Week 9 Prep football roundup

North Charleston 40, Bluffton 22: North Charleston racked up 391 total yards Friday to claim the Region 8-AAA title, the school's first since 2001. Denzel Myers, as usual, was the leading man for North Charleston, having a hand in all six touchdowns. He carried the ball 15 times for 170 yards, including scoring runs of 24, 12 and 48 yards, while completing 7-of-13 passes for 100 yards with scoring tosses of 19 yards to Corey Washington, 7 yards to Moses Smith and 7 yards to Denzel White.

The Cougars stifled the Bobcats' offense early, scoring on three of their first four possessions to build a 22-0 lead in the first 14 minutes.

Bluffton (2-2 overall, 3-5 in Region 8-AAA) showed some fight in the second quarter, driving 53 yards to close within 22-7 after Zach Frazier's 8-yard scoring run. It mounted another drive at the end of the half, moving to the North Charleston 3-yard-line before time ran out. The Bobcats' coaching staff left the field yelling that they had one more timeout, which would have enabled them to run another play.

Bluffton coach Jeremy West said he was told he had two timeouts remaining before he called one with 13 seconds left, but he wasn't allowed to call the one he thought he had left.

"That didn't cost us the game," he said, "but it was a big momentum swing."

When the second half began, North Charleston iced the game quickly, easily scoring on its first two possessions to open a 34-7 lead.

The game was halted for about 20 minutes early in the second quarter when Bluffton's Jimmy Tillman was injured on the Cougars' third touchdown. He was taken off the field via ambulance, but West said after the game that he had been cleared at the hospital and was headed back to the stadium. Frazier paced the Bluffton offense with 80 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries.

Beaufort High 30, Colleton County 7: Alex Simmons scored four touchdowns, leading Beaufort High to an important region win over Colleton County.

Simmons finished with 115 yards on 23 carries, scoring three rushing touchdowns and hauling in a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Beau Brown.

Brown threw for 135 yards on 8-of-15 passing. Tight end Tyler Cieplowski had three receptions for 70 yards.

On defense, Dymonte Gwathney had two interceptions.

Beaufort High (7-2, 3-0 in Region 8-AAAA) will travel to Summerville next week for a matchup that will decide the region title.

Allendale-Fairfax 46, Hardeeville 6: Hardeeville took one on the chin against Allendale-Fairfax, the No. 4 ranked team in Class 1-A.

Donald Scott led the Hurricanes in rushing with 73 yards on 12 carries. Jarrell Knighton had 71 yards on 15 attempts and Caylon Morrrison-Ford had 13 yards on one attempt.

Hardeeville (4-5 overall, 2-3 in Region 6-A) will host Lincoln next Friday.

Northwood Academy 42, Thomas Heyward 0: Northwood Academy cruised past Thomas Heyward, improving to 9-1 overall and 5-0 in SCISAA Region 2-AA. The Rebels (3-6, 2-3) will host Colleton Prep next Friday, while Northwood will play host to Hilton Head Christian Academy with the region title on the line.

Trinity Collegiate 36, Beaufort Academy 22: Beaufort Academy was tied with Trinity Collegiate heading into the fourth quarter but faded down the stretch.

Stephen Baggett had another solid all-around game for the Eagles. As quarterback, he threw two touchdown passes. As a receiver, he caught a touchdown pass from Matthew Bass.

On defense, he made 14 tackles with two quarterback sacks.

Michael Chahin made seven solo tackles and broke up two sure-fire touchdown passes. Zach Rentz had nine tackles and one fumble recovery.

Beaufort Academy (1-6) will travel to Patrick Henry next Friday for its final game of the season.

Abundant Life 38, Fountain Inn 6: Markus Caldwell had touchdown runs of 69 and 22 yards, leading Abundant Life to its second undefeated regular season in three years.

Jon-Jon Herrington also had two touchdown runs from 19 and seven yards out.

Receiver Angel Anguiano caught a 44-yard touchdown pass and a 42-yarder from quarterback Jarrett Owens.

Abundant Life (9-0) is hoping to find another independent opponent to play in a bowl game.

-- The (Charleston) Post and Courier contributed to this report