Late TD lifts Blythewood over Irmo
After shutting down Irmo in the first half, Blythewood seemed prepared to let the Yellow Jackets back into the game Friday night.
The Bengals almost did, and Irmo gave them a scare in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. The teams combined for four scores in the waning minutes of the game, and only David Isreal’s 4-yard touchdown run with 52 seconds left proved the difference in Blythewood’s 28-21 victory over the Yellow Jackets.
The Bengals (4-1) took a 13-0 halftime lead that could have easily been 28-0 had it not been for a few offensive mistakes inside the 20-yard line. Irmo (1-4) opened the second half with a drive capped by Mason Smith’s 9-yard touchdown run.
Blythewood made it 21-7 on Kyle Wright’s 1-yard TD run and 2-point conversion run to open the fourth quarter scoring, but Smith connected with Jeffery Tharp from 21 yards out to cut the Bengals’ lead to 21-14.
Irmo tied things up at 21 with three minutes to go on Smith’s 5-yard TD run. The Yellow Jackets started that scoring drive when Phillip Barrett intercepted an Isreal pass and returned it 19 yards to the Blythewood 31-yard line.
After Irmo’s final score, the Bengals took over at midfield. Later, Isreal hit Daquan Patten for a 34-yard pass play to set up Isreal’s go-ahead score.
TURNING POINT
Irmo avoided the possibility of a lopsided game and took the opening possession of the second half and drove the length of the field. Mason Smith capped the 9-play, 66-yard drive with a 9-yard touchdown run at the 7;47 mark of the third. From then on, it was a battle of survival for the Bengals.
KEY PERFORMERS
David Isreal: The Blythewood quarterback didn’t have his best night, going just 5-for-16 for 100 yards, a touchdown and an interception, but he also rushed for 42 yards and two TDs.
Mason Smith: The Irmo quarterback went 12-for-16 for 148 yards and a TD. He also had 23 carries for 77 yards and two scores.
Kyle Wright: The night’s leading rusher, Wright had 113 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries for the Bengals.
THEY SAID IT
“We came out good in the first half, we just couldn’t execute on third downs. We opened up the running game in the second half and they opened up some things for me to go downfield.” – Blythewood quarterback David Isreal
“I’m proud of the way our kids played, especially In the second half. There are four quarters in a football game, and we lost the first two. But we’ve got something to build off of.” – Irmo head coach Reggie Kennedy
“This isn’t the best weather for our offense (periodic showers and a driving wind) and it made things tough for us. We were off pretty much all night, but David Isreal had a great night, and he ran the ball well. The defense had a great first half. Reggie (Kennedy) made some great adjustments at the half and we just didn’t.” – Blythewood head coach Dan Morgan
THREE KEY NUMBERS
1: Number of yards gained on each team’s first possession of the game.
3: Number of missed field goals from both teams. Blythewood missed from 39 and 22 yards, and Irmo missed from 44 yards.
248: Total number of passing yards from both teams. Irmohad 148 and Blythewood had 100.
HOW THEY SCORED
1st Quarter
B – Jacob McGuire 11 pass from David Isreal (Cody Turner kick) 8:48
2nd Quarter
B – Isreal 8 run (kick failed) 11:17
3rd Quarter
I – Mason Smith 9 run (Austin Cates kick) 7:47
4th Quarter
B – Kyle Wright 1 run (Wright run) 11:08
I – Jeffery Tharp 21 pass from Smith (Cates kick) 6:02
I – Smith 5 run (Cates kick) 3:00
B – Isreal 4 run (Turner kick) :52
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: Irmo –Jeffery Tharp 11-64, Mason Smith 23-77, Shakeem Bradley 8-23. Blythewood – Kyle Wright 21-113, David Isreal 10-42.
Passing: Irmo – Mason Smith 18-12-0. Blythewood – David Isreal 16-5-1.
Receiving: Irmo – Ronnie Jamison 4-47, Raekwon Heath 2-32, Shakeem Bradley 2-26, Brandon Love 1-(-3) Blythewood – Eric Weber 2-30, Kyle Wright 1-26, Daquan Patten 1-33, Jacob McGuire 1-11.
This story was originally published September 25, 2015 at 11:44 PM.