Bengals are State Champs!
Story and photos
by Mike Maddock
mike@thecolumbiastar.com

The Blythewood Bengals, SC Class 3A Champions: (number name position grade) 1 Perry Wilson WR 10, 2 Charles Wright WR 11, 3 Shawn Harris WR 11, 4 Marquan Jones WR 11, 5 Scott Allen LB 12, 7 Labranzo Rish DB 12, 8 Brandon Grier DB 12, 9 Randee Pollin DB 10, 10 Ross Kistler LB/RB 11, 11 Charles White LB 12, 12 Richard Mounce QB/P 11, 14 Aaron Mayes K/P 10, 15 Ryan Smith QB/TE 11, 16 Michael Hanzlik QB 10, 18 Chris Wright WR/TE 11, 20 Justin Bethel DB 11, 21 James Wilkerson RB 11, 22 Rodney Jamison RB 11, 25 Matt Graham DB 11, 27 Renardo Wilson DB 11, 30 Richmond Taylor DB 12, 32 Ricky Thomas DB 11, 33 CJ Edwards RB 10, 38 Creighton White DB 12, 39 Jonathan King DB 12, 40 Malcom Wilson LB 11, 41 Bowman Benson LB 11, 42 Corey Hawkins LB 12, 43 Ternell Ormond LB 12, 44 Marquis Foster LB/RB 12, 45 Jah'King James DL 12, 49 Robert Griffin LB 11, 50 Chris Coleman LB 11, 51 Derek Brown LB 12, 55 Dwayne Addy LB 11, 57 Richard Thomas LB 10, 59 Tyrell Gadsden DL 12, 60 Will Ferrell OL 9, 64 Josh Fulmer OL 11, 68 Kevin Keith OL 11, 70 Tyrell Benjamin OL/DL 11, 72 Carl Barksdale OL 11, 74 Jim Rodgers OL 11, 75 Tyler Randall OL/DL 12, 76 Damien Morrison OL/DL 11, 77 Chris Benson OL 11, 79 John Lawhorn DL 10, 80 Collin Lennon TE 10, 81 Jeremy White WR 9, 82 Gavin Holloway WR 11, 84 Torrence Daniel WR 10, 88 Philip Ivory WR 11, 89 Chris Didyoung WR 11, 90 Joe Hall DL 11, 91 Curtis Hill DL 9, 95 Justin Anderson DL 10, Head Coach Jeff Scott, Asst. Coaches Barry Mizzell, Reuben Wright, Tim Garifalon, Eric Wilson, Geremy Saitz, Rusty Curry, Preston Thorne, Josh Herlong, Tony Rakes, Brian Goins, Wendell Harris, Head Athletic Trainer Steve Meisel, Sports Information Director Ryan Johnson, Athletic Trainer Brian Blackburn, ATC (Athletic Trainer from the Providence Orthopaedic & NeuroSpine Institute), Principal Dr. Sharon Buddin, Athletic Director Vince Lowry.

Blythewood QB Richard Mounce had 198 yards rushing and 225 yards passing. He accounted for nearly 100% of the Bengals' total offense.

Hollywood could not have produced a better script.

A young coach's team holds a 20-15 advantage in the state championship game and faces a fourth and goal from the one-yard line with six minutes to go in the game. In three previous downs, his team has managed just one yard. Should he go for it and ice the game with a touchdown or kick a field goal to put his team up by eight?

Marquis Foster (44) makes the tackle on a Timberland SE Rennis Black while Derek Brown (51), Tyrell Gadsden (59), and Corey Hawkins pursue.

He calls his second time out, then brings his offense back on the field. He overloads the right side and has his quarterback hand off to a running back, but the defense reads it perfectly and stuffs the play.

No problem, his opponent has to travel 99 yards on his defense to win this game.

With just over four minutes remaining, his opponent's offense has only driven the ball 13 yards and faces a third and nine. The quarterback drops back and throws a backwards pass to a running back on the left side of the field. The young coach's defense sniffs blood and begins to pursue the running back, but a receiver sneaks behind the secondary. The running back lofts a pass over the defense and into the arms of the receiver who races 74 yards to the twelve yard line before the stunned defense can catch up to him. Two plays later the opponent scoots in the left corner of the end zone for a touchdown. The score is 21-20 while some fans are grumbling, "He should have kicked it."

Blythewood head coach Jeff Scott knew "there was something special about this team."

But his defense stuffs the two point attempt and gives the ball back to his offense with just over three minutes to go in the game. He looks to his quarterback and says, "We're going to win this game."

That's exactly how things played out for Head Coach Jeff Scott and his Blythewood Bengals Saturday night, December 2, 2006, in the class 3A state championship game against the Timberland Wolves in Williams-Brice Stadium.

In their first year of varsity play, the Bengals were in on the cusp of making history, but they only had three minutes to do it.

Bengal wide receiver Perry Wilson started the drive by returning the Timberland kick-off to the Bengal 44-yard line. Then as he had done all night, Blythewood junior quarterback Richard Mounce took over.

Kicker Aaron Mayes kicked the game winner and was taken for a ride on his teammates' shoulders.

He scrambled for three yards on second down, then on a third and seven play, he found receiver Marquan Jones for a ten yard completion. Then on second and ten from the Timberland 43, Mounce threw a strike to Wilson for a 17-yard gain. With two minutes remaining, Mounce called his own number and rushed first for six yards, then for another 11 to give the Bengals a first and goal from the timberland 9-yard line with 50 seconds left.

Mounce scooted threw for a two-yard gain...13 seconds remaining. Then Mounce ran one more time for another yard...5 seconds, four seconds, three seconds, two seconds. Scott and everyone on the Blythewood side of the field (including the large crowd in attendance) screamed for a time out.He got one, but just barely, adding to the drama.

Blythewood kicker Aaron Mayes trotted onto the field. He hadn't missed a kick all year, but this wasn't just another kick. The Wolves called their remaining two time-outs to give him a chance to build up some more butterflies.

The final two seconds lasted nearly six minutes, but when Mayes was finally allowed to kick, he drilled it giving Blythewood a 23-21 victory. The Bengal sideline emptied and the celebration began. Mayes sprinted to toward the other end zone before his teammates finally caught him. They lifted him over their shoulders, and then lifted the state championship trophy.

The Bengals are the first team in SC history to win a state championship in its first year of varsity football.

Scott dedicated the game ball to Dr. Sharon Buddin, principal of Blythewood High School, for her vision and dedication, and for taking a chance on a young coach.

Score by Quarters

1 2 3 4 Score

Blythewood (14-1) 0 10 7 6 - 23

Timberland (13-2) 7 0 8 6 - 21

Scoring Summary:

First Quarter

05:53 THS - King, R. 4 yd run (Vanwyk, J. kick), 13-69 4:57, BHS 0-THS 7

Second Quarter

07:43 BHS - MAYES, Aaron 24 yd field goal, 10-82 3:36, BHS 3-THS 7

04:31 BHS - MOUNCE, Richard 39 yd run (MAYES, Aaron kick), 4-69 1:21, BHS 10-THS 7

Third Quarter

08:56 BHS - JONES, Marquan 11 yd pass from MOUNCE, Richard (MAYES, Aaron kick), 6-62 1:55, BHS 17 - THS 7

06:01 THS - King, R. 8 yd run (King, R. rush), 8-80 2:55, BHS 17-THS 15

Fourth Quarter

08:39 BHS - MAYES, Aaron 32 yd field goal, 10-52 3:01, BHS 20 - THS 15

03:03 THS - King, R. 4 yd run (King, R. rush failed), 8-99 2:50, BHS 20-THS 21

00:00 BHS - MAYES, Aaron 23 yd field goal, 11-50 3:03, BHS 23-THS 21

BHS THS

FIRST DOWNS 19 20

RUSHING 29-202 61-263

PASSING 225 97

Att-Comp-Int 28-13-0 6-3-0

TOTAL OFFENSE 427 360

Kickoff Returns-Yards 4-56 4-77

Punts (Number-Avg) 1-43.0 3-34.0

Fumbles-Lost 4-3 4-1

Penalties-Yards 4-27 2-20

Possession Time 24:25 23:35

Sacks By: No.-Yards 2-22 1-2

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: B-MOUNCE, Richard 23-198; WILSON, Perry 3-4; JAMISON, Rodney 2-0; ADDY, Dwayne 1-0. T-King, R. 33-156; Black, R. 16-106; Greene, R. 8-20; Wrenn, B. 4-minus 19.

PASSING: B-MOUNCE, Richard 13-27-0-225; JONES, Marquan 0-1-0-0.

T-Wrenn, B. 2-5-0-23; Greene, R. 1-1-0-74.

RECEIVING: Blythewood-JONES, Marquan 6-120; WILSON, Perry 6-92; ADDY, Dwayne 1-13. T-King, R. 1-74; Gadsden, L. 1-18; Jefferson, P. 1-5.

Stats provided by Ryan Johnson, Blythewood High School