ST PAULS – Freshman Yoshua McBryde rushed for 193 yards and 3 touchdowns to lead St. Pauls to a 42-13 Southeastern Athletic Conference football victory over West Bladen Friday night.
McBryde opened the game with a 37-yard gallop, and Bulldog star Kemarion Baldwin ripped off gains of 26 yards then 8 yards for a touchdown and a 6-0 lead. Baldwin, who is reportedly nursing a sore foot, sat out the remainder of the game after being stopped short on the conversion attempt.
McBryde capped a 40-yard scoring drive with an 18-yard TD run. Freshman quarterback Chase Boone tossed a 19-yard scoring pass to Jayden Barnhill to grow the St. Pauls lead to 18-0 on the 3rd Bulldog possession.
The Knight defense stopped a St. Pauls drive on downs at the West Bladen 19 yard line, but a 35-yard punt return by junior Jamir McMillan set the Bulldogs up at the West 32. Four plays later McKoy dove into the end zone from 2 yards out then ran the conversion for a 26-0 lead 1:46 before halftime.
Junior Messyah Whitted broke free for runs of 17 and 15 yards to provide a spark for the Knight offense on their 1st possession of the 2nd half. However the drive stalled at the St. Pauls 42 yard line.
McKoy highlighted a 92-yard Bulldog scoring drive with runs of 32 and 43 yards then ended the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run. Senior James Britt carried for the conversion and a 34-0 lead with 4:56 left in the 3rd quarter.
The Knights fumbled the ensuing kickoff to give the Bulldogs the ball at the West 31 yard line, but the West Bladen defense limited St. Pauls to only 1 yard on 4 plays to end the threat on downs.
“We talked to the guys at halftime that we needed to clean up our tackling,” said Knight Coach Stanley Williams. “It was good to see them respond and do a better job on defense.”
Freshman quarterback Hunter Hester connected with senior Tydrick Stewart for a 6-yard gain then fired a pass to sophomore Hezekiah Adams for a 26-yard gain. On 4th-and-3 at the St. Pauls 42, a high snap turned the ball over to the Bulldogs.
Sophomore Quintell McNeill carried 6 times on a 43-yard Bulldog drive that was aided by a personal foul penalty. McNeill scored from a yard out then ran the conversion for a 42-0 lead.
Stewart took the ensuing kickoff and scooted down the right sideline then cut back to the middle of the field on an 86-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Sophomore Cade Allen kicked the extra point to trim the margin to 42-7.
Allen’s onside kick was recovered by Whitted at the Bulldog 48 yard lline. Two plays later Whitted blasted through the middle and dashed 48 yards for a Knight touchdown. The extra point kick hit the left upright and bounced back to keep the final score at 42-13.
Whitted finished with 119 yards rushing and the touchdown on 18 carries. “We had been expecting that from him all season,” said Williams. “He suffered the death of a close family member last year and that set him back. But he had a really great week of practice and we were not surprised with the way he played tonight.”
Hester completed 2 of 7 passes for 32 yards. Adams had the 26-yard reception. Junior Aaron Lewis intercepted a pass near the goal line to end a St. Pauls drive. Senior Purnell Hooper had a quarterback sack for -8 yards, and senior Deonte Lacey had a pair of tackles-for-loss for minus 4 yards.
Boone completed 9 of 15 passes for 88 yards for the Bulldogs who rushed for 266 yards.
“We challenged the guys before the game to play like our jayvees play,” said Coach Williams. “Our jayvees play from whistle to whistle and don’t get down no matter what happens. I was proud of the way our guys played. They didn’t give up. Its tough when you are playing a really talented team, and our guys could have folded, but they didn’t – they kept fighting.”
West Bladen, now 1-4 in the SAC-7 and 2-7 overall, will host Midway Friday night in their season finale.
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