Jordyn Adams (2) carves up the Westwood defense. (Photo/Ross Burton)
BLYTHEWOOD (Sept. 12, 2016) – Shortly after the second quarter began, Jordyn Adams had nowhere to go to—until the fourth quarter.
The Blythewood quarterback had run for a touchdown and passed for another to put the Bengals up 14-0 over crosstown rival Westwood Friday night.
Then, as if the Redhawks had shut off a faucet, Adams was bottled up. Westwood put up 20 points in the second and third quarters to take a 20-14 lead.
But it wasn’t enough. Adams finally found some open receivers to lead the Bengals on a 95-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter, which secured a 28-20 victory over the Redhawks at Blythewood Stadium.
“We worked all week on the back five defending the pass and the front six trying to keep him contained,” Westwood head coach Dustin Curtis said, “but even when you’ve got him bottled up, he’s one of those kids who makes you miss and he’s obviously what makes them go.”
Up 20-14, Westwood (2-2) was threatening another touchdown drive until Blythewood defender Sekwan Jenkins intercepted a pass at the Redhawks’ 5-yard line. Adams led the Bengals on a seven-play, 95-yard scoring drive, including passes of 21 and 46 yards to Kenny Benton. The go-ahead score, Adams’ 35-yard TD pass to Terrance Coates, gave them a 21-20 lead.
After Westwood turned the ball over on downs at their own 2-yard line, Blythewood running back Jeffrey Watkins closed out the win with a 2-yard TD run at the 2:39 mark.
Adams passed for 228 yards and two touchdowns, but he completed just 13 of 32 passes and had an interception. Most of those incompletions came when he was going long in an effort to stretch the field.
“We’re still not where we want to be,” Blythewood head coach Dan Morgan said. “We’re a little inconsistent, but our guys are working their hearts out. Jordan tried connecting on some of those deep passes, and we had some guys open, but we just didn’t make the connection. We’re just a little bit away from where we want to be. But we’ll get there.”
Adams had scored on a 12-yard TD run in the first quarter and found Kameron Riley for a 5-yard touchdown pass early in the second, but the Westwood defense shut down Blythewood.
Midway through the second quarter, Kayshon Mitchell and Dareius McCaskill sacked Adams on a second-and-6 play at the Bengals 33. Adams had to go to the sidelines on the next play, in favor of backup Quentin Singleton.
On that play, Amere Barno picked off Singleton’s pass and returned it to the Blythewood 45. Seven plays later, Elijah Heatley found Cortez Braham in the end zone with 2:24 left.
Dermonti Romey cut Blythewood’s lead to 14-13 with an 83-yard interception return for a touchdown at the end of the first half.
Westwood then took a 20-14 lead on a 15-yard Jaylon Riley TD run with 3:07 left in the third.
Just as it looked like the Redhawks were going to drive in for a score and make it a two-possession game, Jenkins came down with a Heatley pass and sparked the drive for Blythewood’s go-ahead score.
Down 21-20, the Redhawks had a chance to put together a scoring drive for the win in the final minutes, even though they were backed inside the 5-yard-line. Blythewood kept them inside the 5, and on fourth and long, Westwood turned the ball over on downs.
“We just figured that we could get the ball out of the red zone,” Curtis said about his options pinned back so deep in their own territory. “Even if they would have scored it would still be a one-possession game.”
The loss in the rivalry was difficult, but the Redhawks will shake it off.
“It hurts, but at the same time we have to stay together. We have our eyes on bigger goals,” Curtis said. “This is not a region game, and while you don’t ever want to be OK with a loss at all, we’ve got to win four or five region games and put ourselves in a position to win the region.”
WHS: 0-13-7-0 – 20
BHS: 7-7-0-14 – 28
First Quarter
B – Jordyn Adams 12 run (Ben Kline kick). 9:57.
Second Quarter
B – Kameron Riley 5 pass from Adams (Kline kick). 8:33.
W – Cortez Braham 22 pass from Elijah Heatley (D.J. Fields kick). 2:24.
W – Dermonti Romey 83 interception return (kick failed). 0:00.
Third Quarter
W – Jaylon Riley 15 run (Fields kick). 3:07.
Fourth Quarter
B – Terrance Coates pass from Adams (Kline kick). 7:19.
B – Jeffrey Watkins 2 run (Kline kick). 2:39.
TEAM STATS
WHS BHS
First Downs 14 15
Rushes-Yards 38-86 27-67
Passing Yards 112 228
C-A-I 8-20-2 13-33-2
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 7-46 10-98
Punts-Avg. 5-28.0 5-36.4
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: WHS – Jaylon Riley 21-87, Victor Smith 6-21, Rashawn Greene 2-3, Jalen Briggman 2-0. BHS – Jordyn Adams 17-56, Chris Woodall 3-21, Jeffrey Watkins 2-2.
PASSSING: WHS – Elijah Heatley 19-7-2, Rashawn Greene 1-1-0. BHS – Jordyn Adams 32-13-1, Quentin Singleton 1-0-1.
RECEIVING: WHS – Cortez Braham 3-75, Kaden Briggs 1-33, Lee Goings 1-5, Tyler Hosey 1-4. BHS – Kameron Riley 2-30, Chris Woodall 6-30, Kenny Benton 6-100, Terrance Coates 2-68.
