After a defensive struggle a week earlier against Chipley, coach Greg Jordan stressed the importance of his offense to be able to throw the football for the offense to improve. The Tigers responded with their best offensive performance of the season Friday night rushing for 184 yards and passing for 179. The defensive unit showed they could play physical, smash mouth football against a tough Wewa team. The combination of a balanced offensive attack and a tough defense produced a 39-27 win over Wewa improving the Tigers to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in District 2 Class 1-A.
“The pass completions were the difference in the game,” coach Jordan said Monday. “Our offense is getting better every week. We didn’t pick up some blitzes against Wewa but we made some big plays when we needed to.”
Quarterback Charles Buggs, Jr. had his best performance of the year against Wewa connecting of 7 of 11 passes for 179 yards, 2 TD’s and 1 interception. Leon Broxton had a big night with five receptions for 102 yards including a 31 yard TD. Darren Huff had one catch but it covered 40 yards for a touchdown. Jawon Mosley caught one ball for 37 yards.
Princeton Grant led the Tiger ground assault against the Gators with 117 yards on 10 carries including touchdown sprints of 40 and 43 yards. Alexander Garrett had one long run of 28 yards and Buggs picked up 22 tough yards on 13 carries including a touchdown from the Wewa 1.
Highly touted Wewa runningback Chance Knowles managed 82 yards on 27 carries and scored one TD from the Tiger 3 yard line. Wewa had 158 yards rushing but only 38 thru the air against an aggressive, hard hitting Tiger defense.
Alexander Garrett led the Tigers with 13 tackles. Byron Hall was in on 11 tackles including 1 sack and 3 tackles for loss. Jawon Mosley was in on 9 tackles including 2.5 for loss. Leon Broxton had 8 tackles followed by Frankie Murrell with 7. Dowling Lee was in on 6 tackles with 2.5 for loss. Brandon Smith had 5 tackles and Tony Maynor accounted for 3. Roger Abbott, Paul Mosley, Jason Money, Timmy Giradot and Ryan McIntyre were all in on defensive plays for the Tigers.
Blountstown scored twice in the first quarter on a 40 yard TD pass from Buggs to Huff and a 50 yard pass interception return by Broxton. Grant scored on a 40 yard dash in the second quarter.
With a minute left before halftime, Buggs fumbled and Wewa ran the ball in from the 40 to tie the game at 21-21 at halftime. The Tigers took a 27-21 lead when Buggs connected with Broxton for 31 yards and a TD.
Wewa tied the game at 27 before the Tigers put together a good drive capped off by a one yard Buggs sneak. Grant broke the game open with a 43 yard dash with 2:21 left in the game.
The Tigers will travel to Graceville Friday night for a non-district game. Graceville, coached by former Blountstown coach Todd Wertenberger, has beaten Franklin County and lost to Marianna and Bratt Northview.
