Serving Barnwell County and it's neighbors since 1852
The Barnwell Warhorses hosted their fellow equine foes, the South Aiken Thoroughbreds, in a battle to determine the steed supremacy last Friday, September 13 at, appropriately, Mac Wier Stadium. (Coach Mac Wier is a Barnwell coaching legend, but he and the Wier family are also a big horse family). Both teams fought like Stallions throughout most of the game, but with only 7 seconds remaining in the game, South Aiken scored the deciding touchdown to claim the 31-26 victory over the Warhorses.
Barnwell was first on the scoreboard when quarterback Cam Austin found the end zone on a 2-yard run. There was a bad exchange on the extra point and Barnwell had a 6-0 lead with just over four minutes left in the opening period.
The Warhorses stopped the Thoroughbreds on a fourth down attempt and took over with good field possession. Shortly after, the Warhorses’ versatile Ja’Quan Peeples galloped for 36-yard touchdown to increase the Barnwell lead to 12-0. The two-point attempt was no good and Barnwell took the 12-0 lead into the second quarter.
Barnwell’s defense held solid against South Aiken’s rushing attack and got the ball back for Barnwell. With 4:14 remaining on the first half clock, Cam Austin found the end zone again for the hometown Horses. Lane Evans added the point after touchdown and Barnwell was out to a 19-0 first half lead.
South Aiken kept battling and answered with a touchdown pass, but missed the extra point. Barnwell now had a 19-6 lead. South Aiken was not done yet. After a 15-yard penalty against Barnwell, the Thoroughbreds got on the scoreboard again, this time on a 15-yard touchdown run. With the extra point, South Aiken cut the score to 19-13. This would be the score at halftime.
It was only a matter of time until South Aiken’s star running back, Jevon Edwards, would make a huge impact. Against Silver Bluff, Edwards ran for over 300 yards. He has been offered scholarships to five different schools and is considered one of the top players in the Savannah River Area.
Edwards had been mostly held in check by a stingy Warhorse defense, but broke away for a 44-yard Thoroughbred touchdown run. The extra point was no good and the battle of the equines was all tied up at 19-19. The third quarter would end all tied up at 19-19.
Barnwell’s defense made a big play when Warhorse defensive back, Jayden Pinkney, intercepted South Aiken. The Warhorses would move the ball down the field and Cam Austin would score on another quarterback run. Evans added the extra point for a 26-19 lead with 4:16 left in the game.
The Thoroughbreds scored again with 45 seconds remaining in the game, but attempted a two-point conversion that the Hometown Horses stopped for what they thought would seal the 26-25 victory. Never say never when playing with an odd shaped ball that can take unexpected bounces.
With only 45 seconds left and down by a point, the Thoroughbreds attempted an onside kick that they recovered. Time was limited, but the South Aiken offense was able to move the ball and with 7.6 seconds remaining, Jevon Edwards bolted for another touchdown that put the Thoroughbreds up for good. South Aiken had scored two touchdowns in the last 45 seconds of the game to claim a come from behind 31-26 win.
“We have to give props to South Aiken for getting the win. Coach Hamilton and his staff did a great job tonight. I am proud of the way our kids fought all night long. Ultimately, they made a few more plays late than we did and deserved to win the ball game,” said Barnwell head coach Brian Smith. “Some of the spots that we need to look at this week include our kicking game. We missed one field goal and had a bad snap on an extra point. We also had a ball hit the leg of one of our blockers on the punt game. We also did not recover the onside kick at the end of the game. Special teams are critical every week and we work hard on those. Our coaches will get back to work on Monday and work to improve in those areas.”
Nehemiah Brown led the Horses in rushing, carrying 18 times for 102 yards. Cam Austin scored three rushing touchdowns and collected 37 yards on 9 attempts. Ja’Quan Peeples had 69 yards and a touchdown on 7 carries.
Coach Smith was asked about Barnwell’s upcoming game at Swansea and responded, “We go on the road to Swansea next week. They are undefeated and running the single wing on offense. They are playing with a lot of confidence and not making a lot of mistakes. It will be a great challenge for our football team to bounce back and regroup and work to correct our mistakes. Again, I'm proud of the way our guys fought. I thought we did a lot of great things all night long. We need to eliminate turnovers and lower the penalties if we're going to be successful each week.”
Come on out Friday night and support your Warhorses as they hit the road for a 7:30 kickoff at Swansea. Go Horses!
