According to school officials, the Tigers are 9-0 for the first time in school history and control their fate in next week's showdown with Greer for the Region II-3A title.
A victory at Greer would hand Blue Ridge the region championship outright. A Greer victory could leave the region championship up for grabs among the Tigers, Greer and Greenville if the Red Raiders win as well. Greenville defeated Berea 60-7 tonight to keep pace, while Greer blasted Southside, 41-7.
"We've already talked about Greer, so we're going to start getting ready tonight," said Blue Ridge head coach Wade Cooper. "We have to."
Blue Ridge players avoided looking past Pickens to rival Greer, which won a region championship on the Tigers' home field a year ago, but Pickens did not make it easy, using a steady wishbone-based rushing attack to keep the game within reach for most of three quarters.
After Blue Ridge scored on its first two possessions -- a short scoring strike to Stephen Turner from Ty Montgomery and a 1-yard plunge by Jonathan Bull -- the Blue Flame answered with two scores of its own to cut the lead to 14-13.
Pickens quarterback Mason Covey, throwing out of the wishbone, hit tight ends J.C. Baker and Jacob Peterman on scoring passes of 24 and 6 yards, the first of which was set up by Griffin's fumble of a punt return at the Blue Ridge 24. Chris Pittman's block of Caleb Grant's extra-point attempt after the second score kept Blue Ridge ahead by a point with 1 minute, 52 seconds left in the first half.
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But the Tigers (9-0 overall, 6-0 region) mounted a five-play, 83-yard drive that ended with Montgomery hitting Turner on a slant from 27 yards out to stretch the lead to 21-13. Turner, a senior, finished with 8 catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns, in his final regular-season home game.
"That was the biggest thing," said Blue Ridge offensive lineman Seth Crain of regaining momentum with 48 seconds left in the half. "We knew we had to do it quick because they love to take up time (running the football)."
The Tigers received the kickoff to start the second half and Brennan Griffin's 42-yard return set up a six-play drive that ended with a 29-yard field goal by John Michael Bright with 9:51 left in the third quarter.
Griffin, also a senior, led all receivers with 116 yards on six catches, while Montgomery connected on 20 of 29 pass attempts for 276 yards.
Pittman recovered a fumbled snap at the Pickens 46 to set up another short scoring drive for the Tigers that was capped by Montgomery's 13-yard touchdown run for a 31-13 lead.
Blue Ridge overcame eight penalties for 60 yards, one of which nullified a punt return for a touchdown by Griffin, a fake punt in its own territory that came up short and Griffin's fumble, for the win.
"We had some penalties that we've not been having and we had some turnovers that put our defense in some bad situations, so we've got some things we can work on and correct," Cooper said. "But the good thing about our team is that with those errors, we were still able to overcome them. . . . It's a good testament to their character and their work ethic."
Antron Wakefield added a 1-yard scoring plunge for Pickens (4-5, 3-3), which lost its third straight game.
Blue Ridge added a safety in the fourth quarter when Bull tackled Covey in the end zone with 4:15 to play.
GAME SUMMARY
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|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
TOTAL |
|
PICKENS |
0 |
13 |
0 |
7 |
20 |
|
BLUE RIDGE |
14 |
7 |
10 |
2 |
33 |