Midway runs past West Bladen

It was Homecoming at Midway High School Friday night as the Raiders hosted West Bladen in more Southeastern Athletic Conference action. It was a beautiful night at Tommy Sloan Stadium, where fans packed the stands. The visiting Knights made a good effort at spoiling Homecoming, but an inspired Raiders football team surged in the second half and staked a 49-33 victory.

Midway was intended to get the first possession of the game, but West Bladen pulled an onside kick out of their bag of tricks and recovered the kick. They took over on the 46-yard line and went right to work. Utilizing their running game, they quickly drove deeper into Raider territory. Midway, though, dialed up a fourth down stop, and the Raider offense finally took the field on their own 20-yard line with 9:50 on the clock in the first quarter.

Midway went right to work and relied on the athleticism of Wyatt Holland. Holland completed a couple passes before capping off the drive on an option play that went 35 yards for the score with 8:10 on the clock. The PAT was kicked through the uprights and Midway was up 7-0.

West Bladen answered on their ensuing drive, taking the drive near their own 40-yard line. With 1:00 on the clock, a drive that was eat up completely on the ground, was capped off by Gary Parker, who scored on an 11-yard run up the left side. The PAT was a low worm-burner that never had a chance and the score still leaned in Midway’s favor at 7-6.

The Raiders took the next kickoff and began their drive on their own 42-yard line. It was abruptly ended two plays later when a Holland pass was picked off by Cornelius Esters with 11.7 left in the first quarter. This put West Bladen in possession on their own 40-yard line.

The first quarter ended with the Raiders clinging to a 7-6 lead and the Knights facing second and ten.

Early in the second quarter, West Bladen continued to rely on the legs of Damarius Robinson, marching right through the teeth of the Midway defense. Despite being backed up three times with two holding and a false start penalty, the Knights converted a long fourth for a 26-yard passing touchdown by Robinson. They also converted the 2-point try, and with 6:25 left in the half, West Bladen was up 14-7.

The following Midway drive was also unsuccessful with the Raiders turning the ball over on downs at the West Bladen 27-yard line.

There, the Knights took over with a little over 4:00 left in the half. Attempting to build their lead before the break, West Bladen was once again battling penalties. This time, the Knights weren’t able to overcome the long yards and were facing fourth and 12 with 2:19 on the clock.

After the punt, Midway took over on the 48-yard line with 2:13 left in the half. The Raiders fell just short of the goal line just before the half and were unable to punch through another score. At halftime, the score rested at 14-7 with West Bladen set to receive the second half kickoff.

During the halftime Homecoming celebration, Rylie Williams, who had also just recently won the Tom Suiter Extra Effort Award, was named the 2021 Homecoming Queen.

To kick off the second half, Midway returned the favor with an onside kick. This one was recovering Josh Lupo to put the Raiders offense at midfield. Midway went right to work and finished off the drive on an 18-yard touchdown run by Holland with 9:34 on the clock. The PAT was also converted, and the game was tied early in the second half.

The Raiders attempted another onside kick, but this one was recovered by West Bladen, putting the Knights offense at the 49-yard line. This drive went backwards and they were forced to punt.

With 7:08 on the clock in the third quarter, Midway was back in business at their own 37-yard line. They took advantage of this opportunity and drove the field, eating big chunks of yards utilizing the legs of Holland. With 5:27 on the clock, Holland took an option four yards on the right side and scored, putting the Raiders back out front. The PAT missed to the left, but Midway was in the lead at 20-14.

Another unsuccessful onside kick put West Bladen right back at midfield. The Knights moved the ball well but ultimately came up short on fourth down and turned it back over with 1:10 on the clock in the third quarter. Two plays later, Midway found the end zone once again. After a big pass play to Nate Smith put the Raiders at the West Bladen 36-yard line, Trey Gregory finished things off on a long run for the score. Holland converted the 2-point try on a run-option up the middle, and the Raiders led 28-14 with 36.5 left in the quarter.

West Bladen’s next possession ended in disaster when Josh Lupo picked off a Knights’ pass attempt and put the Midway offense back on the field.

With that, the quarter ended with the Raiders leading 28-14 and in possession at the 50-yard line.

With 10:35 on the clock in the fourth quarter, Gregory punched it in a counter up the middle, continuing second half Midway surge and extending the Raiders lead. The PAT was punched through and Midway had built a 35-14 lead.

West Bladen finally sustained a long drive on the following possession and marched the field for a score. With 7:16 left, Hezekiah Adams scampered 20-yards on some slicing, dicing, and cutting back to find his way into the end zone. The PAT just did flail through the uprights, making it 35-21.

West attempted an onside kick, that did manage to take a couple interesting bounces and ricochets, but the Raiders ultimately recovered. Yep plays later, Gregory capped off the short possession with an 18-yard touchdown run to re-extend the Midway lead. The PAT split the goalposts and with 6:24 left to play, the Raiders were up 42-21.

West Bladen fought right back, refusing to go down without a battle. Tydrick Stewart hauled in a pass that was nearly picked off and scampered 21 yards for the score. The Knights elected to go for two, but the result was a sack, leaving the score at 42-27 with 4:13 left to play.

On the Raiders ensuing drive, they were facing fourth and long at the West Bladen 48-yard line when Gregory broke through the middle and ran all 48 yards to the house. After the PAT, Midway led 49-27.

The Knights remained rather pesky, utilizing the remainder of the timeouts to tack on one final meaningless score with time running out.

When the clock hit 0:00, Midway celebrated Homecoming with a 49-33 victory.

“We were flat in the first half,” said Midway head coach Corey Barnes. “Not going to blame it on anything other than we didn’t take what they gave us. We just were flat.”

“Our defense played really good in the second half until late in the game where we kind of gave up some garbage points, but, other than that we did a great job of stopping them. Wyatt and Trey really stepped up in the second half. Wyatt didn’t have his best passing game tonight but they made up for that in the running game.”

Indeed, the duo did provide the spark Midway needed in the second half. Gregory and Holland each ran for 142 yards, with Gregory scoring four touchdowns and Holland scoring three. Holland also did manage to complete 9-of-16 passes for 150 yards.

With the win, Midway is now 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the Southeastern Athletic Conference. They hit the road next week to East Bladen. Game time is 7 p.m.