HOLLY HILL -- Holly Hill Academy made 11-man football look pretty easy.
The Raiders, last year’s SCISA 8-man state champs, stepped up to the 11-man ranks this year and had their way with Patrick Henry in Friday night’s season opener. The Raiders jumped out to a 30-0 lead at the half.
“I told them they could’ve took my check if they would’ve bet me we would be up 30,” a laughing Don Shelley said he told his team at halftime.
HHA’s John Flynn scored first on a 7-yard run with 8:42 to go in the first quarter. Nick Martin added the two-point conversion and HHA was up 8-0. With 4:08 to go in the first quarter, Martin broke free for a 58-yard scoring run. Zack Brownlee hauled in the two-point conversion pass from quarterback Tyler James to make it 16-0 HHA.
Martin started the second quarter with a 24-yard scoring run with 11:07 to go in the second. Brownlee rushed in for the two-point conversion. Martin then added another touchdown, this time a 1-yard run with 8:47 to go in the first half.
Patrick Henry opened up the second half with a 57-yard touchdown reception by Coty Smith on a pass from Chris Wilson. The two-point conversion failed. With 6:17 to go in the quarter, Martin scored from 4-yards out. Brownlee added the extra point to make it 37-6.
Brownlee then returned an interception 57 yards with 9:54 to play. The kick failed, but HHA led 43-6.
Martin finished with 15 carries for 192 yards and four touchdowns. Flynn had eight tackles on defense for the Raiders.
HHA (1-0) travels to St. Matthews to take on Calhoun Academy next week at 7:30 p.m.