After having to wait a week, the Fort Mill Yellow Jackets finally got to play their home opener Friday night as they welcomed the Blythewood Bengals to Bob Jones Stadium.
However, the night didn’t end the way Fort Mill wanted falling 23-7 to Blythewood.
The home side of the stadium was packed anticipating a great game between these two former Region foes. Bengals got the ball to start the game and quickly got called for delay of game before the first snap was made. That was a precursor of things to come as Blythewood went three and out including a tackle for loss by Fort Mill defensive end Joseph Duey.
Fort Mill’s first possession started with a 7-yard run by Thomas Mabry. However, the Bengals defense knocked down back-to-back passes by Quinn Kelly to force a Fort Mill punt. Unfortunately for the Fort Mill offense, this would become the theme of the night. Blythewood mixed runs off tackle with screens and passes to put the first points on the board on an 18-yard touchdown strike from John Henry Collins to Chance Johnson. Liam Flynn’s extra point made it 7-0 Blythewood with 4:22 left in the first quarter.
Mabry ripped off back-to-back first down runs to get the second offensive possession off to a great start for Fort Mill. Jackets decided to take a deep shot down the far sideline, but the pass fell incomplete due to a lot of contact from the Bengal defender. The home crowd wanted a flag for interference which never came. Fort Mill punted again giving Blythewood their third possession of the game as the first quarter came to a close.
The Fort Mill defense had to bow its neck a lot in this game and they did so early second quarter giving the ball back to the Jackets offense in decent field position at the 30-yard line. After a 12-yard Kelly run Fort Mill got called for holding leading to a fourth down and two at their own 45-yard line.
Fort Mill head coach Rob McNeely called a timeout after Fort Mill tried to draw the Bengals defense offside. The timeout didn’t deter McNeely as he ran his offense back out there. Kelly was able to pick up two tough yards to get the first down.
This, however, is when the game changed. Kelly launched a deep shot down the sideline however the receiver fell and the ball was intercepted and returned all the way to the Fort Mil 41-yard line. Bengals went for the jugular on the first play and connected on a 41-yard touchdown pass to Carter Coleman with 6:27 left in the second quarter Blythewood doubled their lead at 14-0.
The Yellow Jackets fought right back. Kelly connected with Tanner Mays for 40 yards all the way to the Blythewood 35-yard line. Two plays later, Kelly lofted a rainbow into the end zone and Mays out jumped the defender for the touchdown. The Noah Hardy extra point made the score 14-7 right before halftime.
With renewed optimism, Fort Mill got the ball first second half, but that optimism was short lived as the Blythewood defense forced another three and out. After a short punt, the Bengals offense set up shop on a short field at the Fort Mill 43-yard line. Yet again, the Yellow Jackets defense stiffened when it had to and forced a 33-yard field goal from Flynn which increased Blythewood’s lead over Fort Mill to 17-7 with 8:25 left third quarter.
After another Fort Mill punt, Blythewood was deep into Jacket territory when Collins forced a pass into the end zone that was picked off by Brett Scales who returned it to the 5-yard line.
The Bengals defense continued to terrorize the Yellow Jackets offense forcing another punt. However, the punt was fumbled and Fort Mill pounced on it at the 36-yard line bringing the big home crowd to its feet.
The Yellow Jackets offense continued to struggle giving the Bengals the ball back with over 10 minutes to play in the fourth quarter. This is when Blythewood inserted the dagger with a nine play, 6:21 drive capped off by a 12-yard touchdown pass to Coleman.
The extra point was blocked and Gray Patterson retuned it for Fort Mill. However, in South Carolina High School football you cannot advance a blocked, fumbled, or intercepted snap so the Jackets didn’t get the two points making it 23-7 Blythewood with only 4:23 left in the game.
Fort Mill backup quarterback Broden Mitcheson entered the game and tried to hit Jeremiah McNeil on a deep out pattern on third down, but Jaylen Reaves stepped in front of the receiver and picked off the pass while keeping a toe inbounds. Desmond Macklin then ripped off a run up the middle all the way to the Fort Mill one yard line with only 43 seconds to play.
Bengals head coach James Martin showed a touch of class telling Collins to take a knee instead of jamming it into the end zone to end the game.
Bengals improve to 3-0 and have only given up 20 points in three games. Fort Mill falls to 1-1 on the season. The Yellow Jackets are on the road next week at Lancaster for a Friday, Sept. 13 game, before they begin Region 3-5A play Friday, Sept. 20.
