Eagles Throttle Newberry Academy

Jake Clyburn (5) slips a tackle vs. Newberry Academy Friday. (Photo/Martha Ladd)

Jake Clyburn (5) slips a tackle vs. Newberry Academy Friday. (Photo/Martha Ladd)

WINNSBORO (Sept. 19, 2016) – It was an all Eagle affair Friday night, when the Newberry Academy Eagles made their way onto Ruff Field to do battle with the Richard Winn Eagles. Once the game started, it was a one-sided contest, and Richard Winn cruised to an easy 41-12 victory, their third win in a row and first home win of the season.

“It’s always hard to play in front of your home crowd,” RWA head coach Rob O’Connell said. “I didn’t know this going into it but we had lost four straight at home. It was good to go ahead and get over that hump.”

Mitchell Gibbons started things off in a big way for Richard Winn on the Eagles’ first drive. He hooked up with junior receiver Jonny Edenfield for a 55-yard score.

Gibbons had a monster night that included four passing touchdowns and two more on the ground. After a solid defensive stand, Richard Winn scored on their second possession via a 39-yard Gibbons rushing touchdown

“He’s getting better every week,” O’Connell said. “One of the things we talked about with him is playing with confidence, and I think he really did that. He’s making confident throws, which is good. You can’t go out there and play passive.”

Newberry showed a glimpse of offensive capability on their next drive. They managed to rattle off a 13-play scoring drive that spanned nearly 6 minutes. The drive was capped off by a 23-yard passing touchdown from Tyrese Taylor to Daniel Bannister.

Not to be out-shined, Richard Winn answered back with a 5-minute, 10-play drive of their own that spanned over 50 yards. A 20-yard passing score to Jimmy McKeown accentuated the lengthy drive.

A Newberry turnover on downs set up Richard Winn deep in their own territory, with the first half winding down to an end. The bad field position would not matter much as Gibbons broke away for an 82-yard touchdown run.

“I think we can cause some people some problems,” O’Connell said. “We’ve just got to keep getting better, but we tell our kids it’s about us, it’s not really about what other people do. It’s about what we do and I really believe when we’re playing well we can be tough to stop.”

Gibbons planted the ensuing kickoff in the end zone for a touchback. With 2:43 left Newberry marched down to the 8-yard line, but Tyrese Taylor was sacked and the remaining seconds of the half slipped away.

“As far as defense, we played a lot of plays but we made big plays when we needed to,” O’Connell said. “That’s the stuff you want to see. Defensively you get your back put against the wall a lot, you just got to be able to get off the field and they’re doing a great job of making a play when they’ve got to make a play.”

The Richard Winn defense continued to stand strong against Newberry on their first two drives of the second half. They forced a punt, and then Jake Clyburn intercepted a Taylor pass.

Both of those defensive stands ended with Richard Winn putting up more points on the scoreboard. After the punt Gibbons connected with Chris Christianson for a 13-yard strike, and the Clyburn interception led to a bobbled pass to Jimmy McKeown that went for a 58-yard score.

Richard Winn had the game sewed up by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, and the running clock was put into effect. Newberry managed to put together one last long scoring drive that went over 6 minutes and ended with a 14-yard passing touchdown to junior Dillion Morris.

After a failed onside kick attempt from Newberry, Richard Winn ran the remaining time off of the clock to secure the big win.

“It was pretty sloppy, we had three touchdowns called back in the second half, so we’ve got to be able to clean up the penalties and we’ve got to keep communicating on defense,” O’Connell said.

The Eagles’ next game will be their annual homecoming contest, and they will meet up with Clarendon Hall. Currently, the Clarendon Hall Saints sport a 2-2 record, but suffered a tough 38-14 loss Friday to Henry Academy.

 

NA: 6-0-0-6 – 13

RWA: 14-14-13-0 – 41

 

Scoring

First Quarter

RWA – Jonny Edenfield 55 pass from Mitchell Gibbons (M. Gibbons kick). 10:16.

RWA – M. Gibbons 39 run (M. Gibbons kick).7:14.

NA – Daniel Bannister 23 pass from Tyrese Taylor (pass failed).

Second Quarter

RWA – Jimmy McKeown 20 pass from M. Gibbons (M. Gibbons kick). 6:41.

RWA – M. Gibbons 82 run (M. Gibbons kick). 2:43.

Third Quarter

RWA – Chris Christianson 10 pass from M. Gibbons (M. Gibbons kick). 8:47.

RWA – J. McKeown 58 pass from M. Gibbons (kick failed).5:54.

Fourth Quarter

NA – Dillion Morris 14 pass from Tyrese Taylor (pass failed). 3:19.

 

Team Stats

NA                                          RWA

First Downs                        14                                           6

Rushes/Yards                    22-106                                   20-250

Passing Yards                     238                                         197

C-A-I-TD                               20-33-2-1                             9-12-4-0

Fumbles/ Los                     0/0                                         1/0

Penalties/Yards                8-65                                       12-120

 

RUSHING: NA – Daniel Bannister 18-102, Tyrese Taylor 2-0, Landen York 1-0, Tabb French 1-4. RWA – Mitchell Gibbons 14-223, Jonny Edenfield 2-13, Peyton Gilbert 1-5, Noah Edwards 1-12, Brandon Miller 1-(-3).

RECEIVING: NA – Daniel Bannister 4-46, Tabb French 7-78, Landen York 3-36, Michael Shaw 3-45, Dillion Morris 3-33. RWA – Peyton Gilbert 1-(-8), Jonny Edenfield 1-55, Jimmy McKeown 3-89, Brandon Miller 1-2, Noah Edwards 1-9, Chris Christianson 1-10, Jake Clyburn 1-40.

PASSING: NA – Tyrese Taylor 20-33, 238 yards, 2 TDs, INT. RWA – Mitchell Gibbons 8-10, 188 yards, 4 TDs; Zack Taylor 1-2, 9 yards.

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