The Blountstown Tigers extended their season another week with a 10-0 win over Class 1A District 3 Champion Holmes County Friday night in Bonifay.
The win sets up a rematch with the Liberty County Bulldogs for the region championship Friday night in Bristol at 6:30 central time. Liberty County defeated Bozeman 26-7 to advance in the playoffs. The winner will advance to play the winner of the Northview vs. Freeport game.
The win over Holmes County was a complete domination by the Blountstown defense who limited the Blue Devils to 81 total yards on 33 plays. "That was about as good as we can play on defense," a proud coach Greg Jordan said Monday. Holmes County managed only 23 yards rushing on 20 carries and 58 yards on 5 of 13 pass attempts. Having defeated the Tigers early in the regular season, Holmes County's senior laden team let their frustration get the best of them late in the game resulting in several unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and five players being ejected. They got embarrassed and by their actions embarrassed their fans and school.
Blountstown completely controlled the second quarter putting together an 18 play 12 minute drive. "We drove the length of the field but a penalty back us up after reached the one yard line. We held the ball for almost 17 minutes in the first half and they had it for only 7 minutes," Jordan noted.
After the penalty backed the Tigers up, Andrew Bennett came in on fourth down and kicked a 27 yard field goal. Bonifay moved down field and a pass interference penalty in the endzone gave them a chance to kick a field goal. The kick sailed to the left and Blountstown led at halftime 3-0.
After a scoreless third quarter, the Tigers put together an 8 play 46 yard drive capped off by a 1 yard plunge by quarterback Hunter Jordan. Bennett's PAT gave the Tigers a 10-0 lead.
While the defense continued to frustrate the Holmes County offense, the Tiger offense kept pounding the Holmes County line and eventually wore them down. Blountstown rushed for 139 yards on 49 running plays and Jordan completed 2 of 4 passes for 59 yards. "They have a good football team, but our kids played hard all night and never slacked off," Jordan noted. The Tigers ran 53 offensive plays to Holmes County's 33.
Javakiel Brigham was the workhorse for the Tigers rushing for 77 yards on 25 attempts with a long run of 13 yards. Bobby Andrews came up with some big plays pounding out 33 yards on 11 plays with a long run of 11 yards. Jordan added 19 yards on 11 carries for the Tigers.
The offensive line had their best game of the year against Holmes County and earned the praise of their head coach.
Brett Bozeman had one big pass reception of 34 yards and Roosevelt Martin had one catch for 25 yards.
Defensively, the entire unit played with tremendous spirit and kept Holmes County's runningbacks contained. Dylan Lee and Corin Peterson each had an interception for the Tigers. Lee led the defense with 9 tackles followed by Brigham and Tripp Taylor with 7 each. Anthony Wyrick, Peterson, and Stephen Matthews each had 6 tackles. Bobby Andrews was in on 5 plays, followed by Tanner Peacock, Dewayne Larramore and CJ Hiers each had 4 tackles.
"Our defense will have to have another big game Friday night against the Bulldogs. Our defensive backs will have to play much better than they did in our first meeting. We'll need to control the clock with long drives, avoid big penalties and turnovers and put points on the scoreboard when we have opportunities," coach Jordan emphasized.
It should be another classic Blountstown vs. Liberty County football game with a lot on the line. For one team, the season continues. For the other, it's over.
