Abbeville runs away from Batesburg-Leesville for 2A title

After a slow start, Abbeville got its running game cranked up and rode it to a second consecutive state title.

Abbeville rushed for 293 yards and turned in a dominating second half in defeating Batesburg-Leesville 44-21 on Friday in the Class 2A state championship at Benedict College.

It was Abbeville’s eighth state title in school history. Abbeville has a 22-game unbeaten streak, dating back to last season. Abbeville’s lone blemish was a 7-7 tie to Lincoln County (Ga.) in September.

“When you start at No. 1, that puts a lot of pressure on these kids,” Abbeville coach Jamie Nickles said. “But I give them a lot of credit. What a finish.”

Cortney Jackson scored three touchdowns as four Abbeville players rushed for at least 40 yards.

Leading 24-21 at halftime, Abbeville didn’t give Batesburg-Leesville much of a chance in the second half. Abbeville used a pair of 10-play scoring drives to take control. Quarterback Jamie Gray scored on a 1-yard run to make it 31-21 with 7:12 left in the third.

T.J. Rogers, who had a couple of acrobatic catches, made it 38-21 on 14-yard run with 29 seconds left in the third quarter.

Batesburg-Leesville ran just eight plays and had the ball for 4:12 in the final two quarters. Abbeville finished with 417 yards of offense and had a 31:19-16:41 advantage in time of possession.

“We really kicked it in offensively and had ball control in the second half. That was so key,” Nickles said. “Our offensive coaches got together at halftime and made some adjustments. We have good running backs and those kids kept pounding up in there.”

“We couldn’t get any stops in the second half,” B-L coach Perry Woolbright said. “Any time you play a good team like that and they score, you’ve got to respond. We couldn’t counteract that and couldn’t get the plays in the second half. They did a good job of stopping us offensively. We couldn’t get off the field.”

The loss ends a surprising run to the title game for Batesburg-Leesville, which finished fourth in Region 4-2A and won its playoff games on the road in appearing in its 15^th state title game.

B-L quarterback Bishop Cannon rushed for 77 yards and two TDs, and Tyreek Tolen added 72 on the ground and a TD.

Batesburg-Leesville took a 14-3 lead in the first quarter by scoring two touchdowns in a 1:46 span. Cannon scored on a 17-yard run and B-L got the ball back after Jermaine Blackwell’s fumble. Tolen scored on a 27-yard run to make it 14-3 for Batesburg-Leesville.

After Abbeville regained the lead 17-14, Cannon scored on a 3-yard run to put B-L up 21-17 with 1:45 left in second quarter.

“I’m going to remember all these guys and how hard they fought,” Woolbright said. “We didn’t win this game tonight but these guys are still champions. All they overcame this season and throughout the playoffs to make it this point. I really love these guys and that is the biggest part I will take.”

HOW THEY SCORED

This story was originally published December 16, 2016 at 10:50 PM with the headline "Abbeville runs away from Batesburg-Leesville for 2A title."