With 3-0 start, Fort Mill football quickly forgetting about the past seven years

With 3-0 start, Fort Mill football quickly forgetting about the past seven years

By WORTHY EVANS

Contributing Writer

Columbia - Consider the Fort Mill football team revived.

With a 33-7 victory over Blythewood Friday night at Richland District Two Stadium, the Yellow Jackets are off to their best start since 2017 (when they started 4-1 and finished 4-8). At 3-0 with the win over the Bengals, Fort Mill has surpassed their yearly win total dating back to 2018.

In getting their third victory the Yellow Jackets made plays in all facets of the game, including two blocked punts, one of which was returned for a touchdown, a defense that snagged two interecptions, and an offense that grinded it out and scored when it needed to. 

“Damn I’m proud of this team,” eighth-year head coach Rob McNeely said. “Defense was hell tonight, Special teams, I knew we could get to a kick, we practice it every freaking Wednesday, and the dudes, they executed.”

Junior running back Broden Mitcheson powered the Fort Mill offense with 134 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries.

The Blythewood defense sacked senior quarterback Quinn Kelly six times, but Kelly stayed on his feet enough to complete 13 of 20 passes for 170 yards with one interception. The Bengals defense also forced two fumbles.

Fort Mill took the opening kickoff and drove 52 yards down the field before the Blythewood defense held on fourth and four. Noah Hardy’s first field goal of the game, a 45-yarder, went through with room to spare and put the Yellow Jackets on the scoreboard. 

After that score, Blythewood clamped down on the Fort Mill offense, sacking Kelly four times and forcing two fumbles.

The Bengals offense had its own struggles. 

Blythewood put together an 11-play, 61-yard drive before failing to convert on a third-and-10 at the Fort Mill 20. Ashton Davis came in for a 37-yard field goal attempt to tie it at the end of the first quarter, but the holder muffed the snap and the resulting kick sailed lazily to the right, well short of the goal posts.

Blythewood went three-and-out on a possession halfway through the second quarter and Davis came on to punt. Fort Mill defender Brett Scales shot through the line and slapped Davis’s kick to the ground. Scales then scooped up the football around the 30-yard line and ran it in easily to put the Yellow Jackets up 10-0.

“Brett Scales is the heart and soul of our team,” McNeely said. “He’s a coach out on the field. He comes hard every day. He runs defensive scout team for us to get a look. That’s the kind of kid he is, and those kids are better players (because of him). They’re great kids and I love them.”

After Blythewood quarterback James Veasey threw an interception, Fort Mill drove to the Bengals’ 7-yard line. The Blythewood defense held, but Hardy knocked in a chip shot from 24 yards out with 12 seconds left in the half to give the Yellow Jackets a 13-0 lead at the half. 

Mitcheson capped a mid-third quarter drive with a one-yard touchdown run that put Fort Mill up 20-0. The Yellow Jackets added two more 1-yard touchdown runs from Terrell Robinson and Andrew Kowalski in the fourth quarter to take a 33-0 lead.

Veasey’s 33-yard touchdown pass to Chance Johnson with 1:32 left in the game enabled Blythewood to avoid a home-opening shutout.

The Bengals (1-2) scored 70 points in their first two games, a 34-27 season-opening victory at Nation Ford Aug. 22 and a last-minute 38-36 loss at Midland Valley Aug. 29. Against the Yellow Jackets, Blythewood came up empty for more than three quarters.

“We didn’t take care of our jobs tonight,” third-year Blythewood head coach James Martin said. “First half special teams really hurt us but we still fought the whole time. I’m proud for that. We had ourselves in good positions defensively, but we also put ourselves in bad positions defensively just by some field position issues. We have to keep playing and keep fighting. We have nonregion games for a reason, and we’ve got one more to get it right.”

Veasey finished the night 12-for-29 in passing for 111 yards, with two interceptions. Blythewood rushers had 86 net yards on 22 carries.
Fort Mill plays host to Lancaster (0-3) and Blythewood plays host to Keenan (2-1) Friday.

The Yellow Jackets have seven more games this season, but McNeely said the team’s success is grounded on his players’ belief in themselves.

“None of the previous years should affect this year’s outcome. End of story,” he said. “These kids believe in themselves and each other, and I’m just proud of them.”

Fort Mill           3         10       7         13       –         33

Blythewood    0         0         0         7         –         7

First Quarter

F - Noah Hardy 45 field goal 7:24

Second Quarter

F - Brett Scales 30 blocked punt return (Hardy kick) 5:56

F - Hardy 24 field goal :12

Third Quarter

F - Broden Mitcheson 1 run (Hardy kick) 6:32

Fourth Quarter

F - Terrell Robinson 1 run (Hardy Kick) 10:10

F - Andrew Kowalski 1 run (kick failed) 4:49

B - Chance Johnson 33 pass from James Veasey (Ashton Davis kick) 1:32

                             FM       BHS

First downs          17           12

Rushes-yds     38-87     22-86

Passing yds        170          111

Att-Com-Int  20-13-1    29-12-2

Fumbles-lost     2-2         0-0

Penalties-yds   8-65       5-60

Punts-avg       3-46.0.     4-29.5

Individual Statistics

RUSHING

F - Broden Mitcheson 22-134, Quinn Kelly 11-(-50), Andrew Kowalski 2-2, Terrell Robinson 1-1, Team 2-5. B - Landon Strong 9-60, James Veasey 9-8, Brandon Mayre 4-18.

PASSING

F - Quinn Kelly 13-20-1. B - James Veasey 12-29-2.

RECEIVING

F - Jameson Terrell 5-64, Henry Crocker 3-35, Deveian Southward 2-32, Keenan McCormack 1-22, Joseph Duey 1-20, Broden Mitcheson 1-7. B - Chance Johnson 5-62, Ryan Hall 2-29, Tay’Shon Johnson 2-13, Ben Hendrix 1-10, Team 2-(-3).