Bloodsaw, defense lead balanced attack as West Laurens shuts out Southeast Bulloch

There was nothing flashy about it. 

But West Laurens got a much-needed region-opening win out of the way with a 21-0 shutout of Southeast Bulloch Friday night at the SHU. 

The Raiders’ defense had its most dominant performance so far, and their offense once again rushed for a season-high, with 197 of a balanced 270 total yards. 

They built the three-score lead in the first half, and despite failing to extend it, stood on an opposing zero for the quick-moving final 24 minutes to collect a straightforward second victory. 

Though there’s plenty that would have made it more thorough, West Laurens was more than satisfied with the way it took another step forward, and brought an end to the two-game slide since its only previous win at Dodge County earlier this month. 

“All in all, we’ll take the progress,” Raiders head coach Kip Burdette said. “We got a region win, and they don’t ask how, they ask who. Hopefully, we’ll build from it.” 

Their new feature back Kaden Bloodsaw had 100 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries to lead the backfield. 

Justin Blash chipped in 14 for 49, and Jaden Stanley a 58-yard sprint to the house to close out the scoring late in the second quarter. 

West Laurens’ remaining possessions came up empty, including one other drive into the opposing red zone that resulted in a missed 24-yard field goal. 

But the defense had no plans on letting Southeast Bulloch come anywhere near the scoreboard. 

The Yellow Jackets were held to just six first downs and only 90 total yards. 

Leroy Mack led Raider defenders with 8.5 total tackles, three for loss and a hurry. The senior also got a hand on a Southeast Bulloch punt for a partial block late in the first quarter. 

Chafin, Nicholas Hester and J.D. Hogan added six apiece. Hogan, Stephen Odom and Jamari Blash were in on pass break-ups. 

“I think they may have gotten one or two first downs in the second half, but that was about it, and it was really just slam the door shut,” Burdette said. 

Southeast Bulloch mirrored West’s four turns on offense in the opening half, and punted twice. The Jackets’ first and last drives both got to plus territory, but stalled. 

Eli Reed’s 50-ish return of the opening kickoff set them up in some semblance of business just over midfield to get the night going, but they’d go four and out. 

West Laurens declined an illegal block penalty to give them a manageable fourth and five, but J.K. Small was badgered in the pocket by Maxx Chafin, on a short pursuit that dropped him for a sack to force the turnover on downs. 

A handful of solid late-down runs by Stevie Padgett led to the deepest SEB penetration of the night with a little more than a minute to go in the half, but a series of penalties (a first calling back Small keeper down to about the 20) turned the situation into a third and very long, forcing the Jackets to cut their losses and take it to halftime.

The plus-seven turnover margin that’s buoyed their struggling offense through four games didn’t come into play, as neither side gave the football away, and Southeast would do nothing but punt the rest of the night. 

Hitting the ground running… 

For a second-straight week, West Laurens began the game with a scoring drive, after the Chafin sack set them up at their own 44. 

Thirty-six of the 56 yards were passing, as Duggan Malone dialed up Bloodsaw and Tre’J Germany on short bootleg completions to get to the 1, where Bloodsaw carried it right for his first career touchdown. 

The Raiders drove 72 to do the same, with Bloodsaw bouncing one outside and gunning the throttle to cover 24 yards to the end zone, on the next try to take their first multi-score lead of the year. 

Throws, this time first career receptions by Chafin from a variety of spots in a fullback capacity, featured just as prominently along the balanced trip. 

At the end of it, West Laurens had three backs with 20 yards or more rushing, and Malone 47 passing to a distribution of three targets. 

“They kind of live and die by man (coverage),” Burdette said. “We were hoping to slip some backs out, and stuff like that. We were able to hit those early and kind of loosen some things up too, bootlegs and that sort of thing. Duggan did a good job of that.” 

Drive 3 ended with a punt, but the fourth late in quarter 2 needed one play to get back to the house on a 58-yard Stanley keeper, off a jet fake to Hogan from a wildcat look. 

From there, nothing much happened offensively either way, with the exception of a scoreless final drive that was keyed by first downs on a strike from Malone to a crossing Hogan and a Bloodsaw carry that helped West Laurens reach the red zone for just the second time.

“I think we could’ve probably taken some more chances in the second half,” Burdette said. “We took a couple of negative plays that I’m not really happy about… We ate up a bunch of clock, that’s good. You can keep your defense off the field, but at the same time, we’d like to produce some points out of that.

“We’ll take the win and learn, but we’ve gotta score points in the second half.” 

West Laurens (3-2, 1-0 region 3-AAAA) continues region play in Pooler Friday against Savannah’s New Hampstead.