Blue Ridge ran over by Landrum, crushed 74-34

Blue Ridge has allowed 49 points per game this season.

Blue Ridge head coach John Boggs is noticing a pattern. It’s one he hates.

“Every single week, the other team’s running back has a career night against us,” he said. “That’s how it’s been all season, really.”

Friday night in Landrum, it was Cardinals star running back Colton Link’s turn. Landrum’s senior ball carrier destroyed the Tiger defense for 407 yards rushing and six touchdowns. He accounted for nearly half of Landrum’s points in the Cardinals’ 74-34 drubbing of Blue Ridge.

Two weeks ago, Eastside’s Kalvin Banks put up a similarly wild stat line at Blue Ridge’s expense, rushing for 420 yards and six scores. The week before that, it was Greer’s Chris Hall who torched the Tigers for 261 yards and four touchdowns.

It’s a disturbing trend for Boggs and his team.

“We’ve got to do a better job of making plays on defense and making tackles,” said Boggs. “We just aren’t putting ourselves in a position to win.”

Friday night’s loss to Landrum — a game in which the Tigers found themselves trailing 34-6 at the end of the first quarter — dropped Blue Ridge to 0-6 on the season.

Quarterback Gavin Forrester threw for 178 yards and a touchdown, while the dynamic backfield duo of running backs KB Henderson and Bryson Wyatt combined for 157 yards and two scores. Wide receiver Asheton Stokes led the way receiving with six receptions for 105 yards and a touchdown.

Their efforts were in vain, however. Each time the Tiger offense managed to get on the board, Landrum quickly marched down the field and kept Blue Ridge out of reach.

“It’s demoralizing when you can’t play better defense than we’re playing right now,” said Boggs. “Our offensive coaches are turning around and trying to make adjustments, but we don’t have time because we’ll turn right back around and we’re on kickoff return again.

“It’s not like [Landrum] was trying to throw the ball over our heads or run the score up. They were just running the ball up the middle and getting big yards because we can’t tackle anybody.”

The Tigers have a bye this week, a chance to regroup with region play on deck. There’s plenty of work to be done, so Boggs plans to maximize the open date on the schedule.

“If there are seven days in a week, we need to practice eight of them,” he said.

Two weeks of hard work await the Tigers before their next game, a region matchup at home against Broome. The Centurions are off to their best start since 2017 at 5-1 and are ranked No. 8 in 3-A.

Boggs isn’t focused on them just yet, however. That will come later. There’s too much in-house that needs fixing first.

“We’ve got too many problems on our own end that we need to fix before watching or studying anyone,” said Boggs. “We’ve got to make sure our apple cart is in order before anything else.”