BLYTHEWOOD- The Blythewood Bengals and the Fairfield Central Griffins did battle in Bengal Land as a part of Sonic’s Friday Night Rivals Series, and even though the game had to be moved to Thursday due to weather, it did not disappoint. An impressive Blythewood defensive stand on Fairfield’s last offensive drive clinched the Bengals’ 9-6 victory in the Wach Fox televised broadcast.
“I thought our guys battled, and showed grits and guts,” Bengals’ head coach Brian Smith said. “Couldn’t be more proud of them for that, we had some tough penalties to overcome and some adversity to overcome, and they overcame it and beat a very good Fairfield Central team.”
The powerful Rodriguez Edmonds works his way to the edge. | Photos/Joe Siebles
“All loses are tough losses, but it was a point of we just couldn’t finish the game,” Griffins head coach Demetrius Davis said. “It was disappointing that we were able to lead for three and a half quarters and then the last of half of the fourth quarter they kind of wore us down.”
Blythewood received the game’s opening kickoff and built a promising early drive on the legs of Jaylon Boyd. Boyd carried for eight yards on the first two carries of the drive, but after a false start penalty, the Bengals needed an eight-yard Quinton Patten pass to Leshun McGreer to keep the drive alive on third down.
Patten broke a bone in his ankle and will miss a couple of games, and Quintin Singleton came in to replace him.
The Bengals completed a couple of consecutive short passes and Boyd pushed inside the Griffins 35-yard line with a nine-yard rush, but a couple of penalties halted the Bengals momentum.
Like Blythewood, the Griffins came out of the gates with a promising opening series that got going with a 22-yard catch to Jamas Goins. Another Jackson to Goins reception and a 10-yard Montavious Thompson handoff landed the Griffins deep in Bengal territory.
Fairfield crept inside the Blythewood 20, but the snap was bobbled on fourth-and-five. Jackson could not recover enough to make it past the first-down marker, but the Bengals could not make anything of their resulting drive.
As the first quarter expired, Montavious Thompson carried the ball past mid-field and to the Bengals 45. The Griffins kept the ball on the ground the rest of the drive with the combination of Thompson, Rodriguez Edmonds and Jamon Jackson, until Jackson put the ball in the end-zone from four yards out.
The Bengals offense could not put an answer on the board, and after a three-and-out, they surrendered possession again. Jackson led the Griffins back out with favorable field position at the Blythewood 44 and nearly five minutes to work with before halftime.
Jackson hit Thompson on six-yard pass then took the ball himself for a short scramble, but it was not enough for the first down and the Griffins were left with a fourth and one. Again,Jackson took the ball himself on the fourth down conversion but was marked down just an inch short.
Tony Ruff powers his way up the middle. | Photos/Joe Siebles
“Offensively, we didn’t play bad we just didn’t execute when we needed to execute,” Davis said. “We got stopped on fourth and an inch, and I’ve never, and I’ve been coaching football for 17 years, and I’ve never seen fourth and an inch and we didn’t get it.“
Blythewood took over at their own 34. With 3:11 left in the half, they had plenty of time left on the clock to try to get some points on the board before heading into the locker rooms. Jaylon Boyd busted the drive open a couple of plays in with a 15-yard rush to the 48.
Quentin Singleton, the backup quarterback prior to this game, kept the drive chugging along with a huge 34-yard pitch and catch with Dalen Mickle that moved Blythewood inside Fairfield’s 20-yard line. Singleton hooked up with Chris Woodall to get the Bengals inside the five.
Then the Griffins’ defense rose up and stuffed three straight Singleton passes to the endzone, including two passes that Bengal receiver Caymen Williams nearly brought in. Miles Heitman hit a 22-yard field goal to bring the Bengals within three with 17 seconds left in the half.
Both defenses traded blows in the third quarter as neither offense could find a way to generate points. Blythewood took over the ball on their own 27-yard line as the third quarter neared its end.
After a few nickel and dime runs that were enough for a Bengals first down, Jaylon Boyd bit off a 27-yard run to the Griffins 29. The Bengals kept the ball on the ground and charged towards the Fairfield end-zone until a Quentin Singleton pass to Kevon Cato planted them inside the five.
Jaylon Boyd iced the 12-play nearly six-minute drive with a 5-yard rushing score, but Miles Heitman missed the ensuing extra point, leaving the Griffins down by just three. Antonio Jackson mishandled the ball on Fairfield’s next drive, and the Bengals took possession with 3:46 remaining.
The Griffins made another huge defensive stop on the Bengals’ drive and kept them to a three and out. Blythewood was forced to punt the ball and Fairfield took over at their own 23-yard line, with 1:43 left, needing just a field goal to tie.
The first play of the drive was an incomplete pass over the middle intended for JR Edmonds. Antonio Jackson kept the ball himself on the next play, and took the ball 22-yards to the Fairfield 45.
Jackson missed the next three passes and the game was down to a fourth-and-10 conversion. The fourth down pass was incomplete, but penalty markers came roaring from the sideline, a personal foul called on the Bengals.
This left the Griffins with a new set of downs on the Bengal 40, but on the very next play the Blythewood pressure got to Jackson and forced a strip-sack. The Bengals hopped on top of the loose ball and sealed up the win.
“That last penalty, usually I don’t go against officials, but in that case the guy was dead wrong,” Smith said. “That was not a penalty, the kid even used his hands to hit the guy shoulder to shoulder, it was not a head to head hit, and I think the guys rallied around it, you saw that on the very next play they sacked the quarterback and forced him to fumble the ball.”
Next, Blythewood, 2-1, travels across town to take on Westwood. Fairfield, also 2-1, follows the tough loss by hosting a talented Ridge View squad.
“It’s always big when you can beat a team as good as Fairfield Central,” Smith said. “Fairfield Central has a very, very good team. When you beat a team like that, it helps your confidence as a team. You stood up against one of the better teams in the state and I think we’ve overcome that the past two weeks now.”
Scoring
FCHS– 0-6-0-0-6
BHS– 0-3-0-6-9
Second Quarter
FCHS– Jamon Jackson 4 run (Monterrious Seabrooks kick no good). 6:46.
BHS– Miles Heitman 22 field goal. :17.
Fourth Quarter
BHS– Jaylon Boyd 5 run (M.Heitman kick no good). 6:24.
FCHS BHS
First Downs 13 11
Rushes/Yards 42-114 32-140
Passing Yards 64 80
C-A-I-TD 7-20-0-0 9-18-0-0
Fumbles/ Lost 3/2 0/0
Penalties/Yards 3-15 10-75
Rushing: BHS- Quinton Patten 2-8, Quintin Singelton 2-7, Jonathan Bell 2-3, Leshun McGreer 1-2, Jaylon Boyd 20-112, Brandon Edwards 4-11. FCHS- Tony Ruff 9-22, Jamon Jackson 6-16, Rodriguez Edmonds 9-30, Antonio Jackson 14-30,Montavious Thompson 3-19, Ah’Quil Ross 1-20.
Receiving: BHS- Kevon Catoe 2-27, Chris Woodall 3-5, Leshun McGreer 2-12, Dalen Mickle 1-34, Carson Brady 1-2. FCHS- JR Edmonds 1-21, Montavious Thompson 3-18, Nydarious Williamson 1-4, Jamas Goins 3-42.
Passing: BHS- Quinton Patten 2-3, 12 yards; Quintin Singelton 7-15, 68 yards. FCHS-Antonio Jackson 7-19, 64 yards.
