Newberry – It took a little over three minutes following kickoff for the Eagles of Richard Winn to put up the game’s first score and they quickly began to establish themselves as the dominant Eagle team on the gridiron against their Newberry County counterparts from across the Broad River divide. Richard Winn went on to dominate the host Newberry Academy team, 52-6, for the team and coach Paul Brigman’s first road win of the year and third in a row.
Freshman quarterback Zack Taylor targeted senior receiver Ethan McManus in a mid-field pattern for the first TD pass, a completion of 29 yards at the 8:49 mark in the first quarter. Sophomore Brandon Miller rushed across the goal line to tack on the two-point conversion and gave Richard Winn an eight-point lead.
Jimmy McKeown (13) shakes off the Newberry Academy defender and heads into the end zone. | Photo/Martha Ladd
Taylor and company proceeded to score twice more before the end of the first period. Both times Taylor found sophomore receiver Jimmy McKeown behind the Newberry secondary and McKeown hauled in both passes for 39 and 77 yard touchdown completions. Miller made the PAT kick good, and then he passed to Taylor for the two-point conversion following McKeown’s second TD.
The Newberry offense struggled against the visiting Eagles defense, who was allowing 39.3 points per game coming into the matchup, but they did find a gap in the RWA secondary for a 71 yard TD pass. It was their first and only score of the game.
The Newberry Eagles’ two-point attempt failed, but the score did trim the RWA led down to 23-6 as the first period expired.
In the second quarter, RWA’s defense continued to thwart the opponent’s offensive game plan while the RWA offense visited the end zone three more times. At the 10 minute mark Taylor found senior Jonny Edenfield for a TD pass and Miller got the two-point conversion, putting RWA ahead 31-6.
Later in the period Taylor rushed for a score and Miller kicked the PAT. Before the half ended, junior Noah Edwards was Taylor’s target for a 28 yard TD reception, and Miller tacked on the PAT. RWA led 45-6 as the first half buzzer sounded.
In second half action, freshman Dru Caldwell got some snaps at the QB position in the place of Zack Taylor and threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Joey Bannister, also a freshman. The PAT kick by Miller was good, putting RWA up 52-6 with the running clock in effect.
Miller led the defensive charge for RWA with 13 tackles followed by Edenfield with 7 and freshman John Russell with 6.
Coach Paul Brigman and his Eagle squad improve their overall record to 3-1 and will hit the road again this Friday to take on the Clarendon Hall Saints in Summerton in a 7:30 P.M. matchup.
