Roger Carter (88) takes a Jordyn Adams pass and rambles for a first down. (Photo/Jason Arthur)
LEXINGTON (Oct. 24, 2016) – The Blythewood Bengals traveled to Lexington on a windy Friday night to notch a 35-21 region win against the White Knoll Timberwolves.
“The wind kind of took us out of what we really wanted to do tonight,” Bengals’ head coach Dan Morgan said. “Everything we worked on during the week kind of got pushed aside. When I came out here I looked at our coaches and said, ‘Boys we’re going to have change what we do.’”
Blythewood drove the ball 80 yards into the end zone on their first drive. The conclusion of the six-play drive was an impressive 43-yard pass and catch from Jordyn Adams to tight end Roger Carter.
“We believe our opening drives have to be our best drives,” Morgan said. “It sets the tone for the rest of the night and they did a good job. We got backed up a little bit and we got a little nervous, but we stuck with it and the kids just did a great job.”
The Adams-to-Carter connection paid big dividends for the Bengals all night. Adams played a part in all four of the Bengals’ offensive touchdowns, and Carter caught five balls for 129 yards, including two touchdown passes.
A couple of drives later White Knoll responded with a lengthy possession of their own. The Timberwolves marched 93 yards down the field, and Maurice Jones finished the drive off with a 7-yard rushing score, but a missed extra point kept the game at 7-6.
The rest of the first half was all Blythewood. Later in the first, Adams and speedy receiver Kameron Riley came together for a 79-yard touchdown that pushed the lead to 14-6.
White Knoll orchestrated a 60-plus-yard drive in the second quarter that got them to the red-zone, but after a bobbled snap they fell short on a long fourth-down attempt. The turnover on downs led to a 49-yard Bengals’ pass to Chris Woodall, and eventually an 11-yard Adams rushing touchdown.
White Knoll, with just two minutes left before half, attempted to bring the game back within one possession, but a Jacob Jeffcoat pass was picked off by Sekwan Jenkins and returned for a 39-yard score.
“We were looking for it, we were hoping,” Morgan said. “We knew they were throwing into the wind and that ball might just float a little bit and give us an opportunity to score.”
Jenkin’s pick-six gave the Bengals a dominant 28-6 lead at halftime, but White Knoll opened the second half with a 62-yard scoring drive that Jones capped off with an 11-yard touchdown.
Adams and Carter did not wait long to respond. On the very next drive the dynamic duo connected again for a 19-yard touchdown to snatch the three score lead back.
“I was a little disappointed that they came out and drove it down the field,” Morgan said. “I was glad the offense got it and recovered and took the ball down the field, but we’ve got to do a little better job at putting these teams away. We get some leads sometimes and our guys get a little complacent and we’ve got to get better than that if we’re going to go into the playoffs and have a run that we’re really hoping to have.”
Despite the big Bengal lead the Timberwolves did not give up the fight. With just seven minutes left in the game White Knoll got the ball back on their own 20.
They took the ball all the way down the field, and a 6-yard pass from Jeffcoat to Keon Clary finished the 80-yard scoring drive. Jeffcoat completed a bullet to Sam Hayes on the 2-point conversion, and White Knoll was back within two touchdowns.
Blythewood’s lead would be too much for White Knoll to overcome, and with just a minute left in the game Cassius Garner picked off Jeffcoat and ended any hope of a Timberwolf comeback.
The win improves the Bengals’ overall record to 7-2, and their region record to 4-1. This Friday the Bengals will host Spring Valley for the regular season finale.
Spring Valley sports a 5-3 overall record with a 2-2 conference record, and lost 30-19 in their last game against Dutch Fork.
BHS: 14-14-7-0 – 35
WKHS: 6-0-7-8 – 21
Scoring
First Quarter
BHS –Roger Carter 43 pass from Jordyn Adams (Miles Heitman kick). 10:12.
WKHS – Maurice Jones 7 run (kick failed). 4:59
BHS – Kameron Riley 79 pass from J. Adams (M. Heitman kick). 0:51.
Second Quarter
BHS – J. Adams 11 run (M. Heitman kick). 2:10.
BHS – Sekwan Jenkins 39 INT return (M. Heitman kick). 0:50.
Third Quarter
WK – M. Jones 11 run (J. Hernandez kick). 9:31.
BHS – R. Carter 19 pass from J. Adams (M. Heitman kick). 5:40
Fourth Quarter
WK – Keon Clary 6 pass from Jacob Jeffcoat (Sam Hayes 3 pass from J. Jeffcoat). 3:04.
BHS WKHS
First Downs 12 20
Rushes/Yards 31-87 40-210
Passing Yards 326 164
C-A-I 13-19-0 19-39-2
Fumbles/ Lost 1/1 1/0
Penalties/Yards 11-132 5-58
RUSHING: WKHS – Maurice Jones 24-104, Albert Hope 8-75, Jacob Jeffcoat 5-21, Douglas Summers 3-10. BHS – Jordyn Adams 16-34, Thades Greene 2-3, Chris Woodall 1-2, Jefferey Watkins 13-43, William Wallace 1-(-1).
RECEIVING: WKHS – Jayllen Crosby 4-20, Braydon Clariday 2-30, Maurice Jones 5-14,Albert Hope 2-36, Keon Clary 2-15, Douglas Summers 1-15, Sam Hayes 2-23, Clayon Lindsay. BHS – Roger Carter 5-129, Kameron Riley 3-109, 2-48, Kenny Benton 2-18, Terrance Coates 1-38.
PASSING: WKHS – Jacob Jeffcoat 19-38, 164 yards, TD, 2 INTs; Braydon Clariday 0-1. BHS – Jordyn Adams 13-18, 326 yards, 3 TDs; Quentin Patten 0-1.
