Chapin’s spread passing attack ousts Beaufort from postseason

Three touchdowns from Beaufort’s Wyatt Sherpensky weren’t enough to keep up with Chapin’s spread offense Friday night as Chapin broke things open with three second-quarter touchdowns on the way to a 52-35 Class 3A playoff decision at Chapin.

Cooper Bemis threw for two Chapin touchdowns and ran for two more, while Trad Beatty added two more scoring passes — one of which finished with a highlight-reel grab by Xzavion Gordon in the back of the end zone on a 23-yard strike.

Gordon also caught a 22-yard TD pass from Bemis, while Kale Rhame and Case Barber got behind the Beaufort secondary for long first-half scores.

Bemis and Beatty combined to throw for 332 yards on the night as Beaufort (8-4) surrendered its highest point total of the season. Chapin (10-2) advanced to host a Lower State semifinal next week against North Myrtle Beach.

Sherpensky ran for two touchdowns in the opening quarter, including an 87-yard dash on a wild first-quarter sequence after taking a surprise lateral from Omar Cummings. He also found the end zone on a 27-yard scoring pass from Clayton Ruff on the final play of the game, ending the season with 21 TDs in all.

Ruff also threw a 31-yard TD pass to Cummings on a fourth-down play in the second quarter, and Cummings added a 4-yard scoring run in the fourth.

Chapin jumped out to a 14-0 lead by scoring on its first two possessions, the second of which came after a Cummings fumble on Beaufort’s first snap.

Beaufort responded with an 80-yard drive that led to Sherpensky’s first touchdown, and tied it 14-14 on his second. Cummings appeared to be stopped on a run off-tackle, but spotted Sherpensky to his right and flipped the ball in his direction.

Sherpensky scooped the ball on one hop and took off down the right sideline to tie the game.

Chapin, though, started finding seams in the Beaufort coverage in the second quarter. Rhame got behind the Beaufort secondary for a 43-yard TD that put Chapin ahead for good, and Gordon caught his first TD on the next possession.

After Beaufort pulled within 28-21 on Cummings’ TD catch, Barber split Beaufort’s safeties for a 53-yard TD with a minute left before halftime.

This story was originally published November 25, 2016 at 11:42 PM with the headline "Chapin’s spread passing attack ousts Beaufort from postseason."