The Long County Blue Tide football team have now held opponents scoreless for over 90 straight minutes of football game time. After bouncing back from season-opening heartbreaker, the team have shutout back-to-back opponents for the first time in team history after blanking Treutlen County 38-0.
The homestanding Tide jumped out to an early lead Friday night less than three minutes into the game. The Tide picked up chunks of yards of 11, 14 and 12 yards before sophomore running back Cortney Charles found room to run for a 14-yard touchdown to make the score 8-0.
The Vikings faced a third and long on their next drive and seemingly picked up big yards to the Tide 36. However, Keshawn Smith came up with a big play, snagging the ball away from the Viking receiver for the defense’s first interception of the season.
A long run on the first play was wiped out by a holding call, but the Tide picked up most of those yards on the next play as Jashaun Manghane hit Ahmari Douglas for 20 yards.
On the next play, Steven Wyatt took the call and raced 49 yards for the touchdown to make the score 16-0 with 5:11 left to play in the first quarter.
Lem McBride recovered a Treutlen fumble and Manghane got the ensuing drive started with a 30-yard completion to Smith.
An ineligible receiver penalty negated a Manghane 40-yard pass to Zion Ervin, but the Tide worked their way to the Vikings 28. On third down from there, Manghane found Chris Hatfield wide open down the Viking sideline to make the score 24-0 with less than 2 minutes before halftime.
The Vikings had third-and-5 from their own 31 and freshman Jason Familia made a big play, knocking the ball loose and allowing sophomore Jay’Quan Johnson to scoop it up and score from 25 yards out to make the score 32-0 going into halftime.
The Vikings opted for the running clock for the entire second half.
However, after stopping the Vikings on the first drive of the quarter and getting the ball back at their own 33, the Tide went right down the field and scored.
Douglas got the ball seven straight times and picked up all 67 of the Tide’s yards on the drive. He scored from 2 yards out to make the score 38-0.
The Tide kept the Vikings off the board in the fourth quarter by forcing another fumble, their fourth takeaway of the night, deep in their own territory.
With the win, the Tide have now outscored opponents 76-0 over the last eight quarters. This is the first time in team history that they have shutout two straight opponents.
The Tide, now 2-1 on the year, will take a week off before welcoming in the Groves Rebels on Friday, Sept. 15 in their first region game of the season and a homecoming matchup.