BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood Bengals made the short trek across town to meet up with the Westwood Redhawks in The Battle of Blythewood, and to determine which school would bring home the rivalry trophy ax this year. Westwood evened up their all-time record against Blythewood, 3-3, with an impressive 28-9 manhandling of the Bengals.
Head coach Dustin Curtis (center) and his Redhawks celebrate with the JeAnne Schmidt Memorial Ax, the ceremonial trophy award to the winner of the Battle of Blythewood. | Photos/Ross Burton
While Westwood has played as a running team every year of its existence, it was the dominant passing game that put the Redhawks ahead 21-0 as the teams headed to the locker room at halftime.
“We aren’t going to shy away from wins no matter what,” said Westwood head coach Dustin Curtis. “Injuries are part of the game. We had our share last season. Tonight, our guys stepped up. I was the coach who lost the ax last year, and I feel great to be the coach who got it back. Sterling [Scott] put a nail in the coffin, and I loved that moment! We have another monster game next [Dutch Fork].”
Coming into this game, Blythewood had allowed only 31 points in their previous three contests, and with this loss the Bengals drop back to .500 at 2-2. Westwood improved their record to 3-1, and notched their first home win.
The Bengals opened the game with ball, and down two quarterbacks. Starter Quinton Patten was shelved with an ankle injury during the game against Fairfield, and the Bengal backup quarterback Quintin Singleton was unable to play, so it fell to Jaydon Brunson to lead the team.
“It’s always something you have to overcome,” said Bengals head coach Brian Smith. “We did our best to overcome that and we just came up short.”
Brunson took the majority of snaps in the absence of the missing Bengals passers, and Dylan Kaminer also got a few snaps, but Blythewood struggled to make anything happen through the air. Brunson and Kaminer combined to go 7-17, for just 62 yards passing and one touchdown.
Jalon Riley attempts to battle away from the Blythewood defender.
The Westwood defense had struggled a bit coming into this game, but they punched the Bengals in the mouth early when they forced a three and out on the opening drive. They took over at the Blythewood 43, and only moved the ball 22 yards on the first six plays of the drive. But then Elijah Heatley hit Montre Miller for a 21-yard touchdown pass.
Heatley, after splitting snaps with Ahmon Green last week, came out and had a solid performance against the Bengals. He went 18-25 for 159 yards to go along with three touchdowns.
Westwood head coach Dustin Curtis was proud of his quarterback.“Elijah [Heatly] played well tonight,” Curtis said. “He has a great amount of poise. Last season he made a lot of mistakes but he never got rattled. We trust his leadership.”
After the Westwood score, Blythewood took over in a decent field position at their own 39, but again the Redhawk defense was just too much for them and they could not find a first down. Westwood returned the ensuing Blythewood punt back to Bengal ten, and set up another easy score.
After regaining the ball, the Heatley-Miller pair demonstrated that they were not finished yet. Heatley hit Miller again two minutes later for 10 yards and the second touchdown of the game. Blythewood took over with decent field position again, at their own 41, but an interception derailed the drive.
Westwood turned the ball over on downs on their next drive, and the Bengals took over, looking to put together a decent offensive drive. They took over on the Redhawk 45 after the defensive stand, and made it down to the Westwood goal line, where they fumbled and lost possession.
Turnovers hit the Bengals hard in this one. They fumbled five times and lost possession on three of those occasions, to go with Jaydon Brunson’s three interceptions.
“The team that makes the least amount of mistakes usually wins,” Smith said. “We certainly didn’t do that. We had six turnovers, and that’s a huge part of the game. You gotta to give their guys credit for forcing those turnovers.”
Jaylon Boyd drops his shoulder before he hits the hole against a tough Redhawk defense.
The second quarter was a snooze-fest right up until the last few minutes. The teams traded the ball back and forth and traded a pair of fumbles. After the last punt of the half by Blythewood, the Redhawks took over on their own 30-yard line with 2:32 left before half, which was enough time for the Redhawks to drive 70 yards in just eight plays.
Heatley tallied his third touchdown pass of the half with a seven-yard pass to Christian Horn. The score was highlighted by a successful two-point conversion pass from Ahmon Greene to Cortes Braham, and Westwood took a 21-0 lead to the locker rooms.
After a dismal first half, the Bengals began the second half with a new sense of urgency, and barely resembled the team that went into the locker room at halftime. They began by forcing the Redhawks to turn the ball over on downs in their own territory.
Then, Blythewood put up their first numbers on the scoreboard when Brunson connected with Jakob Owens, 29 yards for Brunson’s first touchdown of the season with 6:29 remaining in the third quarter.
They continued their comeback near the end of the third, when they marched from their own 48 to the Westwood one-yard line, then they suffered their second fumble right at the endzone, and the Redhawks recovered.
The Bengals did stuff Westwood in their own endzone for a safety, but they could not string anything together. Jaylon Riley sealed the deal late with a four-yard score to bring the ceremonial ax back to Westwood.
Westwood will be on a bye before taking on Dutch Fork,1-1, in the WACH-Fox game of the week on Sept. 22.
Blythewood has to rebound shortly to take on an undefeated Irmo team, 4-0, with just six days rest, on Sept.1 The Bengals will also be down to their fourth string injury, due to a reoccurring injury for Jaydon Brunson.
“Some guys have to step up and take the roles of those guys we’re missing,” Smith said. “We’re missing multiple players this week due to injuries, you got to come together as a team and step up. Everybody has to player a little harder.”
Scoring
WHS- 13-8-0-7-28
BHS- 0-0-7-2-9
First Quarter
WHS – Montre Miller 21 pass from Elijah Heatley (David Strother III). 7:38.
WHS – M.Miller 10 pass from E.Heatley (A.Green rush failed). 5:42
Second Quarter
WHS – Christian Horn 7 pass from E. Heatley (Cortes Braham pass from Ahmon Green). :36.
Third Quarter
BHS – Jakob Owens 29 pass from Jaydon Brunson (Miles Heitman kick). 6:29.
Fourth Quarter
BHS – Safety. 10:29.
WHS – Jaylon Riley 4 run (D.Strother III kick). 3:15.
TEAM STATS
BHS WHS
First Downs 11 14
Rushes-Yards 46-162 30-66
Passing Yards 62 159
C-A-I-TD 7-13-1-3 18-27-3-0
Fumbles-Lost 5-3 3-2
Penalties-Yards 4-30 5-25
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing: BHS- Jaylon Boyd 16-50,, Jaydon Brunson 21-73, Chris Woodall 3-21, Dylan Kaminer 2-9, Brady Carson 2-6, Jakob Owens 1-4, Thades Greene 1- (-1). Jaylon Riley 19-65, Elijah Heatley 6-1, Joshua Heyward 1-1, Ahmon Greene 3 – (-2).
Receiving: BHS- Kevon Catoe 1-(-3), Chris Woodall 1-18, Dalen Mickle 1-4, Jakob Owens 4-43. WHS – Christian Horn 5-63, Montre Miller 5-42, Cortes Braham 4-40, Trini Fegget 3-10, Jaylon Riley 1-4.
Passing: BHS – Jaydon Brunson 5-13, 56 yards, three interceptions; Dylan Kaminer 2-4, six yards. WHS – Elijah Heatley 18-25, 159 yards, three touchdowns; Ahmon Greene 0-2.
