By Jack Veltri
Correspondent
COUMBIA — Every time Nation Ford touches the football, head coach Jake Bentley doesn’t want his offense to be satisfied and settle. No, he wants to get in the end zone every single time.
After scoring 20-plus points in each of the last two games, the Falcons lit up the scoreboard on Thursday night, defeating Richland Northeast Cavaliers, 56-27. Nation Ford moves to 3-1 and will head into Region 3-5A play next week on a three-game winning streak.
It only took 77 seconds into the game for Bentley to get his wish. After motoring down the field, Malachi Drayton scored on a one-yard touchdown run to open the scoring for the Falcons.
The defense followed up with a quick three-and-out to give the offense the ball right back. However, mistakes started to come as RNE’s Miles Galloway brought down Kason Canupp for a safety.
Then, after getting into great field position on the ensuing punt, the Cavaliers scored on a two-yard touchdown run by Tavarious Lively to take their first lead of the night.
“It was a bust. It was a lack of detail and an assignment that caused that,” Bentley said, explaining what happened on the safety. “Probably shouldn’t have called the RPO down there that close. I put a little bit on me.”
But that would be the only time that RNE led in this game. Nation Ford’s offense exploded for 35 first-half points to put the Falcons ahead by three scores at halftime.
Patience Andrews had a monster performance, scoring three touchdowns in the first half, starting with a 14-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter. Andrews found his way into the end zone again on a 44-yard run on the first play of the second quarter.
Following a blocked field goal forced by the Falcons’ defense midway through the second quarter, Canupp connected with Andrews on a short pass towards the sideline. Andrews then broke out of one tackle and took off as he raced into the end zone for a 60-yard touchdown.
Drayton, who scored the game’s first touchdown, crossed the goal line again for the final score of the first half on a four-yard touchdown run to give the Falcons a commanding lead.
“We challenged them all week, our running back room, to be the tone setters this week, to come out and run hard,” Bentley said. “And there were some games where, in the past, things may not have been blocked right and didn’t get the yardage. We don’t care. Your job is to make the first guy miss and then continue to make guys miss. Run as hard as you can and then ask for a break, and they did that tonight.”
Nation Ford never let go of the momentum as the second half began and only continued to pile up points. After Joey Reagan recovered a fumble inside plus territory, Canupp found an open Asher Beck for a 25-yard touchdown. This was Canupp’s third touchdown pass of the night.
The Falcons got their first defensive touchdown of the game when Jalen McCrorey picked off RNE’s backup quarterback Issac Austin for a 34-yard pick six in the third quarter.
RNE added a couple of scores in the late going as time wound down in the fourth quarter. By that point, though, the game was already well in hand for Nation Ford.
“From game one till now,” Bentley said, “the amount of growth that we’ve shown. We don’t let adversity affect us the way we did. We stick together.”
Nation Ford will now turn its attention to the start of region play as undefeated Northwestern comes into town next Friday, Sept. 19.
As the Falcons close the book on non-region play, Bentley is most pleased with the progress the team has made and how they’ve grown in these first four games.
“We’re going to be faced with new adversity every week,” he said. “I think if our team can just lean back, go back and lean on the previous experiences and use that, I think we’re going to be in a good spot.”
