Lexington Scores Late to Seal 28-21 Win over Blythewood
Lexington hit the road to tackle Blythewood and chalked up head coach Stewart Young's 100th career win.
By WORTHY EVANS
Contributing Writer
Columbia – Lexington’s football team hit the road to Blythewood to take on a familiar non-region rival and chalked up head coach Stewart Young’s 100th career victory Friday night.
At District 2 Stadium, the Wildcats drained the clock on a late scoring drive to close out a 28-21 victory over the Bengals.
“When you start a career you always want to be successful. A hundred is a milestone. It was good to get it and it was a fun night,” said Young, who is in his second year at Lexington after coaching 2A Saluda for 11 years. His 2019 team won the 2A state championship and all but one of his teams had seasons over .500.
“The only number I care about tonight is four, because that’s how many our boys have won in a row,” he added.
In reaching the Wildcats’ fourth victory of the season, Shannon Lytes had 19 carries for 107 yards and a touchdown, Noah Dunn rushed for 66 yards and two scores, and Easton Crocker completed 16 of 23 passes for 187 yards and a TD. Ian Danson led all receivers with 11 catches for 138 yards, including a 53-yard touchdown reception.
More impressive was that Lexington’s offensive game totals—and offense—was not visible in the first quarter. The Wildcats (4-2) ran just eight plays for eight total yards in that period.
In preparing for the Bengals’ solid defensive play, Young and his staff realized that putting drives together Friday night would be difficult.
“Hat’s off to our offensive staff. Coach Hardin told me at the end of the week and I didn’t tell our kids, but it’s going to take a while for us to figure this thing out because they’re so chaotic with their presses and their fronts. You can’t replicate that in practice,” Young said. “I was just happy that our defense could just hang in there so we could get a bead on what they were doing.”
Lexington’s defense was effective in limiting the Bengals (3-3) with the exception of one big play.
Blythewood quarterback James Veasey was 13-for-17 for 164 yards and two touchdowns to one interception, and 32 rushing yards. One TD pass was a 67-yarder to Christian Sisco, his only catch on the night.
Blythewood’s Derrick Johnson also returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter.
In a scoreless first quarter, Blythewood drove down to the Wildcats’ 11-yard line before turning the ball over on downs. The Bengals defense kept Lexington contained on its only other possession in the first quarter as well.
“The running backs are tough but we had some fumble issues a couple of times (one lost fumble), and we had one drive (in the third quarter) last eight minutes and we didn’t score,” he said. “That’s discouraging, but the overall effort of those backs and our undersized offensive line was great. I’m proud of those guys, they got after it.”
The Bengals got on the scoreboard in a 12-play drive that straddled the first and second quarters and ended with James Veasey’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Seth Hall at the 9:58 mark of the second.
The second of Blythewood’s four unsportsmanlike conduct personal fouls prompted Lexington’s first score of the game. That flag set the Wildcats up with a first down at the Lexington 47-yard line. Quarterback Easton Crocker took care of the rest with a 53-yard touchdown pass to Ian Danson who caught it in the end zone to tie the game at 7 with 5:21 left in the first half.
Bengals kickoff returner gave his team another score when he took the kickoff at the 3-yard line and raced 97 yards in 11 seconds to give the Bengals a 14-7 lead.
Lexington responded close to halftime with a short scoring drive boosted by two more Blythewood personal fouls. Shannon Lytes capped the drive with a 13-yard TD run with :35 seconds left to tie the game at 14 going into halftime.
Both teams battled through a scoreless third quarter before Lexington finally straightened out its running game. Dunn and Lytes powered a scoring drive that straddled the third and fourth quarters and capped it with a 4-yard touchdown run.
Down 21-14, Blythewood used a quick strike to even the score again. On the second play from scrimmage after the Wildcats’ score, Veasey connected with Christian Sisco in the end zone for a 67-yard touchdown pass with 8:34 to go in the game.
Lexington drove down field once again, draining six minutes off the clock. With Dunn and Lytes runs and Crocker’s timely throws. Dunn’s score from nine yards out at the 2:24 mark gave the Wildcats the edge.
Blythewood had just over two minutes left in the game, and Veasey completed two passes to move the Bengals close to midfield. The Wildcats closed it out with an interception and later took a knee to run out the clock on a victory.
“It takes four quarters to win a football game, and we didn’t win the fourth quarter,” Blythewood head coach James Martin said. “We had to make the stops and we didn’t’ do it. Credit Lexington, they executed better than we did in the fourth quarter when it counted.”
Blythewood opens its Region 5-5A season at Sumter (3-3) Friday. The Gamecocks fell 48-35 to Dorman last week.
Lexington opens its Region 3-5A season playing host to 5A Division 1 champion Dutch Fork (5-0) Friday. The Silver Foxes leveled Gray Collegiate Academy 42-7 last week and have outscored opponents 223-67.
Lexington 0 14 0 14 – 28
Blythewood 0 14 0 7 – 21
Second Quarter
B - Seth Hall 10 pass from James Veasey (Daniel Purcell kick) 9:58
L - Ian Danson 53 pass from Easton Crocker (Ethan Bradley kick) 5:21
B - Derrick Johnson 97 kickoff return (Purcell kick) 5:09
L - Shannon Lytes 13 run (Bradley kick) :35
Fourth Quarter
L - Noah Dunn 4 run (Bradley kick) 10:06
B - Christian Sisco 67 pass from Veasey (Purcell kick) 8:34
L - Dunn 9 run (Bradley kick) 2:24
LHS BHS
First downs 20 11
Rushes-yds 43-182 23-72
Passing yds 187 164
Att-Com-Int 23-16-0 17-13-1
Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0
Penalties-yds 5-38 6-85
Punts-avg 3-27.3 3-36.3
RUSHING
L - Shannon Lytes 19-107, Noah Dunn 18-66, Easton Crocker 4-10, Josh Lacy 1-3, Team 1-(-4).
B - James Veasey 14-32, Landyn Strong 4-21, Timothy Hamilton 2-9, Tay’Shawn Johnson 2-9, Seth Hall 1-1.
PASSING
L - Easton Crocker 16-23-0.
B - James Veasey 13-17-1.
RECEIVING
L - Ian Danson 11-138, Victor Kaczenski 4-45, Shannon Lytes 1-1.
B - Noah Nelson 3-38, Seth Hall 2-22, Tay’Shawn Johnson 2-13, Ayden Glenn 2-8, Christian Sisco 1-67.
