Rutland offense threatens but fails to break through as Hurricanes lose opener 31-0 against Bleckley County

Despite some strong defensive plays and a decent rushing attack, the Rutland Hurricanes failed to keep up with the Bleckley County Royals, losing their opening game 31-0 in Fort Valley Saturday afternoon.

The heat was formidable at the noon kickoff for the second day of Bibb County’s first edition of the Gridiron Classic, but the Bleckley County offense came out just as fierce. Rutland had a tough time stopping the Royals.

“That’s going to be a playoff team,” Rutland head coach Anthony Williams said after the game. “We were down several starters due to some illnesses and injuries, but we came in with a sort of skeleton crew and fought hard against a team that’s going to be in the playoffs.”

Despite the shutout, the Hurricanes offense made some big strides as they tried to find a focal point after losing their starting quarterback to graduation last year. Brandon Elliott took over as signal caller in the opening game and, after an inconsistent start, settled in to deliver some decent gains on the ground.

“Kentavious Spivey did some good things for us… once he figured out to just go with it and tuck the ball, Brandon did good things for us, too, once he settled down,” Williams said. “Offensive line was up and down, but we ultimately moved the ball between the 20 yardlines well. Just couldn’t punch it in.”

Rutland threatened to score a few times, but some dropped passes and miscommunications about down and distance kept them out of the endzone.

On defense, the Hurricanes tracked well in coverage and had men in the right places but struggled to make tackles and take the right angles.

“Just have to go back and tighten some nuts and bolts in practice Monday. It’s the first actual real game for us, guys see what it’s gonna take now,” Williams said. “Got to beat some of the rust off of them on defense, so we’re gonna go back in and the coaches are going to do what they have to do.”

While they showed flashes, Bleckley County’s talent proved too much. Tyrek Mack had several tackles for loss in a great performance, while Nykez Farrow gave the Royals their most electric play of the night when he blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown in the third quarter.

Rutland faces Jeff Davis next week in their first true home game of the season.

“It’s gonna be a wing-T team, I just told my guys, we got to get ready for it. If we’re going to go and try to compete in this region that we’re in right now, we got to get used to playing some people that try to hit you in the mouth,” Williams said. “We have to be ready to try and fight these guys.”

Rutland threatens to score, but the Royals prove too much

The Hurricanes played spirited football throughout the first half, but tackling issues proved lethal as they attempted to stop the Royals. Rutland often met Bleckley county’s running backs Dequavis Benjamin and Deondrez Robertson early in their runs, but the two backs simply shed tackles or eluded them entirely to gain chunk yardage regularly.

The Hurricanes held the Royals to a field goal on their first drive nonetheless, and tried to get some offense of their own going. 

Rutland developed a consistent rushing attack, but some unfortunate miscues kept their drives from reaching fruition. Bleckley used their chunk gains to take a 10-0 lead into the second quarter. 

After some empty possessions for both teams including a good stop by Rutland that held Bleckley in their own territory, the Hurricanes got a long drive going. Starting at midfield, a nice 17-yard pass from Elliott and some solid rushing plays moved them into the red zone.

There, the Hurricanes nearly broke through — a bootleg pass play gave Elliott a wide-open pass that would have been a touchdown, but receiver Kentavious Spivey could not hang on. Rutland eventually made it inside the 4-yardline but failed to convert the possession into points.

The Royals drove downfield themselves and scored to make it 17-0 with a very clean sequence. While Rutland got an opportunity to score with about three minutes left in the half, they botched the chance by forgetting the number of downs and earning a delay of game penalty.

The flag allowed Bleckley County to get excellent field position with just a minute left in the half and punch in an easy score in a rough turn of events for the Hurricanes. The Royals took the 24-0 lead into the break. 

The momentum stayed with Bleckley County for the rest of the contest. The Royals put a fine point on the win with multiple sacks by Mack and the punt block and return by Farrow to secure the 31-0 victory.