BEARVILLE — The cast of characters may change, but the efficiency of Pierce County’s “Big Bear” offense remains constant.
New quarterback Drake Dowling, a senior, ran 17 times for 224 yards and a touchdown. Junior running back Jae’Veon Williams added 68 yards and three touchdowns on nine carries to lead the Bears to a 35-7 victory against Glynn Academy in a pre-season scrimmage.
Dowling, stepping in for graduated two-year starter Caden Mc-Gatha, and Williams, who was a backup as a sophomore, fueled Pierce County with a 28-7 cushion in the varsity portion of the contest.
The Bears’ reserves tacked on a touchdown with just more than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter on a one-yard pass from Jack McClellan to David Herring.
Dowling collected a third of his yardage total on the game’s first play when he skirted left end for 74 yards. Williams scored his first touchdown on the next play from a yard with only 28 seconds elapsed in the game, and the Bears were never headed.
“We started off great and that kind of set the tone for us,” Pierce County head coach Ryan Herring said afterwards. “I thought the backs ran hard and the ‘sniffers’ (H-backs) and offensive line did a good job blocking.
“Defensively, we had some breakdowns in techniques a few times, but we ran to the ball really well and had a lot of effort. It was just a good night for us.”
In addition to his opening jaunt, Dowling also had runs of 26, 31 and 33 yards, the last for his touchdown. In addition to his one-yard run, Williams scored on carries of 35 and eight yards. Had it not been for his bobble on a handoff in the backfield that turned into a loss of 36 yards on Glynn’s recovery, Williams would have cracked 100 yards for the game as well.
Kicker Garrett Stevenson added four extra points while Kade Meeks had the other PAT after the jayvee score.
The Class 5A Terrors managed only 119 yards and eight first downs in the matchup of varsity squads. Cooper Reiss scored the visitor’s lone touchdown on a two-yard run midway through the second quarter.
Senior defensive back Nigel Brown aided the PCHS defense with an interception.
The scrimmage was the sec0nd in preparation for next week’s opener at home against Coosa Christian School of Gadsden, Ala. The Bears easily handled Groves in last week’s tuneup.
“Tonight was big because we got punched back a little,” Herring said. “Groves is a little down, so tonight really helped us. We’ve improved a million miles since June. I’m really proud of this bunch.” Dowling got the Bears going on the first play when he sprinted around left end untouched with only open field ahead after the line of scrimmage. Glynn Academy safety Sean Wallace saved the touchdown when caught Dowling about the 5-yard line and finally pulled him down at the one.
“He ran right where he needed and the play was blocked great,” Herring said. “He’s a little faster than what you might think even though he looked back about 10 times. He must’ve been worried a monster was chasing him.”
Williams doubled the lead with his 35-yard run with 1:35 left in the first quarter. It ended a fourplay, 80-yard drive in which Dowling had the first 45 yards on three keepers.
The Terrors countered with their best drive of the night, going 65 yards in 11 plays with Reiss capping the march with his short run up the middle. Glynn Academy never faced a third down in the possession.
The Bears pushed the lead to 21-7 at intermission going 80 yards in 11 plays. Williams covered the final eight with 1:06 left on the clock. Brown had the key play of the march when he pulled a pass away from Wallace to complete a 17-yard play on third-and-1 from the Glynn Academy 46.
Pierce County forced a punt on the Red Terrors’ first possession of the third quarter. Dowling ended the Bears’ possession with his touchdown from 33 yards away.
After taking over on its 21, PCHS lost six yards on the first play with a bobbled snap, but Williams swept right end for 38 yards to move the chains.
A 14-yard run by Dowling mixed in with three penalties on the Bears and two on the Terrors set up a first down at the Glynn Academy 33. Much like the game’s opening play, Dowling sprinted around left end and went untouched to the end zone for the touchdown with 4:10 left in the third quarter to finish the varsity scoring. YARDSTIICK
Glynn Academy 0 7 0 0 - 7 Pierce County 14 7 7 7 - 35 SCORING SUMMARY First Quarter PCHS - Jae’Veon Williams 1 run (Garrett Stevenson kick), 11:32 PCHS - Williams 35 run (Stevenson kick), 1:35
Second Quarter GA - Cooper Reiss 2 run (Patrick Coyle kick), 7:33 PCHS - Williams 8 run (Stevenson kick), 1:06 Third Quarter PCHS - Blake Dowling 33 run (Stevenson kick), 4:10 Fourth Quarter PCHS - David Herring 1 pass from Jack McClellan (Kade Meeks kick), 2:22 GA PCHS First downs 8 13 Rushes-yards 27-99 28-292 Passing yards 20 40 Total yards 119 332 Comp-Att-Int 3-6-1 4-5-0 Punts-Avg 4-38 0-0 Fumbles-lost 2-0 2-1 Penalties 5-40 12-70 3rd Down Con. 3-of-8 4-of-4 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING –
GA: Howard 10-36, Reiss 3-25, Creighton 5-18, Noonan 4-9, Lockett 1-5, Wallace 2-4, Horatio Bienemy 1-2, Clark 1-0.
PCHS: Dowling 17-224, Williams 9-68, McClellan 2-0.
PASSING –
GA: Noonan 3-6-1, 20.
PCHS: Dowling 2-3-0, 18, McClellan 2-2-0, 22.
RECEIVING —
GA: Chisholm 1-15, Creighton 1-13, Wallace 1-(-8).
PCHS: James 1-21, Brown 1-17, J. Stone 1-1, Herring 1-1.
