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The Dorman Cavaliers return a wealth of talen from a team that was barely edged out by Dutch Fork in the Class 5A State Championshiop game in 2017. They will, again, be strong in the trenches with an offensive and defesnive front that is big, strong, fast and well coached. But their offensive fire power is going to be the best they’ve had in a long time. While they lost quarterback Ben Batson to graduation, they return Matthew Powell, who played well in mop up duty as a junior last season. While he only threw 12 passes in his 14 games as a back up, he managed to go 2-2 for 60 yards and a touchdown against Dutch Fork and looked sharp in his time in the game.
Powell will have some very dangerous weapons surrounding him, which will take pressure off of him and make the offense much more lethal. Returning to lead the ground game will be senior Thomas Morgan. The 5-9, 184lbs back rushed for more than 1,400 yards last season and that was with sharing equal carries with Marcus Ratchford, who was a senior on that team. Morgan averaged 8.6 yards per carry and close to 100 yards per game.
The passing game has three very dangerous targets as go-to guys. WR Jacoby Pinckney (6-3, 200) was the main target in the 2017 attack, hauling in 65 receptions for 1,055 yards and 6 touchdowns. Zack Hillstock returns and he was a versatile athlete in running and receiving. The 5-10, 180lbs rising senior had 742 yards of total offense in 2017, with 14 rushing touchdowns and 4 receiving. He caught 25 passes against his 81 touches running the ball. He is a shifty athlete with excellent speed and ability to slip through tackles in traffic. And joining the arsenal this season is WR Kamal Desor (6-5, 190), who transferred back in from Boiling Springs High School. Desor started his career at Dorman his freshman season, went to Boiling Springs for two seasons where he was one of the Bulldogs’ top targets, and has now transferred back to Dorman for his senior season. Last year Desor had 43 catches for 829 yards and 7 touchdowns.
While we have yet to see this team, or any other, in pads to get a good look at their 2018 prospective, on paper this looks like the team to beat in 5A Region 2 and could very well be a team favored to go the distance in the upstate. The upstate bracket in the playoffs is a guantlet, however, and every round is against a solid opponent. But before the Cavs can even think about the playoffs, they have to cut through a schedule in the toughest 5A region in the state with Gaffney, Spartanburg, Byrnes, Boiling Springs, Hillcrest, an improved Mauldin team and Riverside.
