BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood football team came into its game against West Florence Friday hoping to solidify a high placing Region 5-5A standing with a win over the Knights.
Almost nothing went right for the Bengals that night in a 19-14 loss at District 2 Stadium.
Aside from two John Henry Collins touchdown passes that capped quick drives, the offensive effort sputtered, the defense couldn’t stop West Florence in key moments, and special teams struggled in punting.
“We lost in all three phases tonight,” Blythewood head coach James Martin said. “You can’t do that and expect to win a football game. And the sad part is we had our chances. We didn’t take advantage of it. I’ll take the blame in that I thought we were ready. We weren’t ready.”
Blythewood (6-2, 2-2), instead of being behind unbeaten Sumter (7-0, 3-0) and Ridge View (4-3, 3-0), finds itself in fifth, behind the Gamecocks, Blazers, Westwood (4-3, 2-1) and West Florence (5-2, 2-1) with two games to go.
The Bengals seemed ill-prepared from the start.
West Florence forced a punt on Blythewood’s opening possession, then the Knights offense worked the ball downfield on 14 plays. Weaver closed out a 65-yard drive with a 33-yard touchdown pass to Lowery on 4th-and-12.
The Knights ran the same play in the closing seconds of the first quarter, with quarterback Avery Weaver connecting with Romelo Patterson for a 32-yard touchdown pass to make it 13-0.
The only shining moment for Blythewood in the first half was Collins’ 42-yard TD strike to Carter Coleman that cut the Knights’ lead to 13-7 at the 9:19 mark of the second.
Collins’ second touchdown pass, a 35-yarder to Ben Hendrix to open the third quarter, gave the Bengals a 14-13 lead.
Blythewood’s quick-strike capability showed then, but the mistakes returned soon after.
The costliest one came late in the third. Following a West Florence punt, Collins took the snap on first down at the 31-yard line and felt pressure from West Florence’s interior linemen, who chased him nearly to the goal line. Collins fell inside the 5 and lost the ball.
Victor Tabb scooped up the ball around the 1-yard line and walked it in for the go-ahead score at the 2:08 mark of the third quarter.
After that sack, the Bengals didn’t get a first down until four possessions later—with 12 seconds on the clock.
Collins completed two passes in that short amount of time, one to Chance Johnson and one to Coleman. The two completions got the Bengals to midfield, but by then time had run out on them, and the Knights walked off the field with the win.
Collins finished the night 18-for-35 for 222 yards and two touchdowns, but also threw an interception that led to a score that gave the Knights a 13-0 lead by first quarter’s end.
That was the way it went in a game where the Blythewood defense missed on some possible interceptions and gave up two first-quarter touchdowns, but otherwise helped a frustrated Blythewood offense that battled pass drops, an interception, three fumbles, and a 2-yard punt. The Bengals had minus-25 net rushing yards on 14 carries.
West Florence also had its struggles, as Weaver and Keyshawn Johnson combined to go 10-for-28 in passing for 158 yards and two touchdowns but threw two interceptions. But the Knights had just enough in the tank to pull out a road victory.
“We take pride in our passing game, but they’re really good on defense,” West Florence head coach Jody Jenrette said. “I knew they were good but I didn’t think they would be that good. 52 (Sterling Sanders) is as good a player as we’ll play all year.”
Added Jenrette on getting a region road win, “Our guys make plays. I wish we could’ve made a few more, but every now and then you’ve got to play a game like this. That’s the bottom line, you’ve got to come to somebody’s place and win a game like that.”
West Florence takes on Ridge View Friday.
Blythewood faces an intense challenge Friday as it travels to Sumter. The Gamecocks have scored at least 35 points in every game, including a 63-25 whipping of West Florence Oct. 3. They have outscored opponents 329-118.
“They do a great job,” Martin said. “We’ve got to get mentally ready for another challenge of running and stopping the running game. We had our moments tonight where we did a really great job, but two plays in the first quarter just hurt us.”
West Florence – 13-0-6-0 – 19
Blythewood – 0-7-7-0 – 14
First Quarter
W – Terry Lowery 33 pass from Avery Weaver (Sarah Cashin kick) 6:00
W – Romelo Patterson 32 pass from Weaver (Cashin kick) :21
Second Quarter
B – Carter Coleman 41 pass from John Henry Collins (Liam Flynn kick) 9:19
Third Quarter
B – Ben Hendrix 35 pass from Collins (Flynn kick) 10:42
W – Victor Tradd 1 fumble return (pass failed) 2:08
WF BHS
First Downs 17 11
Rushes-yds 46-104 14-(-25)
Passing yds 158 222
Att-Com-Int 28-10-2 35-18-1
Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-1
Penalties-yds 7-50 9-80
Punts-avg 5-38.0 7-30.3
RUSHING
W – Avery Weaver 9-40, Terry Lowery 18-33, Keyshawn Johnson 12-51, Zion Hill 4-3, Jayaun Perkins 2-10, Team 1-20. B – Ryan Hall 5-(-7), Alonzo Kyles 3-(-5), John Henry Collins 4-(-23), Carter Coleman 1-9, Chance Johnson 1-1.
PASSING
W – Avery Weaver 5-13-0, Keyshawn Johnson 5-15-2. B – John Henry Collins 18-35-1.
RECEIVING
W – Jayaun Perkins 5-63, Terry Lowery 3-53, Romelo Patterson 1-32, Gage Herring 1-11. B – Carter Coleman 5-74, Kanye Reed 5-53, Ben Hendrix 3-43, Chance Johnson 4-56, Ryan Hall 1-(-4).