By Eugene Jolley
Courier Sports

ejolley@thepccourier.com

PICKENS — It was a tale of two halves for Pickens Friday night in a 14-0 season-opening home loss to rival Easley.

Pickens was strong all night defensively with the exception of one play. Offensively, the Blue Flame struggled in the first half. Quarterback Tanner Stegall was sacked four times in the opening half alone as Pickens didn’t gain a single first down and was held to negative-40 yards of total offense in the half.

But the Blue Flame defense kept them in the game despite Easley living in Pickens territory virtually the entire first half.

“It was a story of lost opportunities,” Pickens coach John Boggs said. “I thought our defense played pretty strong all night. They did a great job of getting us great field position in the second half. They flipped the field in the second half. The defense kept holding and holding. I’m not sure how many chances we had — probably five in the red zone. You’ve got to come away with points. That’s tough when that happens. We’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve got to get better.”

Kerry Gilstrap/Courier
Pickens quarterback Tanner Stegall tries to squeeze between a pair of Easley defenders during their game Friday.

Sam Lawson picked off an Easley pass in the end zone after Robert Jones had picked off one at midfield.

Two plays after Jones’ theft, Easley got the only score of the half as safety Darius Jamison returned Stegall’s pass 60 yards for the score.

Fortunate to be down only a touchdown, the Blue Flame switched from a three-receiver set to four receivers, and Stegall and company got going. Pickens reached Easley territory on five of the six second-half possessions, but couldn’t score despite reaching the 8-yard line once and starting another drive on the Easley 14.

“We just felt like (the offensive changes) gave us a better opportunity,” Boggs said. “We were trying to do some things in the first half and just really

Tommy McGaha/Courier
Pickens junior Daniel Hooper looks for running room after making a catch against Easley on Friday night.

struggled with our three-receiver sets. We thought with our four-receiver sets we would have more opportunity to move the ball down the field and get some first downs. We had to get something going and try to get him more comfortable throwing it a little quicker and getting rid of it and not having to sit there under all that pressure. They did a heck of a job bringing pressure all night long. They brought more than what we had to protect with.”

Statistically, Pickens dominated the second half, getting 10 first downs. Stegall again was sacked three more times. Easley managed just two first downs in the second half, both on the final drive.

The Pickens defense played huge with the exception of one play — a 74-yard scoring strike from Weston Black to Carter Wiles early in the third quarter.

The best opportunity for Pickens came on the first drive of the half as Stegall tried to hit Jones in the end zone on fourth down from the 26. He had it, but the ball was dislodged by safety Sean-Thomas Faulkner. Black hit Wiles for the long score on the next play from scrimmage.

“The pick-six in the first half and the score after the stop, two plays right there,” Boggs said. “We still had opportunities after that to win the game. We have to capitalize on that.”

That included reaching the Easley 8, as Stegall hooked up Lawson and Jared Barton for big gains. Then, after forcing a short Easley punt from their own 1-yard line, Pickens couldn’t convert after starting at the 14. Pickens had 16 plays that went for negative yards in the game, including seven in the second half.

“It’s frustrating, but we’ll get back to work and make corrections,” Boggs said. “We’ll come back Monday ready to get ready for Pendleton.

It won’t get any easier thisweek for the Blue Flame as they play at Pendleton. Although they lost 7-6 to Liberty on Friday night, the Bulldogs do feature Division I prospect Brad Johnson at defensive end.

“He’s a heck of a player,” Boggs said of Johnson, who had four sacks against Pickens last year. “They’ve got a lot of good players. We’ll have to be ready for them. They’ve got a good team. We actually saw them on film against Easley in a scrimmage. They’re a good football team, well-coached and they always get after you. We’ll have our hands full going over there.”