Beaufort High wins a thriller

It's a play that, quite frankly, Beaufort High School's football team wasn't prepared to pull out of its playbook.

Related Content

Beaufort HIgh wins a thriller

Story Tools

• E-Mail it
• Print it
• 

Font Size: A A A

Comment

tool name

close

tool goes here

Also in this section

Beaufort High

• Drop in gas prices helps ease pressure on travel budgets
• Beaufort County wrestlers compete in scrimmage
• Beaufort High's season ends (WITH VIDEO)
• Clifford: We're still the same team
• Gonzalez making most of opportunity
• More...

The Eagles hadn't practiced it until the day before Friday's season opener at Hilton Head Island High School, and coach Mark Clifford had even forgot to put it on his cheat sheet of plays.

But after an upstart Seahawks team rode the efficient arm of Dominique Driessen to a three-point lead with less than a minute remaining, the scheme known as "Victory Pass" stood as Beaufort's last hope.

True to its name, the play delivered a stunning end, as Blake Gruel's 36-yard bomb plopped into the arms of tall wideout Trey Nichols to give the Eagles a 22-19 win with time expiring.

"We just throw it to our tall receivers and just hope ... and it just happened," said Gruel, who completed five passes for 58 yards on the final drive. "Trey is supposed to be the man to jump up and get it and everybody else is supposed to wait for the tip, but shoot, I don't know where the other receivers went and it just fell in his hands."

Gruel

Indeed, victory's rightful home appeared to be with Hilton Head on Friday.

The typically run-focused Seahawks could only muster 53 rushing yards, but they had more than enough help moving the chains behind their poised senior quarterback and a sloppy Beaufort team that committed 13 penalties for 140 yards.

"We had a senior quarterback that stepped up and helped us," Hilton Head coach Tim Singleton said. "He just played outstanding and helped us. He bought us time and made plays."

Singleton

With the Eagles clinging to a 9-0 behind an Alex Simmons first-quarter score and a third-quarter safety off a fumbled punt by Hilton Head, Driessen tallied most of his 17-for-27, 163-yard performance.

Less than a minute into the fourth period, Driessen found Clifford Morrow for a 10-yard strike that cut the deficit to 9-6. But Beaufort re-established its lead two plays later when Gruel, who had gone 2-for-9 with one interception beforehand, found receiver Michael Ginn on a slant that ended 80 yards later in the end zone.

Not to be outdone, Driessen picked apart the Beaufort secondary, connecting with four different receivers before running in from six yards out to close the gap to four points. And it didn't help that the Eagles defense was at that point without star cornerback Jimmy Legree, who was cramping up on the sideline.

A four-and-out Beaufort series turned Hilton Head's comeback attempt into the go-ahead drive. Twice Driessen's arm allowed the Seahawks to convert on third down, and the one time it didn't, he did one better, finding Marcus Green in the back of the end zone to give their team a seemingly safe 19-16 lead.

And had Gruel's ineffiency in the pocket continued or Beaufort's knack for penalties not suddenly disappeared, Hilton Head's four-game losing streak against the Eagles likely would be history.

"I think we took as much time as we could on that last drive," Singleton said. "We couldn't run the ball on the m that well and we didn't have that much time to mess around."

Instead, it was Beaufort's last-second miracle that made this game one for the books and gave Clifford a new vote of confidence for his young, evolving squad.

"Maybe that's a sign of a team that finds a way to win and I told them that I really enjoyed being in that huddle on the last drive because I could see it all in their eyes," he said. "We're just grateful to come up with a win and we've got a lot of work to do."

Clifford

Beaufort 0 7 2 11 -- 22
Hilton Head 0 0 0 19 -- 19

Second Quarter
BEAU--Alex Simmons 2 run (Plair kick), 9:53.

Third Quarter
BEAU--Safety, 4:02.

Fourth Quarter
HHH--Dominique Driessen 29 pass to Clifford Morrow (Olivetti kick failed), 11:10.
BEAU--Blake Gruel 80 pass to Michael Ginn (Plair kick), 10:17.
HHH--Driessen 6 run (Olivetti kick failed), 6:26.
HHH--Driessen 10 pass to Marcus Green (Olivetti kick), 1:04.
BEAU--Gruel 36 pass to Trey Nichols, 0:00.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Beaufort, Brad Gonzales, 18-87, Alex Simmons, 8-30, Jimmy Legree 1-0, Josh McPherson 1-0, Demeo Holmes 1-0. Hilton Head, Lawrence Jenkins 7-32, Marcus Green 8-12, Dominique Driessen 6-9, Octavius Logan 1-3, Jaquan Cohen 3 (-8).

PASSING--Beaufort, Gruel 7-15-1-152. Hilton Head, Driessen 17-27-0-163.

RECEIVING--Beaufort, Michael Ginn 5-113, Trey Nichols 1-36, Brian Simmons 1-3. Hilton Head, Clifford Morrow 5-62, Logan 4-44, Khiry Washington 3-33, Green 3-25.

MISSED FIELD GOALS--Owen Plair 27.