FOOTBALL: Bleckley County outpaces Rutland in second half to win Thursday-night opener

The Rutland Hurricanes put up a fight against the Bleckley County Royals using turnovers and explosive plays but could not keep up in the second half, falling 35-13 Thursday night in the second leg of Bibb County’s Gridiron Classic at Thompson Stadium in Macon.

The second game of the day was a close one for the first half — both teams turned the ball over three times, including trading interceptions within the game’s first minute — but the Royals found their mojo as the contest went on, leaning on a skilled running back room to pull away late.

“They made the adjustments, and their numbers kind of got to us and we got tired,” Rutland head coach Anthony Williams said. “We’ve got guys playing both sides, so they beat us on conditioning. That’s stuff that we can fix so we gotta go take care of it.”

Despite the one-sided final score, it was only a 14-7 lead for Bleckley County at halftime. The Hurricanes even looked better on offense than the Royals at times in the opening half, driving into the red zone six times before the intermission but only converting one trip inside the 20-yard line into points.

“They did everything we asked them to do,” Williams said of the first half. “The defense played great, got them to put the ball on the ground, just couldn’t capitalize on those fumbles. Offense took a minute to find its traction, but first half we played lights out.”

The offense found ways to move the ball in the first half thanks to the two-quarterback system with junior Tyson White and sophomore Zamarien Johnson. Williams said the ‘Canes will likely continune with the dual-threat system going forward.

Bleckley County’s rushing attack made the difference in the second half. Deondrez Robertson and Zyion Love combined for 198 yards and three touchdowns, a big chunk of that coming on Love’s 55-yard romp to the house that served as the back-breaker in the fourth quarter to make it 35-13. Bruising rusher Isiah Simeton also chipped in with some nice runs.

The Royals clamped down on defense in the second half as well, keeping enough pressure on the pocket to limit Johnson’s rushing ability and forcing inaccurate throws from White. Landry Nobles was all over the field with tackles. Josh Stanley Jr. also had a great night for the Royals with a pick-six, good coverage and some nice gains on offense.

The only defensive miscue by Bleckley County was not truly a miscue but instead simply a sparkling play by Rutland wide receiver Kentavious Spivey, who in the fourth quarter leapt over a defenders back and channelled his inner Randy Moss to secure a catch before sprinting 55 yards to the end zone for his second touchdown of the night.

“That’s something he’s been doing since he’s been at Rutland. He’s a great athlete, our receivers have finally started going and high-pointing the ball, what we want them to do,” Williams said of Spivey’s snag. “I kind of felt like our receivers were a bit bigger than their corners. We didn’t maximize that height advantage, but that was a great catch.” 

The Hurricanes were otherwise well-contained in the second half and will work hard on conditioning going into next week’s contest against longtime contender Jeff Davis, Williams said.

A tale of two halves

The game started with chaos, as both teams threw interceptions on their first possessions in just a handful of plays, as Rutland snagged an INT first before Bleckley’s Stanley took his pick to the house to put the Royals up 7-0.

Rutland stalled out its next drive but got another interception to turn the tide a bit when a pass was tipped by a defender and reeled in by Hurricanes defensive back Kaelix Marcus at midfield. Rutland put Johnson in at quarterback, who found a seam for a 36-yard rush and set up a touchdown on the ground from Kentavious Spivey to knot things up at 7-7.

Both teams stalled for most of the remainder of the half, trading punts and occasional turnovers. Rutland had more success than the Royals on offense, driving inside the red zone twice in that span, but the Hurricanes failed to complete the drives.

Bleckley County finally found its mojo with about four minutes left in the half, as Robertson made play after play to eventually gain 40 yards on the ground in one drive. 

Some penalties hampered the Royals, but a 49-yard bomb of a pass to Stanley — the receiver ran a stellar route, a post and go that cut inside from the boundary and left Rutland defenders flat-footed — went for a long touchdown to make it 14-7.

The Hurricanes tried to answer with only a minute left until halftime and got a pair of explosive plays, a long quarterback run from Johnson and a long pass to Troy Lester, to get inside Bleckley’s 20-yard line again. The offense sputtered and ran out of time, though, leaving Bleckley County with a 14-7 lead at the break.

Rutland looked flat right out of the gate in the second half when White threw an interception that looked like it would be a pick-six, but a Hurricanes defender knocked the ball loose out of the back of the end zone for a touchback.

Aside from that play, however, Bleckley took over Thompson Stadium for the last two quarters. The Royals used consistent chunk gains from Love, Robertson and Simeton to manufacture clock-chewing drives and score consistently. 

Even after Rutland’s one second-half highlight, Spivey’s acrobatic catch, Bleckley County answered back with a long score of its own to seal the deal on the 35-13 win.