When Abbeville trailed in Friday’s game to Mid-Carolina in the third quarter, Dureal Elmore went to offensive coordinator Mark Smith.

Elmore, the Panthers’ junior fullback, was looking to be the focal point of the Abbeville offense he’s been all season.

Elmore entered Friday’s game with 1,645 rushing yards, and 18 touchdowns, which was more than enough to have Smith’s ear.

“I went to coach Smith and said, ‘I’m not trying to be selfish,’ and he said, ‘you want the ball?,’ ” Elmore said. “I said ‘yes sir,’ and he gave it to me.”

Elmore indeed got the ball the first two plays of Abbeville’s next offensive drive, and he took the ball 67 yards, including a 63-yard touchdown run. By the end of the game, he had 152 yards and two scores, giving him 1,797 yards on the season.

“I had to come through for my team,” Elmore said.

No matter if the Panthers (12-0) play Woodruff or Batesburg-Leesville this week, Elmore said they need a better week of practice. While Mid-Carolina (6-6) played in a tough region, Elmore said the game shouldn’t have been in doubt as long as it was.

“We lost focus (in practice last) week,” Elmore said. “If you look at the score, you can tell by the way we played that we really weren’t focused (Friday night). But we’re looking forward to having a focused week (this) week and getting better.”

This is Jamie Nickles’ fifth season as Abbeville’s coach, and his teams are 35-2 the last three seasons, after going 14-11 in his first two years.

But the two losses came in the second and third rounds respectively, to Columbia and Chapman. Nickles said he couldn’t pinpoint a common denominator between those losses, other than the general quality of the eight remaining third-round teams.

Junior Sammy Head echoed his coach’s thoughts.

“The deeper you go, the harder it’s going to be,” Head said. “You just have to keep coming out and fighting hard, and working hard in practice.”

LUGOFF-ELGIN AT DANIEL

The buzz last weekend after the first round of playoff action was not that Lugoff-Elgin beat J.L. Mann. It’s that the Demons beat previously two-loss Mann, 49-17.

On Friday, Lugoff wasn’t ready for basketball season just yet.

The Demons stopped Greer on third-and-goal at the Lugoff 3-yard line with 11 seconds and no timeouts. After Greer scrambled to get its field goal team on the field, but ran out of time, Lugoff walked away with a 43-40 victory.

Despite trailing 13-0, 27-7, then 40-28, Lugoff prevailed behind running back Phillip Osborne’s 155 yards, including 140 in the second half.

Coach Scott Jones has led the Demons to an 8-3 record after finishing in third place in Region 4 behind Chester, the team that eliminated Daniel last year, and Fairfield-Central, the team that Daniel beat on Friday. In his seventh season at Lugoff, this is Jones’ best season. Two of the last three campaigns have had losing seasons.

Daniel and Lugoff last met in the first round of the 2006 playoffs, a 34-22 Lugoff win.

AROUND THE STATE

Sumter beat Boiling Springs, 49-13, after trailing, 7-0, then scoring seven straight touchdowns. The Gamecocks scored rushing, passing, on defense and special teams. They held the Bulldogs to two first-half first downs, and led 28-7 at halftime. Sumter advances to play host to Gaffney in the Big 16 bracket. The Indians rolled up 512 yards against Summerville in a 40-10 win. Gaffney sophomore quarterback Deedward Burriss accounted for 250 yards, including three touchdown passes.

South Pointe is turning into a factory for Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks. South Carolina picked up a third Stallion late Friday night when defensive back Devonte Holloman verbally committed to the Gamecocks. Holloman, 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, is considered a four-star prospect by Rivals.com, is the Gamecocks’ 22nd commitment, and considered the No. 3 prospect in the state according to Rivals.