Johnny Young (3) sacks the Spring Valley quarterback. | Leroy Howard
COLUMBIA – James Veasey passed for 218 yards, including a 93-yard touchdown strike to Chance Johnson, and ran for two scores, and Braden Marye rushed for 92 yards and a touchdown as the Bengals (3-3, 1-1 Region 5-5A) got back on the winning track with a 46-0 whipping of the Vikings at Spring Valley (2-4, 0-2) Friday night.
Johnson’s two catches on the night totaled 128 yards. Sophomore
Caedmon Watson threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Ben Hendrix, who had four
catches for 51 yards. Landyn Strong also had a touchdown run.
Johnny Young, James Willis and Chris Long each had one sack.
Young had four tackles, two for loss, and Long had four tackles one for loss.
Willis had two, both for loss. Dillon Hutcherson had five tackles on the night,
one for loss.
Blythewood plays host to Lugoff-Elgin (3-3, 0-2) Friday. The
Demons fell 57-42 to Sumter (5-1, 2-0) last week.
Blythewood’s girls track and field team won their second consecutive Upper State title on Saturday. | Contributed
DUNCAN, SC – Blythewood High School’s girls continue to dominate, this time at the Upper State Track and Field Championships hosted by Byrnes High School last Saturday.
The Bengal girls finished atop the podium with a score of
146. Hillcrest finished second, almost 100 points behind Blythewood with a
score of 57. Blythewood’s boys’ team finished in eighth place with a score of
39. Spring Valley finished first at 116.
The milestone was highlighted by four Bengals who set new
school records.
Aminah Rhone set a new school record with her first place
finish in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:02.31.
Santana Wright took first place and the new school record in
discus at 162-1.
Deangelo Brooks hold the school record in the 100 meter dash
with a time of 10.64 seconds. Brooks placed fourth in the event.
Anna Kelly broke the school record in 3200m with her time of
11:20.65. Kelly finished eighth in the event.
Blythewood Girls
Olivia Taylor, Aminah Rhone, and Alexis Jones had first
place finishes for Blythewood.
Taylor finished first in the 200 meter dash at 23.99 and in
the 400 meter dash at 54.92. Taylor finished third in the 100 meter dash at 12.05.
All three times were her fastest of the season. She also finished fourth in
long jump at the 5.4m mark.
Rhone finished first in 100 meter hurdles (14.63) and in 400
meter hurdles (1:02.31). Rhone also placed fourth in the 200 meter dash with
her season-best time of 24.82 seconds.
Jones took first place high jump at 1.5m.
Blythewood’s 4x400m relay team also finished in first place
with their season-best time of 3:57.02.
Other top finishers were
Peyton Hightower: 2nd in 400m dash at 56.01
Hayley Hightower: 2nd in 400m dash at 2:18.46
Patience Lisbon: 2nd in 100m hurdles at 14.96 (SB) and 5th in 400m hurdles at 1:05.86 (SB)
Dara Bolt: 2nd in triple jump at 11.51m
Aniya Fluker: 3rd in shot put at 11.32m
Madison Ross: 4th in 400m hurdles at 1:05.27 (SB)
Romell Garway: 5th in triple jump at 11.24m
The 4×800 relay team finished second with a season-best 9:43.95.
Blythewood Boys
Santana Wright’s top finish in discus was Blythewood’s only
first place finish on the day.
Graeysen Manning placed fourth in the 1600 meter run at
4:29.11, his season best.
Ashton Pouncie finished fifth in the 400 meter dash at
50.52.
Both teams qualified for the 5A State Championship meet on
Friday at Spring Valley High School.
The Blythewood girls look reclaim their 2023 title and
establish their dynasty. The Bengal girls finished second in 2022.
BLYTHEWOOD – Blythewood volleyball took their first region
win of the season with a 3-0 final over Spring Valley on Tuesday. The Bengals
outmatched the Vikings with 25-14, 25-14 and 25-8 finals.
Last Thursday, Blythewood dropped a 3-2 conference match to
Rock Hill. The Bearcats squeezed past the Bengals in the first set with a 27-25
win. Blythewood took the second 25-20 and the third 25-18. Rock Hill rallied to
win 25-23 in the fourth set to send the match to a fifth set where they took
another two-point win, 15-13, to clench the game.
Clover defeated Blythewood last Tuesday with a 3-0 final.
They won the first set 25-20, the second 25-19 and the third 27-25.
Blythewood will travel to Fort Mill tonight for a region
game and will hit the road again next Tuesday to face Nation Ford. They’ll play
their third road game in a week’s time on Oct. 6 at Clover.
HOPKINS – Westwood and Blythewood competed in Lower Richland’s second annual Diamond Hornet 7-on-7 Shootout on Thursday, June 30. Westwood is set to open their 2022 football season at Spring Valley on August 19. Blythewood will play at Ridge View on Aug. 19.
The Bengals take the field for their 2021 home opener.
BLYTHEWOOD – Desmond Boatwright blasted through Fairfield Central defenders Monday night. Backup quarterback David Herndon had enough touch on the ball to throw three touchdown passes. Together, they and the rest of the Blythewood football team closed out a 22-6 victory over 3A rival Fairfield Central Monday night.
Boatwright had 169 yards on 22 carries on the night. Herndon
started in lieu of sophomore Harrison Collins, who broke his hand before the
season opener. The 6-0 junior threw TD passes of 6, 30, and 23 yards, along
with a 2-point conversion pass in the first half to give the Bengals a 20-0
halftime lead.
“I’ve got to give our O-line credit and Desmond did a great
job,” Blythewood head coach Jason Seidel said. “We left some points off the
board though, and you have to give Fairfield credit, we had some drives but we
shot ourselves in the foot. It was a typical first game.”
Herndon coming in on short notice was a concern going in,
but the signal caller relied on receivers Jake Parker, Josh Gray, and Johnathan
Harper to take in touchdown passes and give Blythewood a good cushion going
into the second half.
“I was proud of him,” Seidel said. “It’s gonna take some time. He’ll miss a couple of plays here and there because he’s still learning the signals, but it happens.”
Fairfield defenders take down the Bengal runner. | Photos: Anthony Montgomery
For the Griffins, who had seen their fall practice
practically erased by COVID, came in without the pleasure of having scrimmaged
opponents in the preseason. That lack of practice showed, head coach Demetrius
Davis said.
“The one thing we couldn’t afford to do we did,” he said. “I
was hoping we would be able to come through and even if it was the first time
we went live, be able to overcome some of the mistakes. Playing a team of this
caliber in your first game you’ve got to be able to come out and play
mistake-free and create some turnovers. And we couldn’t get that done.”
The Bengals defense limited the Griffins to 160 total yards
on the night, 87 rushing and 73 passing.
“Our defense was great, and I love the special teams,”
Seidel said. “Our punter (Will Rowe, three punts and a 47.0 average on the
night) did a great job of changing field position.”
Blythewood turned the ball over on downs deep into Fairfield
Central territory on its first drive. The Bengals second drive paid off as they
ground out the clock with Boatwright runs and scored on Herndon’s 6-yard
touchdown pass to Parker with 18 seconds left in the first quarter.
Up 6-0, the Bengals defense made a key stop. Fairfield Central went backwards on the next possession, punting from the15-yard line and setting up Blythewood at the Griffins’ 30-yard line. Three plays later Herndon struck again with a 30-yard touchdown strike to Gary at the 10:41 mark.
Herndon’s third TD pass of the half came with 4:38 left as
he found Harper from 23 yards out. After having missed an extra point and
failed on a 2-point conversion on its first scores, Herndon made good on the
third attempt, a pass to Chris Thomas for two points to give Blythewood a 20-0
lead at halftime.
Blythewood spent the third quarter running the clock out on
Boatwright runs, then pinning Fairfield Central back deep in its own territory.
Doing so led to a safety when Jordan Clark tackled Tyderian Grier in the end
zone at the 9:03 mark of the fourth.
Fairfield Central finally managed a small drive in the final
minutes of the game, an 11-play 40-yarder capped with Semaj Young’s 2-yard TD
run with 20 seconds left.
“I feel like we won the second half,” Davis said. We did a
better job in the second half than in the first one. Our defense pretty much
shut them out. We did some good things on defense, and the only points they got
was on that safety, and that was on me, that wasn’t a great call.”
Blythewood travels to Westwood for the latest Battle of the
Woods—and the right to wield the Jeanne Schmidt Memorial Trophy Friday.
Covid-19 forced last year’s meeting to be cancelled. Westwood beat Blythewood
14-7 in the rivalry in 2019.
“It’s a quick turnaround,” Seidel said. “We’ve got to make
sure we’re ready to go. This happened to us two years ago, we played on a
Monday and went to Westwood and lost. A lot of our kids remember that.”
Fairfield Central plays host to Lancaster Monday night.
“A team makes the best strides between week one and week two,
so hopefully we can get this film,” Davis said. “This is the first chance we’ve
been able to go up against some guys. Hopefully we’ll do better next week.”
Fairfield Central – 0-0-0-6 — 6
Blythewood – 6-14-0-2 — 22
First Quarter
B – Jake Parker 6 pass from David Herndon
(kick failed) :18
Second Quarter
B – Josh Gray 30 pass from Herndon (pass
failed) 10:41
B – Johnathan Harper 23 pass from Herndon
(Chris Thomas pass from Herndon) 4:38
Fourth Quarter
B – Team safety 9:03
F – Semaj Young 2 run (kick failed) :20
FC Blythewood
First Downs 10 12
Rushes-Yards 30-87 37-157
Passing Yards 73 82
Att-Com-Int 20-7-0 8-5-0
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-1
Penalties-Yards 6-30 7-45
Punts-Avg. 5-36.6 3-47.0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: FC– Stephon Gadsden 16-70, Semaj Young
5-16, Donovan Watkins 3-20, Kensley Copeland 2-5, TyDerian Grier 1-14, Team
1-(-38). Blythewood – Desmond Boatwright 22-169, David Herndon 9-(-26), James
Lyles 2-0, Curtis Hilton Jr.3-14.
PASSING: FC – Stephon Gadsden 7-20-0. Blythewood –
David Herndon 5-8-0.
Blythewood girls soccer celebrated head coach Kathy Knight following the game against Rock Hill last Friday. It was a milestone 100th win for Knight. | Contributed
BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood Soccer team kept the pressure on Rock Hill Friday night, and when the kicks were complete at District 2 stadium, the Bengals finished off a 9-0 shutout over the Bearcats, giving head coach Kathy Knight her 100th win.
“It was a great surprise, I haven’t even been keeping
tally,” said Knight, in her eighth year coaching the Bengals. “To find that out
at the end of the game, it was just the icing on the cake for it to be
tonight.”
Knight entering triple digits would have come a year
earlier, were it not for the global pandemic and the public health emergency
that followed closing down the 2020 athletic season after six games.
Rock Hill, bringing just 11 players to the game, felt the
pressure of the Bengals right from the kickoff. The Bearcats eventually became
an 11-person goalkeeper against Blythewood, which kept the ball on the Rock
Hill side throughout the game.
Blythewood took 14 shots on goal by the final minutes of the
first half, and Rock Hill keeper Abby Vaulk and her team fended off all of
them—except Lauren Hendry’s shot at the 2:50 mark. Hendry took a pass from
Madison Powell and powered it past the reach of Vaulk to put the Bengals up
1-0, a lead they held going into intermission.
“In the first half they (Rock Hill) did a really good job
packing the back and stepping to the ball first before us,” Knight said. “At
halftime we had to make a lot of adjustments to get the ball moving, taking
just those quick one-two touches and passing quickly in order to keep them
moving.”
Lauren Hendry (6) had two goals in the 9-0 win over Rock Hill. | photos: Anthony Montgomery
Hendry struck again two minutes into the second half, this time from Maya Moran’s corner kick. Moran got the assist.
“We had a lot of missed opportunities in the first half,”
Hendry said. “It was good to have a goal in the last three minutes, it lifted
up our spirits and gave us confidence for the second half.”
Once Hendry’s goals were in the net, the Bengals kept
finding scoring avenues.
Meredith Stone put one in at the 28-minute mark, with Hendry
getting the assist.
Nine minutes later, Rock Hill suffered an own goal when one
of the players inadvertently kicked the ball in on Stone’s corner kick.
Evelyn Wright (15)
Maya Moran (14)
Emery Christensen (10)
“We just decided to play our game by then, and opened up and making sure that we were technically sound,” Stone said. “I think that helped us a lot, focusing on moving the ball around a lot instead of panicking.”
Emery Christensen struck the back of the net with 12:40 to
go, after taking the rebound when her previous shot was kicked away. Olivia
Harris took the assist on that play, which put Blythewood up 5-0.
Four goals in the final 10 minutes sealed the win.
Maya Moran headed in a shot with Megan Moran getting the
assist. After Lydia Daniels’ goal came off of Michaela Bosmans’ assist, Macy
Moran came out of the net as goalkeeper and put on a field jersey to score a
goal with 2 minutes left.
“It was nice to see every senior score, even our
goalkeeper,” Knight said. “She (Macy Moran) plays on the field as well, but in
her club.”
Daniels closed things out with a goal with about a minute to
play.
All four seniors honored on senior night scored for the
Bengals – Hendry twice, Stone, and Macy and Maya Moran. Daniels also scored
twice.
“It’s crazy,” Stone said. “It feels incredible. Everything
you’ve worked for for the past four years is just good to see it pay off.”
Blythewood (10-2, 6-0) defeated Spring Valley (7-8, 6-2) 3-0
Tuesday night to clinch the Region 4-5A championship. Emery Christensen scored
a goal and had an assist, and Hendry and Evelyn Wright had goals. Meredith
Stone had two assists.
Alex Nevils (2) puts a tag on a Spring Valley runner in last Friday’s game. | Anthony Montgomery
BLYTHEWOOD – Coming off a 2-1 nail-biter victory over Spring Valley last Friday, Blythewood went up early on Ridge View Tuesday night, scoring six runs in the first en route to an 11-1, 5-inning victory over the Blazers.
Kevin Steelman got the win for the Bengals (15-2, 7-0),
scattering three hits over 4 2/3 innings of work. He struck out six and walked
two.
Zac Cowan led off the game with a single and scored on Ty
Dooley’s double. Caleb McCants drove in Dooley on a triple to rightfield to
make it 2-0 Bengals.
McCants then scored on a wild pitch as Alex Nevils batted.
Nevils singled and his courtesy runner, Ryan Hunter, scored on Watson Saunders’
single to centerfield to make it 4-0 Blythewood with nobody out.
After Camden Watts grounded out and Justin Flemming walked,
Saunders stole home to make it 5-0. Landon Penfield grounded out at first, but
it was enough for Flemming to cross the plate and make it 6-0.
Justin White closed out the first inning flying out to
centerfield.
Blythewood scored two more runs in the second inning, and
after giving up a run in the fourth, the Bengals got three more runs in the
fifth to close out the game on the 10-run mercy rule.
Against Spring Valley Friday night, the game was much
closer.
The Bengals clung to a 1-0 lead going into the top of the
sixth, when Ethan Rumpel’s 2-out single to score Wynn Ravan and tie the game.
Watson Saunders led off the the bottom of that frame with a
single, moved to second on a passed ball, and moved to third on Nevils’
sacrifice bunt. Watts then laid down a bunt to the pitcher that enabled
Saunders to score.
With Watts at first, Kevin Steelman doubled and moved Watts
to third with one out for Flemming. As it turned out, Watts got picked off
third and Flemming struck out to end the inning.
It was all the Bengals needed. Cowan, on the mound since the
top of the sixth, struck out one and got two batters to ground out get the 2-1
win.
Blythewood plays host to Ridge View for a double header
Friday.
Blythewood – 6-2-0-0-3-X – 11-12-1
Ridge View – 0-0-0-0-1-X – 1-3-0
WP: Kevin Steelman. LP:
Noard
Hitters: Alex Nevils 3-3, 2B. Watson Saunders 3-3, 2B. Caleb McCants 3B.
Ty Dooley 2B.
Spring Valley – 0-0-0-0-0-0-1 – 1-6-0
Blythewood -1-0-0-0-0-1-X – 2-5-3
WP: Zac Cowan.
Hitters: Zac Cowan 3B. Alex Nevils 2B. Kevin Steelman
2B.
BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood softball team scored 34 runs
against Region 4-5A rivals Spring Valley and Ridge View in the last week.
The Bengals (11-2, 4-0) solidified their hold at the top of the region with a
16-4 rout at Spring Valley Friday, and a 18-1 drubbing at Ridge View Tuesday.
Lauren Hardy, who got the victory in the circle for the
Bengals Friday, drove in four runs on two hits at the Blazers Tuesday. Other
big hitters Tuesday were Josie Smith, who drove in three runs and went 3-for-3
with a double; Haley McCoy, who had 2RBI on a double and a triple; and Callie
Baucom, who went 2-for-3 with a triple and three RBI.
Against Spring Valley Friday, Blythewood gave up three runs
to the Vikings in the bottom of the first, but scored three in the top of the
second to take a 6-3 lead. Blythewood’s 5-run fourth and 5-run fifth closed out
the win over the Vikings.
Keley Swanier went 3-for-3 with a home run and 3 RBI to lead
the Bengals. Hardy had two hits and tripled, Josie Smythe had two hits and
doubled, Anna Fridrikson had two hits and Haley McCoy doubled.
Blythewood is at Lexington for a non-region matchup Friday.
WINNSBORO – The Blythewood softball team picked right up where they left off after winning the Soda City Classic April 3.
In their first game since that Spring Break Tournament, the
Bengals exploded for a 17-run first inning en route to a 21-0 Region 4-5A
victory over Rock Hill Tuesday night.
Blythewood banged out 11 hits including Haley McCoy’s grand
slam home run and Maya Van Zyl’s triple Van Zyl went 3-for-3 with six RBI.
Josie Smythe needed to pitch only three innings because of
the 15-run mercy rule. She gave up a hit, struck out six and walked one.
Blythewood (9-2, 2-0) is at Spring Valley Friday and at Ridge View Tuesday.
Rock Hill – 0-0-0 –
0, 1, 2
Blythewood – 17-4-X – 21, 11, 0
WP: Josie Smythe.
Hitters: Maya Van Zyl 3-3, 3B. Anna Fridriksson 2-2. Haley
McCoy HR (Grand Slam).
Josie Smythe threw only 50 pitches in Tuesday’s game. | Photos: Martha Ladd
BLYTHEWOOD – The Chief Communications Officer for Richland
School District Two provided documents on Tuesday confirming that Blythewood
head football coach Jason Seidel received a one-week suspension and was
reprimanded by the District as punishment for violating the school’s recruiting
policy.
Seidel
The Voice obtained the documents through a Freedom of
Information Act request.
Richland Two launched an investigation in late January of
Seidel’s interaction via Twitter with several football players at Ridge View
High School in December of last year and January of this year after it was
reported to Richland Two District office by Ridge View High Principal, Brenda
Mack-Foxworthy. Seidel exchanged numerous tweets with the players over that
time frame, encouraging them to transfer to Blythewood to play for the Bengals,
according to a statement issued by Richland Two.
The District did not at that time disclose what discipline
it had meted out to Seidel.
Seidel was missing from the sidelines of his team’s game
against Fairfield Central High School on Friday, Sept. 6, and there was
speculation at the time that it was the likely result of his punishment.
Kevin Rohletter was the Bengals acting head coach for the
team that evening in their 35-21 victory over the Fairfield Central Griffins.
Documents provided Tuesday verified that Seidel received a
one-week suspension in which he would be “prohibited from any activities with
the team during that week, including any games the team played that week.”
The specific week the suspension would be served was not
disclosed.
Complaints against Seidel also accused him of directing
players to cover up his interactions. In one tweet, Seidel mentioned to one
player to “delete our convo…” In another
conversation with a player, he said about the player’s mother “I would like to
meet her when she can. I want you both comfortable. But you and your mom can’t
say we met either.”
According to District Two policy, “Recruiting of prospective
students for athletic purposes is a serious ethical violation of the philosophy
and ideals of interscholastic athletics and will be treated as such.”
District Two went public on the matter only in mid-August,
when local television news station WIS received word of the issue and aired a
story on Seidel’s contacts on Aug. 16.
After District Two had investigated and addressed the
situation in March, Mack-Foxworth filed an appeal March 19 with Keith Price,
the District’s assistant superintendent for middle schools and high schools and
requested that the District send the issue to the South Carolina High School
League (SCHSL), which oversees public school sports in the state. The SCHSL
later said that “no violation within the S.C.H.S.L occurred” because none of
the students in contact with Seidel transferred to Blythewood.
Seidel was notified of his discipline by Richland District
Two in May.
The South Carolina High School League, which governs public
school athletic programs, passed on making a decision because there was no
evidence that any student transferred based on Seidel’s actions.
