By Justin Jarrett
LowcoSports.com
With another lopsided win all but secured, Battery Creek’s starters ceded their spots on the field to their understudies, and the conversation on the sideline turned to Friday.
The Beaufort Eagles are coming to Burton, and for the first time in a long time, the Dolphins seem to be up to the challenge.
Battery Creek continued its best start since 1980 with a 38-6 rout of host Ridgeland on Monday, improving to 4-0 and reinforcing the belief that they can finally beat Beaufort for the first time since 2003.
It took the Dolphins a bit to hit their stride Monday, but a field goal and a long touchdown run from Eddie Heyward staked them to a 10-0 lead, and the defense kept it there heading into halftime with a fourth-down stop to thwart a promising Jaguars drive.
Creek’s dynamic offense got going after halftime with a few assists from the stifling defense. D.D. Watson hit Ridgeland quarterback TaiShaun Smith and forced a fumble, which the Dolphins scooped up inside the 10 to set up Heyward’s second touchdown run of the night.
The Dolphins pushed the Jags back inside their own 10 on the next series and took over on the Ridgeland 7-yard line after a poor punt, leading to Kiawan Ford’s 1-yard touchdown run, which made it 24-0 with 3:38 left in the third quarter.
Creek removed any doubt about the outcome on the first play of the fourth quarter, as Michael Williams outjumped a defender for a spectacular 35-yard touchdown reception on a beautifully thrown ball from Nate Freeman.
After Smith hit Hakeem Chaneyfield for an 80-yard touchdown pass, the Dolphins put together one more scoring drive capped by Freeman’s 1-yard plunge to cap the scoring.
While Battery Creek has been rolling, Beaufort has struggled to a 1-3 start, and the Dolphins would love nothing more than to add to the Eagles’ loss column for the first time in nearly a quarter of a century.
A win would also match Creek’s all-time longest winning streak at five games and the best start in program history.
Justin Jarrett is the sports editor of The Island News and the founder of LowcoSports.com. He was the sports editor of the Island Packet and the Beaufort Gazette for 6½ years. He has a passion for sports and community journalism and a questionable sense of humor.
