Westwood’s Miquelle Canady slips through the gap in the Blythewood defense.
Blythewood’s Ben Ruiz (23) battles for the first down.
Dean Beckford (6) races through the Westwood secondary.
Friday night was the first ever cross-town matchup between the Blythewood Bengals and the Westwood Redhawks. The Bengals delivered the first knockout blow of the series with a lopsided 57-0 victory. Blythewood has seven years of varsity experience under their belt, including the last four in 4A. Westwood is playing their first year on the varsity level in 3A, and right now Westwood and their head coach Rodney Summers are going through the learning curve.
“We need to shore up some things in each phase of the game before we head into region play, but we’ll be ready,” Summers said.
Because of the Blythewood return game, a couple of crucial turnovers and a kickoff recovery by Blythewood, the average starting field position for the Bengals was the Westwood 39-yard line.
“We gave up too much at the beginning with turnovers,” Summers said. “Kickoff returns and blocked punts – if you name it, it happened to us. Just an all around bad night.”
Friday night’s game is one the Redhawks would like to forget, and that’s just what Summers impressed upon his team after the game.
“We have to close this chapter tonight,” Summers said. “That was a good football team over there. But we have to move on and don’t let it define where we are going to be.”
Blythewood won every facet of the game and improved their record to 2-1, while Westwood fell to 0-3.
It was not a good start for the Redhawks, when running back Miquelle Canady fumbled on their first offensive play. Derek Miller recovered for Blythewood and on the very next play, Devin Albert scampered over the right side for a touchdown. Following the extra point, the Bengals led 7-0. Westwood countered with a 12-play 78-yard drive that came to an end with a fourth-and-goal from the 10-yard line. Westwood wide receiver Adonus Lee was turned away 2 yards shy of the goal line by Blythewood defensive back Erik Holliday.
That was as close as the Redhawks’ offense would get to points all night as they were shutout by the Bengals defense.
Half way through the first quarter Blythewood led 7-0 and Westwood was on the move in Bengals’ territory, but another costly turnover brought a prospective drive to a screeching halt when Westwood quarterback Davis King had a pass intercepted by Earl Wilson. Blythewood head coach Reggie Kennedy was proud of his defense recording their first shutout of the season.
“Good all around effort,” Kennedy said. “Defense had their backs against the wall early in the game but they ended making the stops.”
The Bengals’ offense would then put together an 11-play drive that ended with a 3-yard touchdown catch by Javon Smith. Greg Huegel tacked on the extra point making the score 14-0 in favor of the Bengals.
After a fumble at midfield by Blythewood’s Dean Beckford, Westwood’s offense took over to start the second quarter but was forced to punt after a three-and-out.
And that’s when lightning struck in the form of Shyeim Brown.
Brown returned the punt 74 yards for a touchdown. They say lightning doesn’t strike in the same place twice, but Friday night it was only a yard shy – in the third quarter Brown returned a kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown.
“I’m happy for him because he worked hard during the week,” Kennedy said. “He worked hard all off season and I’m just glad to see him cash in.”
Brown would end the game with a total of 225 return yards.
The Bengals would go on to rack up 42 first half points, which was just one point shy of a school record for most points scored in a half. In 2006 Blythewood scored 43 in the second half of a first round playoff game against Blue Ridge. That record would elude the Bengals, but they did receive a consolation prize by setting the largest margin of victory in school history (57).
“I didn’t even know it was a record,” Kennedy said. “I don’t pay attention to those things. I was just happy to lead 42-0 at the half.”
Next up for Blythewood is a home game against Lancaster (1-2). For Westwood, they will continue the fight for their first win when they host Spring Valley (3-0). Both games are scheduled on Sept. 14 with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m.
Westwood is now three games into their first varsity season and it wasn’t that long ago that Blythewood played in their first varsity season – 2006, to be exact. It was the year that the Bengals won their first, and so far only, state championship in football. They were the first team in state history to win a state championship in its first varsity season.
With the two high schools less than 4 miles apart there is a lot to look forward to down the road.
“It’s a good clean rivalry and I think we need that for this community,” Kennedy said.
To stay up to date will all Blythewood high school athletics visit us online and like our page at www.facebook.com/bhathletics.
WHS—0-0-0-0 0
BHS—14-28-15-0 57
First Quarter
BHS- D. Albert 16 run. G. Huegel kick. (11:36)
BHS- J. Smith 3 pass from K. Binn. G. Huegel kick. (:51)
Second Quarter
BHS- S. Brown 74 punt return. G. Huegel kick. (10:21)
BHS- B. Ruiz 20 run. G. Huegel kick. (7:17)
BHS- D. Albert 2 run. G. Huegel kick. (4:14)
BHS- J. Britt 15 pass from K. Binn. G. Huegel kick. (2:38)
Third Quarter
BHS- L. Jamison 19 run. Huegel kick. (11:18)
BHS- Team safety. (2:35)
BHS- S. Brown 75 kickoff return. T. Smith kick failed. (2:21)
Records: BHS: 2-1/0-0 WHS: 0-3/0-0
Team Stats
BHS WHS
First Downs 15 7
Rushes/Yards 31-124 24-39
Comp/Att/Int 10-14-0 13-28-1
Pass Yards 83 93
Fumbles/Lost 1-1 4-1
Penalties/Yards 7-71 5-25
Individual Stats
RUSHING—BHS: D. Albert 9-34. D. Beckford 6-26. B. Ruiz 4-30. L. Jamison 2-30. WHS: K. Smith 11-40. M. Candy 6-4. N. Leveretter 4-12. T. Guinyard 1-(-2)
PASSING—BHS: K. Binn 8-11. 65 yards. 0 INT. 2 TD. T. Palmer 2-3. 18 yards. 0 INT. 0 TD. WHS: D. King 13-28. 93 yards. 1 INT. 0 TD.
RECEIVING—BHS: S. Brown 2-21. D. Beckford 2-18. J. Smith 2-5. J. Britt 1-15. WHS: A. Lee 4-52. V. Smith 3-29. D. Williams 3-3. T. Gallman 1-9.
