By Tommy Howard

thoward@gtowntimes.com

Jalen Simmons is a freshman at Waccamaw High School, but he's already made his mark in football.

Friday night Simmons scored two touchdowns in the Warriors' 14-6 win over St. James.

And quite a big crowd got to see Simmons and the rest of the Warriors win their second game in a row this season.

Dr. Randy Dozier, superintendent of schools for Georgetown County, estimated at least 2,200 people came out for the game. He said that's likely a record turnout.

A fan said he recently went to a Coastal Carolina University game with about 2,500 people, and he believes there were about 3,000 Waccamaw fans.

Regardless of the turn-out, Simmons, head coach Tyronne Davis and plenty of other folks in the standing-room-only crowd were well pleased.

Pair of touchdowns

"It feels good," Simmons said. "I couldn't score without the offensive line.

"St. James is a tough team but we got it done. We came out the winner."

"It feels good to be a freshman playing with a senior who's going to a big college," like Jerome Maybank, Simmons said.

De-fense

Davis, in his second game as head coach at Waccamaw, said starting quarterback "Alex Burdette got hurt trying to eat the clock."

That was shortly before half-time.

He was taken to the hospital but later released.

Numerous teammates said they hung on to win the game for Burdette.

Then, at the end of the game, "We had a play where the quarterback tried to scramble, but unfortunately he went backwards instead of forward."

St. James had a hurt player, but they didn't have any more time-outs so Waccamaw just let the clock run out at the end.

"Overall, our defense showed up. They handled key turnovers at crucial times.

"After the loss of Alex Burdette, we had to be more conservative."

"My hat's off to coach [Billy] Hurston. It was a hard-fought game. He pushed us to the very end."

Simmons' pair of touchdowns was right nice for a freshman, Davis said.

Neighborhood rivalry

"We knew they were going to play us hard."

"The kids are practically neighbors" since St. James is nearby in the Murrells Inlet portion of Horry County, and Waccamaw is in Pawleys Island.

"We were able to capitalize on some mistakes."

But, at the same time, the Warriors are making mistakes and getting penalties.

He gave particular credit to coach Steve Hart for his work with the defense.

Brian Asbaty made an important interception, and Chapman Luquire made a crucial sack at a crucial time, Davis said.

"We preach each week, in order to win games like this, you have to be prepared. The defense stepping up helped us win this game."