Friday night the Blythewood Bengals (8-1, 3-0) spoiled Senior Night for the Demons of Lugoff-Elgin (0-9, 0-3) by running away with a 41-7 win. Literally, the Bengals ran up and down the field, piling up 320 yards on the ground and averaging 7.8 yards per carry. Four different Bengals rushed for over 50 yards and a touchdown and after the game head coach Reggie Kennedy gave a lot of the credit to his offensive line.
“It all starts up front,” Kennedy said. “Those guys did a good job controlling the line of scrimmage.”
Lugoff-Elgin has now lost 15 straight games dating back to last year. It is the longest losing streak in their school history and something their head coach Scott Jones is not accustom to.
“I’ve never been through anything like this before,” Jones said. “Our kids are not used to this, but we’re just not as talented as we’ve been in the past.”
Blythewood’s defense struck first when they induced a safety by forcing Lugoff-Elgin’s punter to step out the back of the end zone. After a strong return by Shyeim Brown on the free kick, quarterback Kylen Binn bounced off a couple of tackles and rumbled his way to a 43-yard touchdown on Blythewood’s first offensive play.
Before the game, Jones knew it would be a tough take to contain Binn.
“He has seductive speed and is very hard to tackle,” Jones said. “The only way to slow him down is if he has the flu or the measles.”
Halfway through the first quarter Blythewood would strike again, this time in the form of Dean Beckford when he rocketed down the left sideline for a 30-yard score. It was a team high, 11th touchdown of the season for Beckford. At the end of the first quarter the Bengals led Lugoff-Elgin 15-0. Blythewood has now outscored opponents 81-17 in the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter the Demons’ special teams unit would come up big by blocking Taylor Henry’s punt and recovering it in the end zone to make the score 15-7. But the Bengals would counter by putting together a nine-play drive that was capped off by a 30-yard touchdown reception by Lynard Jamison on a third down play with 29 yards to go.
“That was real big for us,” Kennedy said. “It was a momentum changer and we were able to convert on a third and long situation.”
On their next offensive possession Blythewood would put together another methodical drive by using 10 plays to go 65 yards for a touchdown. This time it would be Devin Albert pounding it in from 11 yards out just before the end of the first half, giving the Bengals a 28-7 lead at the break.
Blythewood’s defense slowed the pace in the second half by allowing just 3.2 yards per play and shutout the Lugoff-Elgin offense. Kennedy was impressed with his defense’s performance and credits it to their preparation.
“Our defense has played well all year,” he said. “The staff does a good job of putting our players in position to be successful.”
The second half was highlighted by a Ben Ruiz touchdown and couple of Greg Huegel field goals. Despite losing the time of possession battle by a couple of minutes, Blythewood’s offense put together four scoring drives of nine or more plays.
“We try to control the tempo of the game,” Kennedy said. “That’s a sign of a good offensive football team and I was proud of their long drives.”
Blythewood is now 3-0 in the region and with two games left they have their sights set on a region championship. Next week they will play Irmo (4-5, 2-1) on the road. The Yellow Jackets are coming off a 27-6 win at Richland Northeast. To listen to the live broadcast tune in at www.facebook.com/bhathletics with pre-game coverage starting at 7:15 p.m.
BHS 15-13-10-3 41
LE 0-7-0-0 7
First Quarter
BHS- Team Safety. (9:32)
BHS- K. Binn 43 run. G. Huegel kick. (9:14)
BHS- D. Beckford 30 run. Pass failed. (5:36)
Second Quarter
LE- A. Jennerette 0 fum rec. R. Frame kick. (10:59)
BHS- L. Jamison 30 pass from K. Binn. G. Huegel kick. (7:33)
BHS- D. Albert 11 run. G. Huegel kick. (:31)
Third Quarter
BHS- G. Huegel 28 field goal. (7:10)
BHS- B. Ruiz 14 run. G. Huegel kick. (:27)
Fourth Quarter
BHS- G. Huegel 20 field goal. (3:36)
Records: BHS: 8-1/3-0 LE: 0-9/0-3
Team Stats
BHS LE
First Downs 22 8
Rushes/Yards 41-320 37-134
Comp/Att/Int 10-16-1 4-14-1
Pass Yards 127 33
Fumbles/Lost 1-0 2-0
Penalties/Yards 8-78 3-8
Individual Stats
RUSHING—BHS: D. Beckford 9-102. B. Ruiz 8-60. D. Albert 8-56. K. Binn 11-50. LE: E. Burroughs 6-62. J. McCaskill 11-59. D. Quattlebaum 4-17. J. Byrd 4-6.
PASSING—BHS: K. Binn 9-15. 113 yards. 1 INT. 1 TD. T. Palmer 1-1. 14 yards. 0 INT. 0 TD. LE: S. Belton 4-14. 33 yards. 1 INT. 0 TD
RECEIVING—BHS: S. Brown 3-17. D. Albert 2-23. B. Ruiz 2-19. L. Jamison 1-30. LE: E. Burroughs 2-25. D. Quattlebaum 1-7. G. Kirkland 1-1.