As the old saying goes "as the offensive lines goes, so goes the offense" and on Friday night that rang true as the Chesnee offensive line, with five returning starters, paved the way for the Eagles who rolled up over three hundred rushing yards while picking up a 27-16 win over Legion Collegiate Academy.
“The most experienced part of our team is the offensive line," said Chesnee head coach Clay Lewis. "When you have experienced kids you have to lean on them and they have to go out and produce like they did tonight.” While their dominance isn't always noticed by outsiders the Chesnee offensive lineman isn't really worried about that as the only acknowledgement they look for is from their teammates and coaches. “It doesn’t matter to us if we get credit from anyone other than our teammates and our coaches," said Chesnee senior lineman Corey Seay. "They are quick to give us credit and our quarterback tells us every play how good of a job we do up front.” Chesnee got off to a fast start to open the game sparked by a forty-four yard kickoff return by KJ Valentine to open the game. On the second play from scrimmage Praise Edrington took the pitch from quarterback Nyquille O’Fair and took it deep in to Lancer territory. Camden Burns punched it in a few plays later from four yards out to put the Eagles up 6-0 with 10:21 left in the first quarter. The Eagles continued to build on their lead as O’Fair ran the ball in from one yard out to put the Eagle up 13-0 after the Ian Harris extra point with 2:20 left in the first quarter. On the drive Bryson Thompson picked up a key fourth and two to help continue the scoring drive. O’Fair picked up his first passing touchdown of the season with 4:28 left in the first half when he found Cole Hoskyns for an eleven yard touchdown pass as Hoskyns barreled through a pair of Lancers to complete the touchdown reception. After Ian Harris added his second extra point of the night the Eagles increased their lead to 20-0. Holding the Lancers out of the endzone on their opening position of the second half, the Eagles offense added to their lead as Adam Parks punched it in from nine yards out to give the Eagles their largest lead of the night at 27-0 with 6:31 left in the third. Legion Collegiate tried to get back in it as Joey Hylinski found Ian Graham for a sixty-two yard scoring strike and after Nathan Kelly converted the two point conversion they were able to pull within 27-8 with 5:47 left in the third. On the ensuing Chesnee position, the Lancers caught a break and recovered a Chesnee fumble inside the Eagles twenty yard line. They made the Eagles pay for the mistake a few plays later as Hylinski found Liam Graham for a five yard touchdown strike and after another Nathan Kelly two point conversion Legion Academy was able to make the score 27-16 with 4:13 left in the third quarter. The Eagles had the biggest play of the fourth quarter as they converted a key fourth down with under two minutes to play deep in Lancer territory that allowed the Eagles to take a knee and run out the clock to seal the win. The Eagles defense bottled up the Lancer rushing attack as they held them to negative thirty-five yards rushing as the Eagles held them to negative twenty-nine yards in the first half. The Lancers has less opportunities to rush the ball in the second half as time and score were not in their favor and the Chesnee defensive front was able to harass quarterback Joey Hylinski all night to help limit the Lancer offense. Chesnee as a team finished with 319 yards on the ground as senior backs Camden Burns and Adam Parks led the way as the duo combined for one hundred and fifty yards on thirty two carries. Burns finished with eighty-three yards on eighteen carries and a score while Parks finished with sixty seven yards on sixteen carries and a score. Bryson Thompson and Nyquille O’Fair each finished the night with forty-seven yards rushing while O’Fair also completed two passes for thirty yards with one being the eleven yard touchdown to Hoskyns. Defensively the Eagles finished four sacks and four tackles for a loss as Colby Davis led the way with two sacks and Cole Hoskyns added a sack of his own. Corey Seay was one of four Eagles with at least one tackle for loss while Dylan Bennett picked off a Hylinski pass which was Bennett’s second interception of his career. “This is big for our kids as it has been a long and hard offseason," said Lewis. "These kids have worked their tails off since we were allowed to come back in June. It is very rewarding to see these guys get a win." Next Friday the Eagles will host the St. Josephs Knights in the second of four region games to open the season. The Knights defeated Blacksburg 20-6 to open the season on Friday night. Comments are closed.
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