CENTRAL — Since the AAA playoff brackets were finalized a week ago, many eyed with interest a possible second-round rematch of last season's Upper State title game between Daniel and Chester high schools, but Lions coach Randy Robinson knew that his team's focus must be squarely on the task at hand in Friday night's opening round matchup with Berea.

The Lions held up their end of the bargain with a 38-0 victory over the Bulldogs and will now be able to turn their attention to avenging last year's season-ending loss to the Cyclones, who staved off a late Greer rally for a 27-21 first-round win Friday night.

“When the brackets came out, I think a lot of people started looking at this second-round matchup,” Robinson said. “Obviously we've had a good year, and Chester's had a great year.”

The Lions controlled Friday night's game from the get-go, scoring on a 29-yard pass from Tevin Robinson to DeAndre Hopkins only 45 seconds into the game and never looking back.

The Lions relied on the passing game throughout the first half, as Robinson and Colton Korn passed for a combined 190 yards in the first two quarters as Daniel built a 28-0 lead.

“(The Bulldogs) were playing press man and throwing lots of guys in the box,” Randy Robinson said. “One-on-one, we feel like our guys can make plays down the field, so that really dictated that we were going to throw the football early.”

The Lions reached the end zone on their first four possessions before Berea threatened to strike late in the first half.

After Eddie Williams returned a kickoff 73 yards to set the Bulldogs up with a first-and-goal at the Daniel 7-yard line, the Lions’ defense buckled down, as North-South All-Star Chris Turner picked off a Zach Reeves pass.

Turner said the Lions were prepared for the situation because of a weekly Tuesday practice drill, called “goal line,” in which the Daniel offense and defense square off in the red zone.

“I was down there yelling 'goal line,' and the rest of the defense were yelling 'goal line,'” Turner said. “We play as a team. It's an honor to be a part of this defense.”

The Daniel defense shut down the Bulldogs' dangerous running back duo of Davion Gambrell and Williams to the tune of a combined 21 yards on 15 carries.

“Coach (Jimmy) Dixon and those defensive linemen take a lot of pride in stopping the running game,” Robinson said.

Robinson said that he is looking forward to getting another shot at Chester.

“As many times as I've watched that film, I've got it memorized and I want to correct all those mistakes,” Robinson said of last year's 27-24 loss to the Cyclones.

But Turner reinforced his teammates' workmanlike attitude.

“This is the game we had to focus on first,” Turner said of Berea. “We've got it done and if Chester's the next team, we'll strap it up and play them.”

Berea 0, Daniel 38

BHS 0 0 0 0 – 0

DWD 14 14 7 3 – 38

SCORING SUMMARY

First quarter

DWD — Hopkins 29 pass from Robinson (Gammon kick) 11:15

DWD — Wingard 4 run (Gammon kick) 2:40

Second quarter

DWD — Davidson 1 run (Gammon kick) 8:00

DWD — Anderson 4 run (Treglia kick) 3:16

Third quarter

DWD — Wingard 1 run (Treglia kick) 9:48

Fourth quarter

DWD — Treglia 28 field goal 7:07

TEAM STATISTICS

BHS DWD

First Downs 5 16

Rushes-Yards 20-14 37-176

Passing Yards 31 190

Com-Att-Int 5-16-3 8-15-0

Punts-Avg. 6-37.5 1-28

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 4-2

Pen-Yards 6-69 11-92

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — Berea, Gambrell 8-19, Dickey 1-5, Williams 7-2, Reeves 4-(-12). Daniel, Davidson 15-97, Durham 8-73, Chapman 3-9, Wingard 2-5, Anderson 2-4, Korn 2-(-1), Owen 2-(-3), Robinson 3-(-8).

Passing — Berea, Reeves 5-15-3 31, Dickey 0-1-0. Daniel, Korn 3-5-0 113, Robinson 5-10-0 77.

Receiving — Berea, Dickey 2-15, Williams 2-9, Chapman 1-7. Daniel, Cannon 4-96, 3-84, Korn 1-10.