David Isreal breaks a Demon tackle Friday. (Photo/Joe Seibles)
BLYTHEWOOD – On a night when Blythewood High School recognized 26 seniors on its football team, the Bengals used a 28-point third quarter to blow open a tight game at halftime, as the Bengals rolled 59-21 over the Demons of Lugoff-Elgin Friday night at District 2 Stadium in Blythewood.
“We got every kind of break that could happen to go our way in the third quarter,” Blythewood head coach Dan Morgan told The Voice after the game. “It was nice because we don’t always have that happen. It was the momentum we needed to finish out the way we wanted to.”
Blythewood (6-3, 1-2) jumped out to a 21-7 lead in the first quarter over the Demons (1-9, 0-4). The Bengals scored on their first play from scrimmage when David Isreal threw a strike to Timel Benton from 33 yards out. Jordyn Adams set up the Bengals’ offense in excellent field position by returning the opening kickoff 44 yards.
On the Bengals’ second possession, it would be Adams’ turn to light up the scoreboard. With Blythewood facing a third-and-15, Adams caught a screen pass and cut back across the field using his blocks to pick his way into the end zone untouched for a touchdown to go up 14-0.
Lugoff was able to keep the game interesting on their ensuing drive when Aldreacio Wells returned the kickoff 46 yards to the Blythewood 48-yard line. With the Demons facing a third-and-13, Blythewood committed an offside penalty to make it third-and-8 and Jermaine Jenkins rushed up the middle for 11 yards to convert.
Later in the scoring march, Blythewood gave up another third down when the Bengals committed an unsportsmanlike penalty to set up the Demons with a first-and-goal at the 9. Rahmel Burton capped off the drive with a 9-yard burst over the right side for a touchdown. The point after was good and the Demons cut the Blythewood lead to 14-7 halfway through the first quarter.
Blythewood running back Osei Thomas left his fingerprints all over the Bengals third possession as he carried the rock six straight times to march the Bengals 70 yards for the score. Facing a third-and-5, Thomas bounced it outside after finding no room up the middle and found his way into the end zone down the left sideline from 36 yards out. Thomas finished with a game-high 245 yards on 21 carries and three touchdowns.
Trailing 21-7 later in the second quarter, Lugoff continued to stay in the contest when the Demon defense recovered a Blythewood fumble at the Bengals’ 34-yard line. Lugoff used five straight running plays to climb back into the game when Burton scored on a second-and-goal from the 2-yard line. Burton finished just over the century mark with 104 yards and three scores. Greg Ruffner’s extra point cut the Bengal lead to 21-14 with 10 minutes to go in the first half.
After a flurry of fumbles by both teams, Lugoff found themselves in position to tie the game with just under a minute to play in the half. After marching 54 yards, Lugoff faced a fourth-and-goal at the Bengal 4-yard line and decided to roll the dice. Burton was stopped short at the 1-yard line by a host of Bengal defenders.
“The defense rose to the occasion,” Morgan said after the game. “The defensive staff was able to go in at halftime and make some adjustments and in the second half we played a little bit more fired up.”
The Demons shot themselves in the foot to start the second half when a bad snap went over the punter’s head and gave the Bengals the ball at the Lugoff 29-yard line. On the very next play the Bengals would capitalize when Thomas broke through a tackle and burst outside, down the right sideline for a 29-yard scamper.
“He (Thomas) looked so healthy tonight,” Morgan said. “That first play of the second half when he just ran through a kid and kept going, it really set the tone for the third quarter.”
Thomas’ scoring jolt put the Bengals up 28-14 and was the first of four Bengal touchdowns in the third quarter.
Blythewood’s defense forced a three-and-out on the Demon’s ensuing possession and Adams returned the punt 20 yards to set up the Bengal offense at the Lugoff 40-yard line. On the fourth play of the drive, Daquan Patten ran a skinny post and Isreal zipped in a perfect pass from 28 yards out for the touchdown.
“He’s (Isreal) really come a long way,” Morgan praised his quarterback following the victory. “David has just grown leaps and bounds when it comes to reading a defense.”
Isreal finished the contest with three passing touchdowns and no interceptions.
Blythewood outscored Lugoff 38-7 in the second half as they steamrolled the Demons on the way to a 59-21 victory.
After the game Morgan shared hugs and high-fives with his players.
“We’re family,” he told The Voice. “These kids, you’re around them all the time and it’s important. Seeing them as seniors is hard. They’re wrapping up (their career). I love all those guys. Hopefully we can keep going as long as we can because it’s fun being with those guys.”
With two region games left, Blythewood will turn its focus to the Blazers of Ridge View (5-5, 2-2). Ridge View fell to Spring Valley Friday night by a score of 48-14. Earlier in the season, in a non-region contest on Aug. 28, the Bengals defeated the Blazers 28-14. Despite the earlier win, Morgan wants his players to remain in the hunt for a playoff spot.
“We can’t control what the other teams do,” he said. “We just have to turn our focus to Ridge View and have a good week of practice.”
Kickoff against Ridge View is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
LE: 7-7-0-7 – 21
BH: 21-0-28-10 –59
Scoring
First Quarter
BH – Benton 33 pass from Israel (Turner kick). 11:41
BH – Adams 40 pass from Israel (Turner kick). 9:10
LE – Burton 10 run (Ruffner kick). 6:29
BH – Thomas 36 run (Turner kick). 3:51
Second Quarter
LE – Burton 2 run (Ruffner kick). 10:07
Third Quarter
BH – Thomas 29 run (Turner kick). 9:13
BH – Patten 28 pass from Israel (Turner kick). 6:37
BH –Oakman 3 interception return (Turner kick). 6:24
BH – Israel 11 run (Turner kick). 5:00
Fourth Quarter
BH – Turner 35 field goal. 11:56
LE – Burton 1 run (Ruffner kick). 2:51
BH – Thomas 56 run (Turner kick). 1:06
Team Stats
BH LE
First Downs 19 21
Rushes/Yards 37-316 54-192
Passing Yards 139 105
C-A-INT 8-13-0 10-25-1
Fumbles/Lost 7-4 5-3
Penalties/Yards 13-96 1-5
Third downs 5-7 6-15
Fourth downs 3-3 3-5
Possession Time 18:39 29:21
Red Zone 3-3 3-5
Individual Stats
RUSHING: LE – R. Burton 27-104, J. Jenkins 21-74, G. Catoe 1-28, A. Wells 2-0. BH – Osei Thomas 21-245, Timel Benton 6-33, David Isreal 5-32, Kyle Wright 4-14.
RECEIVING: LE – E. Campbell 4-59, G. Catoe 2-33, R. Burton 2-16. BH – Daquan Patten 2-38, Jacob McGuire 2-15, Jordyn Adams 1-40, Timel Benton 1-33.
PASSING: LE – B. Salmond 10-23 1-5 yards, 0 TD 1 INT. BH – David Isreal 7-12 129 yards, 3 TD 0 INT. Timel Benton 1-1 10 yards 0 TD 0 INT.
