‘Comedy of Errors’ in first quarter dooms Tigers vs. Chesnee

KB Henderson performed well — rushing for 141 yards and three scores — but a disastrous first quarter doomed the Tigers in a 41-30 defeat at Chesnee.

Call it bad luck. Call it first-game jitters. Call it what Blue Ridge head coach John Boggs called it—“a comedy of errors.”

Call it whatever, but absolutely nothing could go right for the Tigers on Friday night in the first quarter at Chesnee.

“Everything, from offense to defense to special teams, heck, even our film crew had trouble Friday night during that first quarter,” said Boggs. “It was bad. We had people blowing assignments, crazy stuff happened. It was pretty frustrating.”

By the time the disastrous first frame finally closed, the Tigers found themselves in a 20-0 hole. Chesnee scored again at the beginning of the second to increase the deficit to 27-0. It proved too deep to climb out of, as Blue Ridge ultimately fell 41-30.

“It just snowballed for us in that first quarter, so by the time the second quarter rolled around and we were finally able to get something going offensively, they’d go back down and get a big play to keep their lead at three scores. We couldn’t make up the deficit we dug ourselves into in that first quarter.”

Chesnee accumulated 356 total yards on the Tigers while converting 60 percent of their third downs.

“We just didn’t execute or tackle well. We allowed way too many yards and let passes go over our heads,” said Blue Ridge senior outside linebacker Collin Williams. “They were just a good offensive team, and they moved down the field on us pretty quickly.”

Despite being down 27 early, the Tigers fought back. A two-yard touchdown run by Bryson Wyatt brought the score to 27-6 in the second quarter. The Tigers were able to force a stop on defense, and on the next drive, KB Henderson took a handoff 38 yards down the right sideline to bring Blue Ridge within two touchdowns.

It was the first of Henderson’s three touchdown runs on the evening. The junior running back finished with 141 yards and three scores in his first game action since his freshman year.

“It felt good, because I know how hard I worked in the offseason,” said Henderson. “I always want to be able to show up for my teammates. I tell them to have my back, so I held to my end of the bargain in having theirs.”

“KB and Bryson both played tough,” said Boggs. “Even though they didn’t have the best blocking in front of them, they were still able to make some things happen.”

At halftime, the Tigers trailed 34-14. Henderson gathered the team on the sideline and gave them a message.

“KB, he told all of our guys at halftime that we needed to pull through and finish the game strong for our seniors,” said Williams. “Being a senior myself, that meant a lot to hear someone who wasn’t a senior saying all that.”

Henderson’s words must have landed, as the Tigers outscored the Eagles 16-7 in the second half. Both Tiger touchdowns in the half came from Henderson.

“I just don’t like my teammates to have their heads down at all,” said Henderson. “When we’re down, I don’t ever let them drop their heads. I always pick their heads up, even if I’ve got to do it with my own hands.”

Boggs blamed “unforced errors” for the week 0 loss.

“We’ve got to be more disciplined, more focused,” he said. “We need to just do our job and not focus on doing anyone else’s. We had some huge mistakes on special teams, gave up some big returns. We had two trips in the red zone and didn’t capitalize. That really ended up being the difference in the game.”

Blue Ridge will look to get in the win column next week, as the Tigers face Liberty in the team’s first home game of the season.

“I’m excited to get back home. I love to hear our band playing,” said Henderson. “We may not have come out with a win this week, but I know what our team’s got. We’ve got to show it this Friday.”

THE SCORE BY QUARTERS
BR 0 14 8 8 - 30
Chesnee 20 14 7 0 - 41

STAT LEADERS
Blue Ridge passing: Forrester 5/9, 130 yards

Blue Ridge rushing: Henderson 20 carries, 141 yards, 3 TDs | Wyatt 19 carries, 68 yards, TD | Forrester 7 carries, 21 yards

Blue Ridge receiving: Stokes 2 rec, 121 yards | Allen 2 rec, 6 yards | Hicks 1 rec, 3 yards