ABBEVILLE — A rain-soaked field in Abbeville provided a fitting battleground for two of the upstate’s toughest teams. For the third straight year, Abbeville topped Pendleton in what should amount to a region championship game. From the opening whistle, the Abbeville Panthers took the game to Pendleton and coasted to a 31-14 win.

On its second drive of the game, the Abbeville offense established itself on the ground. The Panthers used a familiar combination of quarterback Jermaine Thackson and fullback Dureal Elmore to run the ball right through the middle of the Pendleton defense. The two juniors combined for 52 yards on the drive, with Thackson’s fourteen yard jaunt putting Abbeville ahead eight minutes into the first quarter.

“This game is traditionally a nail-biter,” Abbeville coach Jamie Nickels said. “We were able to get a little momentum going tonight, though. That’s a good Pendleton football team.”

Abbeville didn’t waste time in taking total control of the game shortly after that. The Panther defense brought constant pressure, disrupting Pendleton’s motion-based running attack and forcing quarterback John Michael Gibson to take chances through the air. Nearly everytime a Pendleton player carried the ball, he was greeted with a big hit by one of Abbeville’s defenders. This defensive toughness set the tone for what would be a nasty game until the end.

On Abbeville’s third and fourth drives of the first half, they cashed in touchdowns on long runs. The first was a Jermaine Thackson 37-yard run where he dodged a handful of Bulldog defenders. Early in the second quarter, Elmore set up the Panther offense with a 36-yard run. Two plays later, junior Sammy Head put Abbeville ahead 19-0 with a tough 14-yard touchdown run of his own.

“Those guys are really good,” Pendleton coach Paul Sutherland said. “They have so many guys, this is really the best Abbeville team I’ve seen since about 2001.”

Down 19-0 in the second quarter, the Bulldogs fought back in typical Pendleton fashion. Senior receiver C.J. Gleaton took a handoff on a reverse, then threw a strike to junior Anthony Eubanks, who completed the rest of the 67-yard play. Then on their first drive of the third quarter, Pendleton used a long pass play to set up another score to make the score 19-14.

That’s when the Abbeville offense went on an 80-yard drive that would put the game away. That drive included a fourth and two that Nickels put in the hands of Thackson. He picked up 12 and not long after that, Elmore scored from 22 yards out.

“When you’ve got fourth and short, you’ve got to be tough,” Thackson said. “You got to be able to say, ‘I’m going to do what I have to do to get those yards before the other guy stops me.’”