Silver Bluff forces 4 turnovers, bounces back from tough loss to beat Keenan in Region 4-AAA play

Oct. 11—SILVER BLUFF 27, KEENAN 8

PETTICOAT JUNCTION — The Silver Bluff football team had all week to talk about last week.

Specifically, about how last week was last week and this week is this week.

A heartbreaking loss to No. 3 Newberry in the Region 4-AAA opener absolutely could not bleed over beyond that Friday night. Silver Bluff knew it played well, even played well enough to win against an undefeated state championship contender, but focusing any attention on that wasn’t going to serve the Bulldogs well in an attempt to bounce back against Keenan.

Instead, they focused their attention on playing keep-away from the visiting Raiders to limit their chances at getting within striking range, much less winning. The offense took care of the football and sustained enough drives to put points on the board, the defense forced four turnovers and had a chance at several more, and Silver Bluff got into the region win column with a 27-8 victory.

“We talked about it all week, can’t let Newberry beat you twice,” said Silver Bluff head coach Matt Hayes, whose team led 19-7 before falling 22-19 last week. “… I thought the senior leadership — we had a really good week of practice. Those practices led to what we saw tonight. Proud of those guys to get back to work. We’re on fall break, so those guys had a chance to kind of focus on us, and we had good practices so that’s why we had a good game tonight.”

Zykee Williams, Vincent Aiken and Lance Hieke each had an interception — and Hieke had a shot at two more — Jerrod Pringle recovered a fumble, Keyaideen Williams forced another, and the defense pitched a second-half shutout to prevent another late lead from slipping away.

Drelyn Brown rushed for 117 yards and a touchdown, Trellis Riley rushed for 70 yards and two scores and threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Zean Dicks, and as a unit the Bulldogs rolled up 275 yards rushing.

It could’ve been an even bigger lead at the half than 27-8 if not for a tough play that hurt the Bulldogs (4-4, 1-1 Region 4-AAA) in more ways than one. They had great field position after Aiken’s interception in the later stages of the second quarter, but a couple of plays later Riley was hit as he threw and got flagged for intentional grounding. It moved Silver Bluff out of comfortable field goal range, and the hit knocked Riley out for the rest of the game with an apparent shoulder injury.

Enter Jordan Williams from his wide receiver spot, and he responded by rushing for 55 yards in the second half to help the Bulldogs bleed the clock and keep Keenan’s offense on the sideline.

“(Williams) actually played quarterback in this game last year at Keenan,” Hayes said. “He’s had reps last year. He’s primarily a receiver, but the last few weeks he has taken reps at quarterback. He runs our scout team at quarterback. He’s comfortable back there. We’ll take a look at Trellis on Monday. That’s football. Injuries are going to happen. Next man up. That’s our mentality. It’s got to be your mentality, especially this time of year.

“We’re probably the only team in the state that hasn’t had a bye week. We’ve still got one more week, and it’s going to be a physical game against Swansea. We’ll get through our treatments and get these guys healthy and be ready to go on Friday.”

Keenan (2-6, 0-2) had some trouble getting the passing game going early with quarterback Jamauri Johnson, who finished 14-for-28 for 181 yards with the three interceptions. Running back Hunter O’Neal ran for 100 yards and the Raiders’ lone score, and some of his best carries came on direct snaps out of the shotgun.

“I was proud of the way defensively, just turning the ball over, great,” Hayes said. “They did a great job of pass blocking. We tried everything to get pressure on that quarterback. Their coach does a really good job with their pass pro. I felt we held up in the secondary, and for the most part we tackled well.”

A turnover on downs at the Keenan 7-yard line midway through the third quarter was the only time Silver Bluff gave away the football. Neither quarterback threw an interception and no one lost a fumble, giving the Bulldogs a huge advantage in turnover margin.

“Starting quarterback comes out, your backup quarterback who takes limited reps in practice comes in and takes care of the football,” Hayes said. “I can’t say enough about the offensive staff. They had a good game plan. If we don’t turn the ball over and we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot and we stay on schedule, we’re really good offensively.”

The Bulldogs will be on the road Oct. 17 to visit No. 7 Swansea for their ninth consecutive week with a game. Their bye week follows, and after that is the regular-season finale against Fox Creek.

K 0 8 0 0 — 8

SB 13 14 0 0 — 27

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

SB — Trellis Riley 4 run (conversion failed) 6:53

SB — Riley 41 pass to Zean Dicks (JJ Brittain kick) 1:57

Second Quarter

K — Hunter O’Neal 7 run (O’Neal run) 11:54

SB — Drelyn Brown 15 run (Brittain kick) 9:06

SB — Riley 1 run (Brittain kick) 4:51

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing