Malique McDowell and Daquan Lennon each scored two touchdowns Friday night as West Bladen ground out a 38-34 win against Heidi Trask in a Four County 1A/2A Conference high school football game.
The Knights piled up 340 yards rushing and were able to fend off a wide-open Trask offense just enough in posting their fifth win against two losses.
“Not a pretty game on our part,” said West Bladen coach Russell Dove, whose team improved to 2-1 in conference games. “We just let them get some long scores to start with and we let them hang around. We’ve got to do a better job of that. We had way too many penalties. Happy with the win. Just wish we had played better.”
West Bladen was penalized 12 times for 130 yards, including four personal foul penalties.
Trask, 1-5 overall and 0-2 in the conference, led 20-14 at half, and pulled within four points on Tyrease Armstrong’s 3-yard run with 18.9 seconds left, but West Bladen’s Donald McCullum recovered the ensuing onside kick to seal the victory for the Knights.
McDowell ran for a game high 103 yards and scored West Bladen’s first touchdown on a 15-yard run and its final touchdown on an 11-yarder with less than 3 minutes remaining that put the Knights ahead 38-28.
Lennon scored both of his touchdowns in the third quarter on runs of 33 and 3 as the Knights grabbed a 28-20 advantage at the end of the quarter.
Ray Jones kicked a 30-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter and added three extra-point kicks. He also recovered his own kickoff in the third quarter when his line drive kick bounced off a Trask defender right back to him.
The Knights’ other score came on Stefan McDonald’s 54-yard punt return in the second quarter. McDonald picked up a fumbled punt by a teammate and raced down the left sideline that tied the game at 14-14.
Johnathan Jordan ran for two touchdowns and caught a pass for a score to lead Trask. Armstrong completed 14 of 22 passes for 214 yards.
“Our cornerback is 5-foot–7 and their receivers are 6-2 and 6-3, so, if it’s a jump ball, their guy is going to win,” Dove said. “The corners were in great position, but just couldn’t make the play. We were stuffing the run.”
Trask took the opening kickoff and drove 72 yards in 10 plays with Johnathan Jordan capping it with a 4-yard run. The conversion kick failed.
West Bladen answered with a 5-play, 57-yard drive as McDowell scored from the 15 with 5:36 remaining in the opening quarter. McDonald’s 2-point quarterback sneak gave the Knights an 8-6 lead.
It took Trask only two plays to regain the lead as Armstrong connected with Johnathan Jordan on a 47-yard pass play. Steven Jordan’s 2-point conversion run gave the Titans a 14-8 advantage.
West Bladen tied it midway the second quarter on McDonald’s punt return, but Trask went ahead again in the closing seconds of the first half on Johnathan Jordan’s 3-yard run.
The Knights took control of the game in the third quarter on Lennon’s two touchdown runs for a 34-20 lead. West Bladen’s defense shut down the Titans’ offense, allowing only six plays from scrimmage and recovering a fumble.
Jones’ 30-yard field goal made it 31-20 as the fourth quarter began.
Trask’s Steven Jordan and Armstrong scored touchdowns in the fourth sandwiched between McDowell’s score for West Bladen.
West Bladen is scheduled to host Pender next Friday for its homecoming game.
Trask is scheduled to host Union on Tuesday in a game postponed Oct. 2, then host East Bladen next Friday as the Titans will play three games in eight days.
Scoring summary
Heidi Trask 14 – 6 – 0 – 14 — 34
West Bladen 8 – 6 – 14 – 10 — 38
T – Johnathan Jordan 4 run (kick failed)
W – Malique McDowell 15 run (Stefan McDonald run)
T – J. Jordan 47 pass from Tyrease Armstrong (Steven Jordan run)
W – McDonald 54 punt return (kick failed)
T – J. Jordan 3 run (run failed)
W – Daquan Lennon 33 run (Ray Jones kick)
W – Lennon 3 run (Jones kick)
W – Field goal Jones 30
T – S. Jordan 4 run (Armstrong pass to Zenas Ward)
W – McDowell 11 run (Jones kick)
T – Armstrong 3 run (pass failed)
Rushing: T – Armstrong 12-73, S. Jordan 14-28, J. Jordan 7-25, Lanardius Holmes 6-18, Michael Stroman 1-4. W – Moore 16-111, McDowell 15-103, Lennon 8-88, B.J. Drake 12-47, McDonald 5-(-9).
Passing: T – Armstrong 14-22-1-214, J. Jordan 0-1-0-0. W – McDonald 1-5-1-13.
Receiving: T – J. Jordan 3-102, S. Jordan 4-29, Chris Holmes 3-29, Zenas Ward 1-28, Stroman 3-26. W – Moore 1-13.
Records: Heidi Trask 1-5 overall, 0-2 Four County; West Bladen 5-2 overall, 2-1 Four County.
Share on social media using short code: https://bladencounty.org/?p=29184
About Author
