Blythewood quarterback Javon Smith reaches for the first down. (Photo/Kristy Kimball Massey)
Westwood’s Adonus Lee hauls in a Chris Patterson pass between coverage by Blythewood’s Aaron Peak and Justin Glenn (10). (Photo/Kristy Kimball Massey)
BLYTHEWOOD – It wasn’t pretty at times, but the Blythewood Bengals were able to outlast the Westwood Redhawks to notch their first win of the season, 24-17 Friday night at Westwood.
The Bengals improve to 1-2 on the season, despite a scuffling Redhawks’ defense that held their offense to only seven total yards in the first half. With a struggling offense, the Bengals carved out 24 unanswered points to take a commanding lead in the second half. But just when the Bengals started to let off the gas, the Redhawks scored off a Blythewood turnover to bring the game to within a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Following a Bengals’ punt, the Redhawks had one more chance to tie the game, but were unsuccessful.
“The win just feels great and we played an outstanding opponent in Westwood,” Blythewood head coach Dan Morgan said. “They are not the team from last year and they brought it to us.”
The Bengals were able to force a three-and-out for the Redhawks on their first possession, plus an interception by linebacker Josh Wilkins on the next drive. But in spite of Blythewood’s defensive effort, the game began to flow early in the Redhawks’ favor. Westwood quarter back Chris Patterson delivered a 3-yard touchdown run with 2:17 left in the first quarter. Brandon Howard added the extra point, making it a 7-0 lead.
Both teams struggled most of the first half with mistakes on offense, especially the Bengals. With only 12 yards of passing and -5 rushing, the Bengals found it difficult to move the ball against the Redhawk defense. As a result, another strong Westwood drive set up a 27-yard field goal by Howard to extend the Redhawks’ lead to 10-0 at the half.
“I was impressed with the defense the first half,” Westwood head coach Rodney Summers said. “Either they made good adjustments (at the half) or we were just making too many mistakes.”
After the break, the momentum shifted in the favor of the Bengals as they were able to answer on the boards. Quarterback Javon Smith directed the Bengals’ offense 50 yards before plunging in on a 7-yard touchdown run with 7:43 left in the second quarter. Greg Huegel added the extra point to make it a 10-7 Redhawks lead.
The Bengals would not look back as the offense sank their teeth into the Redhawks, scoring two more touchdowns and adding a 23-yard Huegel field goal to extend the Bengals lead to a 24-10 with 8:26 let in the game.
“We told them, simply, we have to play tougher than those guys, because at the half they were out playing us,” Morgan said. “They decided they were going to play hard-nose football for the rest of the game.”
The Redhawks would not go down quietly, however, as they answered right back with a touchdown off a blocked punt, returned for a touchdown by linebacker Raymond Hall with 3:11 left in the fourth. Howard’s extra point cut the Bengals’ lead to 24-17.
Westwood’s onside kick attempt failed, but the Redhawk defense forced the Bengals to punt the ball away on the possession. This gave the Redhawks one more chance to tie the game and force overtime.
On their own 22-yard line, Patterson found wide receiver Vyncint Smith on a deep pass down the sideline for a gain of 37 yards. Followed by a false start, Patterson connected with wide receiver Adonus Lee for another 21 yards. That brought the Redhawks to the Blythewood 26-yard line.Two incompletions by Patterson set up fourth-and-2 for the Redhawks with 7 second remaining. As the clock wound down, Patterson hefted another deep pass to Smith in the corner of the end zone, but the ball was tipped away by cornerback Aaron Peak.
“(It was a) tough loss and we had the chance to win it. I told our kids we can bounce back,” Summers said. “We’ve got Spring Valley next week. We have to step up and play a mistake-free ball game next week.”
Both teams will be on the road this Friday. The Bengals will be traveling to Lancaster, while the Redhawks (1-2) will be traveling to Spring Valley. Both games kickoff at 7:30 p.m.
BHS WHS
FIRST DOWNS 12 14
RUSHES-YARDS 43-82 46-156
PASSING YDS 60 155
C-A-Int-TD 9-12-0 7-21-1-0
Fumbles-Lost 3-1 2-1
Penalties-Yards 7-54 10-9
RUSHING: BHS -JAMISON, Lynard 14-29; SMITH, Javon 19-27; RICHARDSON, Jo. 5-18; KNIGHT, Marq. 2-8; BENSON, Dabreon 2-5; TEAM 1-minus 5. WHS- Brown, C. 10-95; Smith, K. 14-44; Patterson, C. 17-11; Canady, M. 5-6.
PASSING: BHS- SMITH, Javon 9-12-0-60. WHS- Patterson, C. 7-20-1-155; TEAM 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING: BHS- JAMISON, Lynard 7-33; THOMAS, Osei 1-16; KNIGHT, Marq. 1-11. WHS -Lee, A. 4-88; Smith, V. 2-69; Geter, R. 1- (-2).
First Quarter
WHS – Patterson, C. 3 -run. Brandon Howard kick. (2:17)
Second Quarter
WHS- Howard. 27 field goal. (6:57)
Third Quarter
BHS – Javon Smith 7-run. Greg Huegel kick. (7:43)
BHS – Lynard Jamison 5-run. Huegel kick. (00:40)
Fourth Quarter
BHS – Jamison 80 punt return. Huegel kick. (10:22)
BHS – Huegel 23 field goal. (08:26)
WHS – Antonio Maxwell 20 punt return. Howard kick. (03:11)
