finished third in the region behind conference champs, Fairfield Central and Chester.  Chapin lost to Fairfield on Friday and slipped to fourth in the region for the final playoff spot. 

--  With the Demons third place finish, LE will be traveling to Riverside on Friday.  The winner of our game will be playing the winner of the Greenville-West Oak matchup the following Friday. 

--  The game was stopped temporarily due to getting an ambulance to the A. C. Flora sideline.  A Falcon player had blacked out twice and EMS was summoned to render more aid to the player and transport him to the hospital.  It was reported that the player was conscious, alert and would be fine from the injury. 

--  Fans were entertained by the antics of Roger the Ref blow up doll that fan Robbie Hinson brought to the game.  Another fan would help Roger signal Demon first downs, dance to the music played over the p. a. system and got really excited over the Julian Baxter TD catch.  Roger even was able to catch a t-shirt during the t-shirt toss.