By Jack Veltri
Correspondent
COLUMBIA – In what’s already been a tough start to the season for Nation Ford football, things only continued to get tougher Friday night.
The Falcons fell behind early and never found their footing in a 50-7 loss to Ridge View on Sept. 11. They now move to 0-4 on the year, marking their worst start to a season since 2022.
It certainly didn’t help that there was an hour-long weather delay. But the delay only seemed to affect Nation Ford, as Ridge View jumped out to an immediate 23-point lead by the end of the first quarter.
“It’s frustrating,” said Falcons head coach Jake Bentley. “It’s a challenge to come here and sit around for two hours with the delay. But you gotta come. That’s what I told them. We, myself included, gotta be aggressive to start it. We can’t wait to see if we can take the first punch to throw the first punch. We waited too long to fight back.”
Blazers senior quarterback Tre Howard had himself a nearly flawless night, completing 14-of-16 passes with four touchdowns. Senior wide receivers Isiaiah Small and Kanye Reed each caught a pair of touchdowns as the recipients of Howard’s consistent playmaking.
Senior running back Spencer Bobian, who became Ridge View’s all-time leading rusher on Friday, led the way in the run game and had two touchdown runs in the first quarter.
The only notable defensive highlight of the night for the Falcons was a red zone interception by freshman defensive back Ethan Childs in the second quarter. But it did little to change the fact that Nation Ford found itself trailing by 44 points at halftime, meaning there would be a running clock the rest of the way.
Offensively, freshman quarterback Brooks Treble mostly struggled in his second career start. He finished 11-of-24 passing with one touchdown, coming in the fourth quarter on a 35-yard strike to senior wide receiver Jah Carter to end the shutout.
Treble’s connection with senior Asher Beck continued to be a bright spot as the quarterback turned receiver caught six of Treble’s 11 completions.
“For a kid to go from quarterback to receiver and then go make some football plays for the next quarterback, it’s special as far as looking at Asher’s character as a human being,” Bentley said. “But man, they work at it at practice. But we need everybody to win, right? It’s special to have two guys that are competing. Not doing everything right, still got a lot of growth. But we need us all to be better.”
Still, it didn’t change the fact that this was another rough game for Nation Ford. Bentley preached that he and the team will get it right, and with six games to go in the regular season, they still have time to do so, especially with region play two weeks away.
But time is ticking fast, and Bentley knows the Falcons have a great opportunity ahead to right the ship.
“We’re gonna get it right,” he said, “and come Monday with a fighter’s mentality to fight back against all the negativity that’s gonna be there and press forward.”
Nation Ford will be back at home for the first time in nearly a month when it hosts crosstown rival and undefeated Fort Mill next Friday, Sept. 18.
Bentley’s main message after the loss was that he and the team need to fight back. He believes the best way to do that is by reclaiming bragging rights in next week’s Milltown Showdown.
“It’s hard when it’s 50-7. It’s hard when the negativity over the last four weeks is mounting up on you to continue to fight back. But that’s what we have to do,” Bentley said. “I know our staff is going to implore our kids to do it. I look forward to a big challenge at Nation Ford Stadium next Friday.”
