Friday, Long County became painfully aware of why Benedictine Military School is ranked as the 10th best 2-AA team in the state, according to MaxPreps.
Despite the Blue Tide’s game effort, the Cadets were too big, too strong, too fast and too good, winning 49-0.
Long County got the ball first and began their first offensive series at their own 35 yard line. Two runs netted no gain and then quarterback Vanda Vereen Jr. and his running back had a miscue on a handoff and fumbled.
The Cadets’ Kyle South fell on the ball to give Benedictine the ball on the short field. Benedictine drove to the 15 yard line, and then quarterback Stevie Powers handed the ball off to J.J. Gaines who swept around the right side for the 15-yard touchdown. The PAT by Brandon Deloach was successful.
The ensuing kickoff resulted in a touchback. So the Blue Tide began their second offensive possession at the 20 yard line. But BC held tight through three plays and Long County was forced to punt.
The Cadets began their own 40 yard line. A holding penalty pushed Benedictine back to their own 30. But they weren’t flustered. On the first play from scrimmage, running back Chance Jackson scampered 69 yards before being tackled at the one yard line.
Jackson took the next handoff and ran off the right tackle for the score. After Deloach’s PAT the Cadets led 14-0.
Shortly after that the second touchdown the first quarter ended. The Blue Tide had run five offensive plays, netting a total of 9 yards.  
In the second quarter, BC had the ball again, but coughed it up on a bad exchange between Powers and his running back. The Blue Tide’s Damian Jones fell on the pigskin, giving the home team the ball at midfield.
Despite having the short field, Long County couldn’t move the sticks and Vereen was forced to punt. The Cadets added three more scores in the quarter, taking a 35-0 lead in at the half.
Despite being down, Blue Tide continued to play hard in the third and fourth quarters, resulting in the offense finally moving the ball. With big runs by Jarquarius Harrison, Elijah Wright and Jones, Long County was able to move the ball to the Benedictine 6 yard line, but to no avail.  The drive ended when the Blue Tide put the ball on the ground, and it was recovered by the Cadets.
The Tide also got down to the Benedictine 30 yard line in the final quarter, but once again the Cadet defense flexed its muscle and shut the drive down.
Before the night was over the Savannah team added two more touchdowns.
With the 2-AA Region win, Benedictine improved its record to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the region. In two victories they have outscored opponents 90-7. The Blue Tide fell to 1-1 overall and 0-1 in the region.
This Friday, Long County travels to Vidalia High School to take on the Indians (2-0) in another big region game.
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