BLYTHEWOOD – Because of the flooding two weeks ago, Blythewood had postponed last week’s scheduled Region IV-4A opener at Spring Valley to Tuesday, then postponed the game again to Nov. 13.
Dutch Fork, on the other hand, opened its region slate with a 28-21 loss to Ridge View at District 2 Stadium Tuesday night. Just two days later, the Silver Foxes were back at Blythewood to take on the Bengals.
This time around, they overcame a fierce performance from Blythewood quarterback David Isreal and used quarterback Cole Douglas’ arms and legs to outlast the Bengals 35-28 on Homecoming night.
Douglas, who came off an ankle injury and missed a whole half of action at Ridge View, rushed for 151 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries. He also completed 17 of 27 passes for 273 yards and a score.
“He didn’t practice any, and I’ve got to credit coach Harvey (Director of sports medicine) for getting him ready to play tonight,” Dutch Fork (5-3, 1-1) head coach Tom Knotts said. “He’s about 90 percent, but as the game wore on he forgot about his ankle. You saw some long runs. He didn’t show all his speed but what a gutty performance.”
Douglas’ game, especially his second half, outshone Isreal’s, but not by much. The Blythewood quarterback was 14-for-21 in passing for 326 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions.
Isreal connected with Kenny Benton five times for 166 yards and both passing scores. Benton’s first two receptions of the first quarter gave him 100 yards receiving.
Isreal and the Bengals offense clicked in the first half, but the Dutch Fork defense kept the pressure on in the second half, holding him to the Bengals to one score.
“The thing was, we were struggling at protecting David,” Blythewood (5-2, 0-1) head coach Dan Morgan said. “Their defensive line is fantastic. We came out with a good game plan and executed well, but they’re a lot bigger than us and a lot stronger. We had some chances down the stretch, but we weren’t able to make the plays and they were.”
Blythewood jumped out to a 14-7 first quarter lead using two key receptions by Benton. Benton’s 55-yard catch prompted a 2-yard Osei Thomas run that put the Bengals ahead 7-0 early in the first quarter.
With the score tied at 7, Isreal found Benton again for a 45-yard catch-and-run TD at the 3:20 mark of the first.
Cole Douglas broke free on a 40-yard touchdown run up the middle with 18 seconds left in the first to tie the game at 14.
Isreal kept the passing attack alive, moving the ball down field. On the last scoring drive before intermission, he completed a 23-yarder to Daquan Patten and a 33-yarder to Jordyn Adams. These throws set up Isreal’s 2-yard TD run at the 9:21 mark of the second to make it 21-14.
Dutch Fork started hitting its stride early in the second half when defender Brian Wilson picked off an Isreal pass.
On the drive that ensued, the Silver Foxes marched 62-yards on nine plays. Douglas found Alec DeBoer for a 7-yard TD pass to tie the game at 21.
Later in the third, Blythewood took a 28-21 lead on Isreal’s 35-yard pass to Benton.
That was the last time the Bengals crossed into the end zone.
Dutch Fork later worked a quick 5-play, 80-yard scoring drive to tie the game at 28. Douglas powered that drive with a 49-yard run, and finished the drive with a score from 4 yards out. The Silver Foxes closed out the scoring with a 16-yard Douglas run early in the fourth.
“They made some great plays down the stretch,” Morgan said. “I was real impressed with them. Tom Knotts did a great job getting them ready to play. We thought we could have had them, but it didn’t work out.”
DF: 14-0-14-7 – 35
BHS: 14-7-7-0 – 28
First Quarter
B – Osei Thomas 2 run (Cody Turner kick) 9:10
D – Jesse Ragin 1 run (Ford Williams kick) 5:31
B – Kenny Benton 45 pass from David Isreal (Turner kick) 3:20
D – Cole Douglas 40 run (Williams kick) :18
Second Quarter
B – Isreal 2 run (Turner kick) 9:21
Third Quarter
D – DeBoer 7 pass from Douglas (Williams kick) 8:52
B – Benton 35 pass from Isreal (Turner kick) 3:19
D – Douglas 4 run (Williams kick) 1:09
Fourth Quarter
D – Douglas 16 run (Williams kick) 11:31
Team Stats
DF BHS
First Downs 25 15
Rushes-Yards 40-238 29-92
Passing Yards 279 326
C-A-I 18-29-1 14-21-2
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-1
Penalties-Yards 0-0 10-100
Punts-Avg. 3-28.0 3-26.0
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: DF – Cole Douglas 16-151, Clayton Jones 20-76, Alex DeBoer 1-10, Austin Connor 1-1. BHS – Osei Thomas 12-62, Kyle Wright 5-35, Jordyn Adams 1-7, David Isreal 11-(-12).
PASSSING: DF – Cole Douglas 27-17-1, Caleb Clark 1-1-0. BHS – David Isreal 21-14-2.
RECEIVING: DF – Clayton Jones 4-55, Aldec DeBoer 6-47, Dante Scott 2-43, Austin Connor 4-101. BHS – Kenny Benton 5-166, Eric Weber 3-46, Jacob McGuire 2-43, Daquan Patten 2-34.