Allen sparks Sumter High defense with pick-6, wins Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week

The Sumter High defense knew they had a tall task when they hosted a stout offense from Ashley Ridge on Friday in the first round of the SCHSL 5A playoffs.

Derrick Salley Jr. has been one of the most electric receivers in the state, averaging nearly 200 yards a game while hauling in 20 touchdowns. When the SHS coaching staff came up with a game plan to slow him down, the centerpiece of that equation was a sophomore, Bryce Allen.

Allen was assigned to cover Salley throughout the night, though he had help from safeties at times. His coverage, paired with a strong rush up front, flustered sophomore quarterback Trevor Kalisz, who threw five interceptions.

Allen had the biggest highlight of those five interceptions, snagging a pick and returning it 52 yards to the house to give the Gamecocks a 35-7 lead. Two more interceptions followed as SHS put the game to bed. Allen's performance, along with helping Sumter High advance to the second round, also earned the sophomore recognition as the Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week.

"It feels good that people voted for me and my coaches believe in me," Allen said.

Sumter High head coach Mark Barnes thought Allen had the right mindset to succeed against a talented receiver.

"We picked him because he's so even tempered," Barnes said. "He's hard to get flustered, and we knew that guy was good at being physical, and we knew Bryce would keep playing. I'm just really proud of him and the effort that it took Friday night to do what he did. Obviously, we had some guys behind him helping him some, but he did a great job of nullifying him at big times in the game and then also had a pick-6 for a touchdown, which was a big play in the game to kinda put the game away.

"For a young guy to be able to go out and perform the way he did Friday speaks volumes of what type of player he is and what type of player he's going to be."

Allen took great pride in the fact that the Gamecock coaching staff trusted him with the challenge of slowing down an electric pass-catching option. He wasn't worried about making big plays; he just wanted to do his part.

"My mindset was just to do my job and don't let my teammates down," Allen said. "I was thankful for my coaches for believing in me.

"Before the game, my brother texted me, and he said, 'Everybody wants to see you win, but they don't want to see you succeed.' That's what really stuck with me."

The pick-6 just came from Allen taking advantage of an opportunity.

"I just saw him drop the ball, and then I wanted the ball," Allen said. "As soon as I caught the ball, my mindset was just to go score."

Allen was also able to feed off the energy of the two picks that came before his. When a defense is playing like that, everyone feels unstoppable.

"We felt like it was going to be a great night. We were already setting the tone for the offense to score," Allen said. "We just felt like it was going to be a great night when Davon Bowman started it off with an interception.

"We were waiting for that game to happen all season. Like coach Barnes said, we had the potential to do what we did on Friday night, and it all came together at the right time because it was win or go home in the playoffs."

While the pick-6 was a big play, it wasn't the only impressive aspect of Allen's performance.

"On film, their guy had frustrated every opponent, and Friday night, our guy frustrated him," Barnes said of Allen's coverage throughout the night. "That was a big part of the game. We knew he was their guy, and we didn't want to double him all the time, but we did want to double him some of the time to take him away for parts of the game and not let him be an outlet for the quarterback.

"A lot of those interceptions were caused because of us doing a great job on (Salley) and making him go somewhere else he didn't really want to go, and our guys made a bunch of plays. It was just a great performance on our defense's part as a whole, and Bryce certainly had a lot to do with that."

The Gamecocks will look to carry that momentum into Friday night's trip to Stratford for the second round of the playoffs.

"Working hard in practice and listening to your coaches," Allen said of the key to continued success. "And playing disciplined."