Explosive Beaufort runs past Whale Branch

Beaufort High School running back Wyatt Sherpensky lived up to his nickname — “White Lightning” — Friday night against Whale Branch, rushing for two first-quarter scores and going 90 yards on a third-quarter kickoff return as the Eagles ran past Whale Branch at home 55-13.

Beaufort improved to 3-1 while the Warriors dropped to 1-2.

“I caught it and I heard Omar (Cummings), and he said, ‘Right, right, right,’ and I looked over and I just followed him, and I just cut it right back and there was no one there,” Sherpensky said of his kickoff return that put the Eagles up 41-13 with 1:53 left in the third.

Sherpensky started the scoring with a 4-yard run four minutes into the game. Cummings made it 14-0 with a 44-yard touchdown jaunt with 4:42 to go in the first quarter.

Then it was back to No. 10. Two plays after thinking he’d scored on a 25-yard run at the end of the opening quarter, only to be surprised to learn he’d stepped on the boundary before reaching the end zone — Sherpensky ran 13 yards around the left side into the north end zone to put Beaufort up 21-0 in the initial period.

Whale Branch did not go down easily. Jaheem Hazel snuffed out a second-quarter drive, intercepting Ruff on a long throw at the Warriors 30.

On Beaufort’s next drive, with the score still 21-0, Whale Branch lineman Chris Wilson had a textbook punt block that Keith Bing recovered on the Eagles’ 9. Two plays later from the 5, sophomore Irvan Mulligan reversed field for an extra-long 5-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 21-7.

But Beaufort’s offense was too explosive. The Eagles scored on their first possession of the third quarter to make it 27-7.

After a 20-yard touchdown run by the Warriors’ Chris Wilson made it 34-13, Sherpensky’s kickoff return on the ensuing kickoff put the game away.

“We gave them a chance to win that ballgame now, if we didn’t take it back in the third quarter,” Beaufort coach Mark Clifford said, adding that he feels this year’s squad has what it takes to win Region VIII.

“They’re kind of a different team. ... They’re a little bit more personality than I’ve had. Got a lot of talent,” Clifford said. “They work well together. We got to learn how to practice a little bit harder. We’ve got to raise the bar a little bit right now because we’ve set some high goals for this football team, because we know they’re pretty good. But we’re not there yet.”

This story was originally published September 10, 2016 at 12:05 AM with the headline "Explosive Beaufort runs past Whale Branch."