Beaufort High bounced in 1st round of 4-A playoffs

From staff reports

Published Saturday, November 14, 2009

Comments (0) |

Feeds |

GREENWOOD -- After gaining just 40 yards and one first down in the opening half, Beaufort High never recovered, falling 37-7 to Greenwood in Friday's opening round Class 4-A Division II playoff contest at J.W. Babb Stadium.

All together, eighth-seeded Greenwood's defense limited No. 9 seed Beaufort to 203 yards of offense, and 74 of those yards came off a long pass play in the third quarter.

"It's a tough way to end the season for these kids because they've worked hard, and I hate for it to happen this way, especially for those seniors," Beaufort High coach Mark Clifford said. "It was a possession game and the ball stayed on our side of the field almost the entire first half.

"We knew their defense was good, but we didn't think they'd be as good as they were tonight."

After forcing consecutive three-and-outs, Greenwood started its second drive of the game at the Beaufort High 31-yard line. Propelled by a third-and-nine conversion on D.J. Dunlap's 9-yard pass to Jamison Chalmers and a Beaufort pass interference penalty later in the drive, Greenwood struck first on D.J. Goodman's 2-yard touchdown run with 3:30 left in the first quarter.

Beaufort High failed to respond on the ensuing drive, rushing for a 4-yard loss, drawing an offsides penalty and yielding another 1-yard loss on a Beau Brown run. Things got worse when Greenwood's Devante Parks blocked Tim Britton's punt, allowing Javaris Rhode to fall on the ball in the end zone and give Greenwood a 13-0 lead at the first quarter's 1:45 mark.

After watching the deficit grow to 20-0, the visiting Eagles found a slight rhythm when Brown connected with Dymonte Gwathney on a fourth-down pass that moved them into Greenwood territory. But another three-and-out eliminated any potential momentum entering halftime.

Meanwhile, Greenwood continued to find success. On its second possession of the third quarter, quarterback D.J. Dunlap faked a pitch to D.J. Goodman, cut up field and raced 54 yards for a touchdown to expand Greenwood's lead to 27-0.

Beaufort High's lone answer and score came on the following drive. Facing third-and-10 from its 26, Brown fired a pass down the sideline to Travis Lawton, who ran 74 yards for the touchdown. But this one triumph was far from enough to overcome the Eagles' shaky start and Greenwood's stout defense.

"It was unfortunate to give up one deep ball, but ... the only way for them to get back into the game was with home runs," said Greenwood first-year coach Gene Cathcart, whose team travels to face top-seeded Berkeley next Friday. "They can hit singles and doubles, but other than that defensively, I thought we played flawlessly."

Beaufort High's leading rusher Alex Simmons was held to just 37 yards while Josh McPherson mustered a season-low of seven rushing yards. Brown mustered 151 yards through the air and one interception to go with his long touchdown pass.

The outcome marks the largest margin of defeat during Clifford's six seasons at the helm and the second straight year that the Eagles have ended on a three-game losing skid, once again sending them on an offseason search for answers.

"We just got beat," Clifford said. "We thought we had the right scheme to attack what they did, but they were just a little bigger and faster than that. As the head coach and offensive coordinator, I have to take the burden because you have to outscore your opponent -- that's football."

Greenwood 37, Beaufort High 7

BFT0 0 7 0 -- 7

GW13 77 10 -- 37

FIRST QUARTER

G -- D.J. Goodman 2 run (kick failed)

G -- Javaris Rhode 0 punt block return (Tucker Nelson kick)

SECOND QUARTER

G -- D.J. Dunlap 3 run (Nelson kick)

THIRD QUARTER

G -- Dunlap 54 run (Nelson kick)

B -- Travis Lawton 74 pass from Beau Brown (Jalin Mack kick)

FOURTH QUARTER