Unbeaten Warhorses roll over rival Bulldogs
Sep. 24—BARNWELL 42, SILVER BLUFF 19
PETTICOAT JUNCTION — Friday night's football game between Barnwell and Silver Bluff looked like it had all the makings of a shootout in the early going.
Both offenses were able to move the ball with relative ease, and the longtime rivals traded scores on each of their two possessions.
Barnwell's offense continued to chug along for the rest of the game, and the defense responded while Silver Bluff continued to make things harder on itself. Just like that, only one half of a potentially high-scoring game came true as the third-ranked Warhorses rolled to a 42-19 victory in the non-region finale.
"We got a couple breaks early, and we got in the Wishbone. I think we punted one time, maybe, because we had a holding penalty or something," said Barnwell head coach Dwayne Garrick. "Tyler (Smith) had another big night. We've got a couple other backs. Seth Ray does a good job, Jordan Peeples does a good job running the football. We get after it pretty good up front, you know what I'm saying, tight end to tight end. We tried to get in a little 10 personnel there at the end, just to flip it around a little bit to try to get better at it, but we didn't do a very good job at the end."
Smith, who eclipsed 1,000 yards for the season in last week's win over Aiken, had another 200-plus yard rushing night with 224 and five touchdowns on just 19 carries.
His first score came on Barnwell's (6-0) first official snap of the game. A holding penalty wiped out the first play the Warhorses tried to run, and Smith was off to the races for a 64-yard touchdown on the next one.
One problem — the defense had just spent nearly 6 minutes on the field during Silver Bluff's (1-4) opening touchdown drive, capped by a 3-yard Me'Kiye Overton run, and had to get right back out there again with practically zero rest.
The Bulldogs drove back down the field again, with Hunter Casper drilling a 38-yard field goal for a 9-7 lead with 2 minutes left in the quarter.
Smith struck again just over a minute later, breaking tackles in the backfield and escaping for a 44-yard score to give Barnwell the lead right back at 14-9.
"It was good to answer in a hurry, and our kids settled in and started playing a little better defensively," Garrick said. "It was a nice win against a good, quality football team. Their record's not great, but they're a good football team."
That was the start of 35 consecutive points for the Warhorses, who rolled up 332 yards of offense and cashed in on turnovers while also stringing together a few drives to give the defense a breather.
"We've got to play with more heart. I was a little disappointed in our approach to the game. I thought we had some good things — we knew Barnwell was who they were," said Silver Bluff head coach De'Angelo Bryant. "Coach Garrick and them had a great game plan. They came out and lined up in the Wishbone and smacked us in the mouth.
"I thought it was going to be a high-scoring game for a while, but a lot of self-inflicted wounds that we continue to have. It's kind of been the story of our season in every game we've had. We've still got great hopes that we'll be able to turn this thing around. We're on the verge of something special. I just hope we just go ahead and turn that corner."
Smith added touchdown runs No. 3 and 4 in the first half, with a Peeples touchdown in between, and Barnwell carried a 35-9 lead into the break.
The Warhorses took the ball to start the second half and used up nearly half of the third quarter, with Smith running in his fifth touchdown of the night from just inside the 10 for a 42-9 lead.
Silver Bluff found some positives offensively, with the line showing improvement for the second game in a row, and quarterback Maleik Williams spread the ball around to a variety of playmakers. He completed 17 of 22 passes for 200 yards and a touchdown, and he was the team's leading rusher with 54 yards on 14 carries.
The Bulldogs have had their struggles against a difficult non-region schedule, and they've not helped themselves out at all by committing double-digit penalties in a few of those losses. Still, their record is back to 0-0 once region play begins, and several of their goals are still attainable — like winning a region title, having homefield advantage in the playoffs and eventually making a return trip to the Class AA state championship game.
"There's still a lot of pluses that can come out of this," Bryant said. "We're going to continue to be optimistic. We're going to continue to practice hard. We're going to continue the things that we're supposed to do the Silver Bluff way."
Barnwell wrapped up non-region play with an undefeated record, though Garrick said the focus is still on improving as the Warhorses move forward. They begin Region 6-AA play next week against Edisto.
Silver Bluff opens Region 3-AA play at Fox Creek.
B 21 14 7 0 — 42
SB 9 0 0 10 — 19
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
SB — Me'Kiye Overton 3 run (kick blocked) 6:18
B — Tyler Smith 64 run (Lane Evans kick) 5:38
SB — Hunter Casper 38 field goal 2:01
B — Smith 44 run (Evans kick) 0:47
B — Smith 10 run (Evans kick) 0:19
Second Quarter
B — Jordan Peeples 8 run (Evans kick) 6:46
B — Smith 24 run (Evans kick) 2:37
Third Quarter
B — Smith 9 run (Evans kick) 6:17
Fourth Quarter
SB — Casper 31 field goal 5:55
SB — Maleik Williams 28 pass to Hiszari Gantt (Casper kick) 3:22
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
B — Tyler Smith 19-224-5, Jordan Peeples 7-50-1, Seth Ray 5-35, Cameron Austin 3-0. Totals 34-309-6.
SB — Maleik Williams 14-54, Timothy Morris 10-43, Daniel Jones 7-14, Me'Kiye Overton 6-12-1, Marcus Washington 2-11, Arthur Walker 1-4, Malik Mozone 1-1. Totals 41-139-1.
Passing
B — Cameron Austin 3-5-23-0-0.
SB — Maleik Williams 17-22-200-1-0.
Receiving
B — Clay Pender 2-14, Seth Ray 1-9. Totals 3-23.
SB — DesJuan McCorkle 5-56, Arthur Walker 5-43, Hiszari Gantt 1-28-1, Daniel Jones 2-23, Marcus Washington 1-19, Ricardo Jones 1-16, Carson Browder 1-13, Timothy Morris 1-2. Totals 17-200-1.
