The Blue Tide extinguished the New Hampstead Phoenix, 41-0, Friday in Ludowici.
Long County dominated both sides of the ball. The defense picked up its first shutout of the year. The offense scored on six of eight possessions.
Things went south for New Hampstead on their first possession as Jamin Davis picked off a pass and rambled to the Phoenix 29-yard line. The Blue Tide moved the ball to the 9. Then quarterback Brett Blake handed off to Brendon Scott who pounded his way in for the score. The PAT by Carlos Nevarez was successful.
New Hampstead began their drive at their own 25-yard line. They moved the ball with a balanced offense attack, but the drive ended at the Blue Tide 41-yard line. Long County took control of the ball. But three plays later they still needed five yards.
Lining up at quarterback, Scott set up in the shotgun and found an open Jack Lauver, who ran for a 17-yard gain. On the next play Jaquarius Harrison raced 20 yards into the end zone. Nevarez nailed the extra point for the 14-0 lead.
The Phoenix took possession at their own 36. Again the Blue Tide defense shut them down, forcing a punt after three plays. Stephon Adderly fielded the ball at the Blue Tide 28-yard line and nimbly raced 42 yards to the Phoenix 30-yard line. The Tide moved the ball to the 9-yard line and then Harrison took the handoff and rumbled in for his second score. Nevarez then split the uprights and the Tide led 21-0.
New Hampstead got the ball back after the kickoff, but Long County’s defense was still a brick wall. This time the Blue Tide caught the punt near midfield. On the first play, quarterback Blake pitched to Harrison who ran a sweep to the right. With solid blocking from his offensive line Harrison raced in 49 yards for his third touchdown of the first half. Nevarez was again solid on the extra point. Long County led 28-0 lead at the half.
In the second half, Long County added two more scores and the defense continued to dominate. After the game, Blue Tide head coach Ron Flott praised both the players and the coaches.
“You took care of business, you took care of business early and played hard from the get go, but now I want you to go home and be your own biggest critic,” Flott said. “Just because we won 41-0, we need to ask ourselves, ‘did I play my best game, did I coach my best game,’ because that is what we want every Friday night, to do our best.”
With the win, Long County improved its record to 2-4, while New Hampstead fell to 1-6. This week, Long County plays on Thursday in a televised game against Groves High in Garden City. Groves is 4-2.