By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director

CENTRE – Shortly after standing side-by-side for the singing of the school alma mater following their 35-7 victory over Alexandria on Friday night, the Cherokee County Warriors made a fevered dash to the scoreboard at Warrior Stadium.

They saw their three consecutive region championships being highlighted on the big screen, and they wanted a few photos commemorating the rare three-peat occasion.

“It’s a real special moment. Not a lot of teams get to do that,” senior running back/defensive lineman Tae Diamond said. “I’m proud of the whole team. We knew this was going to be for the region championship. We had a phenomenal week at practice. We were locked in. We knew what we had to come in and do and we did that, and now we’re region champs again baby.”

“We’ve worked hard,” senior receiver/kicker Ben Frampton said. “A lot of us have started since our freshman or sophomore years. Just to fill the shoes of the guys before us means a lot.”

As he stood and watched the Warriors celebrate, Cherokee County head coach Jacob Kelley reflected on how far this team has come.

“It makes me so happy,” Kelley said. “To think about where we were after game one (against Piedmont), not to say we doubted the things we were doing just because of one loss, but we just knew this group had some growing up to do. I feel like throughout the season we’ve just been consistent and getting better each week. They’ve worked their tails off, and to see them accomplish this tonight, I’m just happy to see them celebrate. I’m really proud of our guys making this come to fruition.”

The third-ranked Warriors (8-1, 6-0) looked every bit like a championship team. They dominated on both sides of the ball Friday night against No. 10 Alexandria (5-3, 4-2).

Following a Valley Cub punt on the game’s opening possession, Cherokee County methodically drove the ball 85 yards in seven plays behind the running of Diamond and Keyshawn Woods, with an Adam Griffith 26-yard pass to Frampton mixed in for good measure. The end result was Woods’ 1-yard score to put the Warriors up 7-0.

Dylan Duncan’s fumble recovery led to another Warrior touchdown in the early stages of the second quarter. This time, Diamond scored on a 2-yard run to put the Warriors up 14-0.

After another Valley Cub punt, Tristan Brown delivered a 31-yard touchdown run to put Cherokee County up 21-0 at halftime.

“We just came out fired up,” Brown said. “We were more physical than they were on the line scrimmage, tackling, running the ball, everything we were doing with the ball. We executed from the start. We all played as a team. We did all our jobs. It’s easy if everybody does their job.”

Griffith put the game on ice with a pair of touchdown tosses to open the third quarter. The first went for 79 yards to Frampton on the Warriors’ first offensive play of the third quarter. Their second offensive play went for 74 yards on a Griffith-to-Ethan Glass scoring connection. It was Glass’ first touchdown catch of the season and it pushed the Warrior lead to 35-0.

Griffith finished 4 of 7 passing for 204 yards and the two scores.

“We had some stuff in the (passing game) in the first half, but we just didn’t take advantage of it,” Kelley said. “I just told Adam it’s there. Just trust it. Let it go and Frampton will do the rest. We also worked another one at halftime. We knew they were going to have to get in man with the back. We knew they were going to honor (Ben) Moseley out there because he’s the one who always finds a seam, and Ethan Glass was wide open. His first catch was a touchdown, and a big one too.”

About the only drama left remaining in the game was whether the Warrior defense would preserve their shutout, which would’ve been their fourth of the season.

The Valley Cubs spoiled that by putting together an 11-play, 51-yard drive that resulted in quarterback Cole Wheeler’s 1-yard sneak on a fourth-and-goal. Officials ruled Wheeler just barely made it through the Warrior defensive front in with 8:12 remaining in the game.

Kelley felt the Warriors kept Wheeler out of the end zone, but gave Alexandria credit.

“They’ve had a much better season from where they were last year. I thought their guys have gotten better. They played extremely hard,” he said.

Wheeler led the Valley Cubs by completing 7 of 20 pass attempts for 81 yards. Diamond delivered 72 yards on seven carries with a touchdown for the Warriors. Brown also had seven carries for 71 yards and a score.

With another region championship under their belts, the Warriors look to close out region play undefeated against Ashville next Friday. A win would not only accomplish that feat, but it would also tie this year’s seniors with the 2009 state championship team with 41 victories in their careers.

But Diamond and the Warriors don’t just want to stop there.

“This was a goal (Friday night), a milestone, but we’ve got a way bigger goal we want to accomplish, something that hasn’t been done since 2009,” he said, referring to their own state title. “That’s the main goal right there.”