BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood football team notched its first win in the Jason Seidel era Friday night, and the players had the offseason conditioning to make it so.
The Bengals rallied from a 2-touchdown deficit to arch rival Ridge View in the first quarter, got a defensive score to take the lead at the half, then shut out the Blazers in the third and fourth quarters to close out a 38-21 victory at District 2 Stadium.
“In the past they’ve been used to being down and shutting the door.” Seidel said. “We kept saying just hang in there. We’ve put them through so much over the summer, we just told them, keep doing what you’re doing.”
Quinton Patten (5) pivots in attempt to shake the incoming defender. | Ross Burton
What the Bengals are doing under Seidel after one game is grinding it out on the ground. The offense that Seidel brought from his tenure at Hickory Ridge and earned the Raging Bulls 23 wins in two years is being custom fit for Blythewood.
“We didn’t throw tonight. Everybody talks about us being an air raid offense, we are not,” Seidel said. “We’re gonna run the ball down your throat. We maybe threw the ball four times.”
Quentin Patten, coming off an ankle injury that took him out of most of last season, finished the night with 172 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries. Jaylon Boyd had 104 yards and two scores on 15 carries.
“We had a couple of bad snaps that he was able to make something out of it,” Seidel said of Patten’s scrambling. “He makes me a good play caller sometimes. I think a lot of people at college who overlook him are crazy. I think he’s one of the best.”
Patten said he’s fortunate to be back for his senior year and looking forward to the rest of the season.
“We worked very hard over the summer, and my ankle feels very good,” Patten said. “It was great coming out here as a team and getting it done.”
As the home team in District 2 Stadium, the Blazers put the Bengals on their heels in the first quarter.
Two JaVon Anderson touchdown passes, to Senika McKie and Jordan Smith, put Ridge View up 14-0. After Anderson’s strike to McKie, Ridge View recovered an onside kick and drove again. Smith’s TD grab came as time expired in the first.
Early into the second quarter, Quinton Patten pounded into the end zone from 17 yards out. His score snapped a streak of 19 scoreless quarters dating back from the Bengals’ loss at River Bluff last October.
Patten’s touchdown and Brandon Edwards’ conversion run cut the Blazers’ lead to 14-8, but Ridge View added to it on the kickoff that followed. Isaiah Porter’s 96-yard kickoff return put Ridge View up 21-8 at the 10:06 mark of the second.
The rest of the game belonged to the Bengals.
Boyd scored on a 13-yard run with 5:55 left, and Patten rushed in for another 2-point conversion to get Blythewood within 21-16.
With under four minutes to go in the second, the Blythewood defense struck hard as Ridge View kicker Nick Lawyer was ready to punt. A host of Bengals blocked the punt, and linebacker Patrick Godbolt fell on the ball in the end zone.
That score, and another Edwards 2-point conversion run, gave Blythewood a 24-21 lead going into the half.
The Bengals closed out the third quarter with a 13-play, 90-yard drive that Boyd capped with a 15-yard score.
Blythewood wore down the Blazers more in the fourth quarter, and closed out the game with Edwards’ 10-yard TD run.
“Between Boyd and Brandon Edwards and Aamir Washington, we’ve got three really good backs, and it’s a credit to our offensive line,” Seidel said. “Really, we called about four or five run plays the whole game, and just said keep running at ‘em and running at ‘em and wearing ‘em out.”
All the while, the Bengals defense shut down the Blazers. Nic Rogers and Godbolt, pressuring from the edge, wound up in the backfield often. Rogers had two sacks and Godbolt one.
After Ridge View’s first-quarter burst of drives and scores, Blythewood pushed them backwards. The Blazers had 123 total yards on the night, and most of those yards came from passes in the first quarter.
The penalties, 15 for 153 yards, were what hampered the Bengals for much of the game. Several long gains were called back because of holding penalties, and Ridge View’s two scores came on drives that were boosted with personal fouls.
“Honestly, 14 of those points we gave them on penalties,” Seidel said. “We gotta clean that up, we can’t afford to do that. And I get it, I know how much of a rivalry it is, I can see it, but we can’t shoot ourselves in the foot.”
Blythewood becomes the home team at District 2 Stadium Friday when it takes on its down-the-road rival Westwood. The Redhawks are coming off a 53-14 blistering of Lugoff-Elgin.
BHS – 0 – 24 – 7 – 7 — 38
RVHS – 14 – 7 – 0 – 0 — 21
First Quarter:
RV – Senika McKie 13 pass from JaVon Anderson (Nick Lawyer kick) 1:31
RV – Jordan Smith 30 pass from Anderson (Lawyer kick) 0:00
Second Quarter
B – Quinton Patten 17 run (Brandon Edwards run) 10:36
RV – Isaiah Porter 96 kickoff return (Lawyer kick) 10:06
B – Jaylon Boyd 13 run (Patten run) 4:11
B – Patrick Godbolt 0 blocked punt return (Edwards run) 3:21
Third Quarter
B – Boyd 15 run (Miles Heitman kick) :32
Fourth Quarter
B – Brandon Edwards 10 run (Heitman kick) 2:57
BHS RVHS
First Downs 21 12
Rushes-Yards 49-334 30-16
Passing Yards 40 107
Att-Com-Int 8-5-0 14-9-1
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 4-0
Penalties-Yards 15-152 7-30
Punts-Avg. 1-14.0 5-37.8
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: B: Quinton Patten 20-172, Jaylon Boyd 15-104, Brandon Edwards 10-39, Jacob Owens 1-5. R: Cori Davis 15-85, Dhani Dixon 3-1, JaVon Anderson 8-(-23).
PASSING: B: Quenton Patten 5-8-0-40. R: JaVon Anderson 9-14-1-107.
RECEIVING: B: Brandon Edwards 2-18, Kevin Catoe 1-12, Jacob Owens 1-6, David Patten 1-4. R: Walyn Napper 5-45, Jordan Smith 2-34, Senika McKie 2-28.
