BLYTHEWOOD – Blythewood’s 32-8 victory over Richland Northeast Thursday night wasn’t pretty, but when the lights shut off at District Two Stadium, the Bengals had their first win of the season.
“You’re always happy with making the plays that you’re supposed to and getting points on the board,” Blythewood head coach James Martin said. “But you’re frustrated by penalties and discipline, and I’ll take that one because I’m the head coach. That’s gonna get fixed.”
Both teams battled through 32 accepted penalties for 235 yards, six interceptions and nine total turnovers.
Amid the mistakes, mostly flags called for delays of game, offsides and false starts, Blythewood (1-1) got the win from sustaining several short drives and converting them into scores.
The Bengals’ defense probably forced more errors by the Cavaliers.
Joshua Reaves had two sacks and, Amari Fisher and Deraun McDaniel each had one sack as the Bengals also had 18 quarterback hurries.
Fisher also had an interception along with Antonio Jeter and Zayvion Roary. Blythewood also recovered a fumble.
The first quarter was likely the messiest portion of the game, with Blythewood and RNE accounting for 15 flags totaling 98 yards.
Blythewood used backup quarterback Caleb Martinez on the opening series. On the seventh play of the possession, Martinez threw an interception that led directly to the first score of the game.
Setting up at the Blythewood 35-yard line, the Cavaliers (1-1) drove 16 yards on three plays. At the 19, quarterback Zion Farmer found Malachi Farmer in the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown pass. Toreyon Livingston ran the ball in for a two-point conversion to put RNE up 8-0 at the 7:20 mark of the first quarter.
Starting quarterback James Veasey took over the offense after the interception, and after two series that went nowhere, Veasey led the Bengals on a 5-play, 43-yard drive capped with a 2-yard Veasey touchdown run.
The 2-point conversion failed, but Blythewood recovered a Cavaliers’ fumble on the next possession. After a short 8-play drive, Timothy Hamilton rumbled in from one yard out for a touchdown at the 11:18 mark of the second quarter. A Blythewood run netted a 2-point conversion to put Blythewood up 14-8.
Later in the quarter, Veasey found Christian Sisco in the end zone for a 44-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-8 at the 10:21 mark of the second, a score that remained at halftime.
Veasey was sidelined with an ankle sprain in the second half, with Martinez taking the snaps under center.
Blythewood got touchdowns from Hamilton’s 4-yard run and Martinez’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Ayden Glenn in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter was a scoreless back-and-forth affair with few unsportsmanlike conduct flags, but that’s nothing out of the ordinary for an early-season game between two teams who are very familiar with one another.
“It’s a rival school, it’s an in-district game,” Martin said. “It’s gonna happen, but hats off to both teams playing as hard as they did.”
Blythewood (1-1) takes on another familiar opponent Friday when it travels down Wilson Boulevard to take on crosstown rival Westwood for the Battle of the Axe.
The Redhawks and Bengals have played each other 11 times since the rivalry began in 2012, with the series even at five games apiece. The teams did not play in the 2018 and 2020-2021 seasons.
Westwood has won the last two games when the teams were both in Region 5-5A, a 7-0 win in 2024 and a 20-17 win last year.
Westwood (0-2) is feeling the pain of having lost 34 seniors to graduation. The Redhawks fell 27-0 to Clover last week and have been shut out for eight straight quarters.
Richland Northeast – 8-0-0-0 – 8
Blythewood – 6-14-12-0 – 32
First Quarter
R – Malachi Farmer 19 pass from Zion Farmer (Toreyon Livingston run) 7:20
B – James Veasey 2 run (pass failed) 2:31
Second Quarter
B – Timothy Hamilton 1 run (team run) 11:18
B – Christian Sisco 44 pass from Veasey (kick failed) 10:21
Third Quarter
B – Hamilton 4 run (pass failed) 7:33
B – Ayden Glenn 13 pass from Caleb Martinez (kick failed) 5:33
RNE BHS
First downs 9 14
Rushes-yds 26-29 26-109
Passing yds 150 194
Att-Com-Int 27-12-3 27-13-3
Fumbles-lost 3-2 2-1
Penalties-yds 17-117 15-118
Punts-avg 4-24.8 4-28.8
RUSHING
R – Jarod Harris 8-32, Cameron Caesar 7-18, Xavier Willingham 4-(-29), Donohue McNeal 3-(-6), Isaiah Graves 2-6, Romen Johnson 1-29, Team 1-(-15). B – Jordan Osaguona 11-24, Timothy Hamilton 9-47, Tay’Sean Johnson 2-8, Seth Hall 3-14, James Veasey 4-27.
PASSING
R – Zion Farmer 8-12-1, Xavier Willingham 3-6-0, Donohue McNeal 1-8-0, Cameron Caesar 0-1-0. B – James Veasey 9-18-1, Caleb Martinez 4-9-2.
RECEIVING
R – Malachi Farmer 4-68, Tantavion Ross 4-53, Adarius Willingham 2-23. B – Ayden Glenn 7-96, Tay’Sean Johnson 4-45, Christian Sisco 1-44, Noah Nelson 1-9.