FOOTBALL: No dropoff in consistency for Dublin as streak resumes at Bleckley

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

DRIVING THE OFFENSE: Dublin quarterback Micah O’Neal (16) was once again masterful in his command of the rushing and passing elements of the Irish Wing-T offense. In addition to executing the reads, handoffs and pitches that kept the ground game on schedule, he improvised on some boot-outs with scrambles away from the rush (courtesy of Bleckley’s Tug Pasby, above) and multiple key completions for first downs. Dublin’s attack finished up with over 450 total yards, and was without a turnover/HORACE AUSTIN

Dublin had little issue continuing its streak of solid football, or region wins, as it followed up the prior week’s confident performance with another Friday at Bleckley County.

The second-ranked Irish pulled away in the second and third quarters to win 48-17, and add their eighth win to an unbeaten record.

Dublin returns to the Shamrock Bowl this week to face Central Macon in its next-to-last fixture of the regular season. Fellow undefeated Dodge County awaits in the finale Nov. 1, and could make the matchup a winner-take-all for the region championship provided both teams’ records survive their week 9 battles, the Indians’ at Northeast Macon.

Willie Batts – the Irish leader on the ground with 175 yards – scored two rushing touchdowns, and a third on a second-quarter reception from Micah O’Neal, while Azontae Walker, Xavier Bostic, Trav Bostic and Jordan Tobridge also gathered handfuls of paydirt for the Dublin offense Friday as it slowly piled on after an early trade of touchdowns.

BATTS SIGNAL: As in recent weeks, some big early carries for Willie Batts were a sign of the productive night to come for the Irish on the ground. Batts rushed for 175 yards and two touchdowns, a team-leading share of Dublin’s 400 and six scores. The senior also caught a Micah O’Neal pass for a third touchdown/HORACE AUSTIN

The Irish, as usual, based their success on the run game (to the tune of 400 yards), but kept the Bleckley defense on its toes with a selection of O’Neal passes and triple-option plays that kept the chains moving en route to touchdowns on four of five first-half chances, and all three in the second half before a last to run out the clock late in the fourth. O’Neal was 5-of-8 passing for 67 yards.

Dublin’s defense – which had at least four sacks and forced two turnovers – created all three changes of possession that preceded scoring drives after the break, on a couple of interceptions and a fourth-down stop inside its own 10.

Batts got the Irish a first word on the scoreboard, breaking free on a 40-yard run to complete a smooth opening drive of 71 that featured a couple of O’Neal completions to convert thirds-and-medium. Urick Andrews dded the PAT for a 7-0 lead.

Bleckley responded with a quick-hitting drive of 68 to answer and tie, covering most of the ground on a 54-yard strike from Kam Everett to Tyrek Mack. Dequavis Benjamin had the two-yard touchdown run, and Ford Childers the point-after to equalize.

TAKING SOME SHOTS: Bleckley County, and quarterback Kam Everett, swung for the fences on some deep throws that aimed to stretch the Irish defense out vertically. The Royals hit one to Tyrek Mack early, on the way to a touchdown on their first drive, but were limited in their vertical passing success from that point as Dublin brought in a couple of second-half interceptions, and got to him with the pass rush on multiple sacks later in the game/HORACE AUSTIN

Dublin went right back to work and scored just as quickly to go up for good. A chunk run for Batts set up Azontae Walker for a 50-yard touchdown foray, and the Irish re-took the lead at 14-7.

The teams traded punts, Dublin’s from deep in its own territory netting out eight yards shy of midfield to give the Royals a shot to even things back up.

But the Irish defense stood tall to force a field goal try, and Childers was good from 37 to cut their lead to 14-10.

Continuing to key on a Bleckley defensive posture that emphasized filling up rush lanes, Dublin put the football in the air to open things up, and hit an important play to flip the field as O’Neal found Will Wallace in Royal territory.

Head coach Roger Holmes dialed up some misdirection later in the drive, with a reverse carry for Batts that picked up a first down to reach the red zone. Moments later, “Zay” Bostic broke multiple tackles on a touchdown run to put the Irish ahead by multiple scores for the first time.

Andrews’ kick made it 21-10.

BOSTIC-TO-IT: Xavier Bostic refused to be denied with about three broken tackles on this second-quarter touchdown run to stick the ball over the goal line, and give Dublin a first multi-score lead. Bostic rushed for 132 yards on 10 carries, and also led Dublin’s defense with eight tackles, 3.5 for loss, and 1.5 sacks/HORACE AUSTIN

Dublin, whose two-minute offense has produced numerous touchdowns to close out first halves this season, scrambled to use the few minutes that remained after a a BC punt to drive down for a fourth score ahead of the break.

O’Neal, after tucking the ball for the first of three first downs on the 65-yard movement, completed a pass to Batts from nine yards out for a key touchdown to send things to halftime with a score of 28-10.

Coming back out, the Irish defense tightened things down to put the game away.

D.J. Woodard snagged an interception to thwart an early Bleckley advance. And everyone in the backfield touched the ball at least once as Dublin covered 65 yards on the way to another touchdown. Both O’Neal and Trav Bostic, part of a speed option pitch, were involved in the score just four minutes in.

The Irish rush got home for multiple sacks on the next Royal drive, though Bleckley endured to move it all the way down to the Dublin 4 before being held on downs.

Xavier Bostic busted an 81-yard run to flip field position (and run his rushing total close to a final 122 yards), and Batts visited the end zone for the third time on a touchdown run to blow it open. The PAT came in a little south of the bar, but Dublin’s lead was a commanding 41-10 with less than a minute to go before a running-clock fourth quarter.

An interception by Patrick Caldwel set up an Irish trip for the final score as Jordan Tobridge drove the ball in at 6:45 in the fourth.

Bleckley completed a drive a couple minutes later as backup quarterback Brody Fleming found Nykez Farrow on a five-yard pass to chip slightly away.