By Eugene Jolley
Courier Sports

ejolley@thepccourier.com

WILLIAMSTON — Tired of the talk off the field, the Pickens Blue Flame let their [cointent_lockedcontent]play on the field do all the talking Friday night in

Tommy McGaha/seeyourphotohere.com
Pickens senior Adam Thomas makes a leaping interception in front of a Palmetto receiver on Friday night. Thomas had two interceptions on the night.

taking a convincing 48-7 Western 3A win over Palmetto.

The win probably locked up an at-large playoff bid, but there is nothing official yet on that.

“I’m just proud of these guys,” Pickens coach John Boggs said. “We’ve had to listen to it for the last several weeks that we were going to lose this game. We were going to come down here, and it was going to be all in Palmetto’s favor. We’ve been listening to it. We’ve been reading it in the paper and hearing it on the radio.

“These guys were ready to play tonight. We wanted to come out and make it physical and get after it. We’ve been doing that for the last several weeks and been right there close to a win. Tonight, to do it with special teams, offense and defense, throwing the ball and running the ball, I was just real proud of my kids.”

The first two Palmetto possessions resulted in negative yards, as the Blue Flame defense came to play, led by the defensive front of Tyler Gravely, Ridge Clark and Renny Croley.

Pickens got on the board first, driving 46 yards in seven plays. Brandon Batson took it the final 12 yards as guard Trevor Gillespie got a big kick-out block to spring it with 5:11 left in the first quarter, making it 7-0.

The offense got on the board next when Tanner Stegall, who passed for three scores, hit Kirkland Gillespie on a 40-yard bomb into the end zone with 2:33 left in the first quarter, making it 14-0.

Palmetto finally got going offensively and reached the Blue Flame 18. But a fourth-down pass into the end zone was broken up by safety Jamal Blythe.

The next score came as the Blue Flame faced fourth and one at the Mustang 44. Running the power set with three backs in the backfield, fullback Gunner Covey got loose on the left side for the score with 7:19 left in the half, making it 21-0 on Matt Gravely’s kick.

“Tanner was able to hit that big one early, and that really gave us the momentum,” Boggs said. “Kirkland made a heck of a catch. Isaiah (Ferguson) made two big plays, and I thought we were going to have another just before half again, but had a miscommunication on the route. And we were able to get some explosive plays in the running game, too. I can’t say enough about Brandon Batson coming out and running tough. Gunner continued to run tough like he always does. Seeing Brandon step up and run the ball like he did tonight, we know he’s capable of that. But seeing him tote the load was special.”

The defense then got the ball right back, as a deep pass was picked off by senior cornerback Adam Thomas. The Blue Flame then went deep on the next play, and Stegall connected with Ferguson for a 61-yard scoring strike down the Palmetto sideline with 6:55 left in the half.

Palmetto got into Pickens territory again, but a fourth-down pass fell incomplete as Tyler Gravely provided pressure.

The Blue Flame had one more scoring chance in the half, but following a high snap, Gravely’s 33-yard field goal missed to the left at the buzzer. The drive was set up by a fumble caused by Blythe’s hit and recovery by Corbin Hinkle.

Palmetto got a 67-yard kickoff return by Tyson Beatty to start the second half and later scored on a strange formation in which the five linemen lined up to the left of the field. Kane Thomason then took a pitch right 30 yards for the score. Shaw Crocker’s kick made it 28-7 with 10:26 left in the quarter.

But the Blue Flame answered with an impressive 11-play, 75-yard drive. Stegall hit Ferguson for a 30-yard touchdown with 6:18 left, making it 35-7.

The Mustangs drove and reached the Blue Flame 1-yard line, but the defense held, and when a bad snap and subsequent kick in the scramble for the ball lost 34 yards, the Mustangs came up empty again.

Two plays later, Batson, thanks in large part to a kick-out block by Gillespie, scampered 89 yards for the score with 2:06 left in the quarter.

“We missed it a couple of times early,” Boggs said. “We made a couple of adjustments at halftime and we ran it the first time there and he nailed it. It was a big block by Trevor, and then Renny Croley came in behind him and cleaned up inside. And then Brandon ran it like he was shot out of a cannon.”

The defense never let up. Thomas made another leaping interception on a one-on-one deep ball situation.

Matt Gravely later tipped a pass and picked it off, and Sam Lawson added another pick on an overthrow.

The last touchdown came when backup quarterback Jarred Pace hit Blythe, who streaked by two defenders en route to the 40-yard score with 4:40 left. The snap was high on the extra point, and Matt Gravely’s pass to Cole Seaborn came up a yard short, making it 48-7.

Palmetto ran 53 plays, with 14 going for negative yards, and committed five turnovers.

“I was proud of our defense for stepping up and making those plays,” Boggs said. “Adam Thomas has been playing great all year. He just continued to play great tonight. It was good to see him doing that on defense, getting those two picks tonight. It was just a total team effort. Our defensive line did a good job of putting pressure on them all night. And we did a pretty good job of containing (Beatty), which was our gameplan coming in.”

The Blue Flame will play host to Belton Honea-Path on Friday night in the Blue Flame’s home finale, a game where the seniors will also be honored.

“We want everyone out,” Boggs said. “It’s our last home game regardless of what happens after that. We need our whole community and our entire student body out there to get behind these guys. We’ll enjoy this one for a few days and get to work on them.”

As for playoff implications, the team prefers to keep it simple — taking it one game at a time.

“Here is the way we’ve approached it — just win the next one and everything will take care of itself,” Boggs said. “That was our approach coming into tonight, and that was our approach last week. It sounds like coach-speak, but we just want to play that week and focus on that opponent. If you take care of business, then you’ll be in that conversation for that spot, and that’s what we want to do. Everything else will take care of itself.”

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