By Thomas Grant Jr.

For three years, a special piece of “hardware” was missing from the halls of Blythewood High School.

Since 2019, the Bengals and archrival Westwood have battled on the gridiron for the Jeanne Schmidt Memorial Trophy. The two teams have seemingly traded the large blue and red colored wooden axe during that span.

Last Friday, Blythewood went to “The Castle” and reclaimed ownership of the trophy for a year. The Bengals defeated the Redhawks 20-7 to snap a 2-game losing streak in the “Battle of the Axe” series.

“The players fell short the past two years and the biggest thing on their mind was to win it back,” Blythewood head coach James Martin said. “Otherwise, they would have played varsity football and never experienced winning it. So, it was great for these seniors to win the axe back.”

It was the Blythewood underclassmen who played a major role in the victory. Sophomore quarterback Caleb Martinez threw for 174 yards and two touchdowns, one caught by junior Tay’Shawn Johnson who had six receptions for 142 yards.

Fellow junior running back Landyn Strong had an 8-yard touchdown. 

The Bengals’ defense disrupted Westwood’s passing game. Defensive lineman Joshua Reaves accounted for four of his team’s seven sacks and fellow senior linebacker Chris Long had a team-high eight tackles.

Blythewood improved to 2-1 with the win, while Westwood dropped to 0-3. The seven points were the first scored this season by the Redhawks.

So far, Martin has been pleased with the new starters this year “stepping up and making plays on both sides of the ball”.

With region play still two weeks away, he hopes to have the “pieces of the puzzle together” to create “good things” the rest of the season.

“(We) Need to eliminate penalties,” he said. “We often hurt ourselves on key drives that stop our momentum. Defensively, we need to continue to put our opponents in 2nd and 3rd long. We are doing a good job getting off the field, but always need to get better especially right before halftime.”

OTHER WEEK 3 SCORES

Oceanside Collegiate Academy 24, Ridge View 17

River Bluff 45, Spring Valley 7

York 48, Richland Northeast 11

Heathwood Hall 42, Cardinal Newman 0

WEEK 4 SCHEDULE

Woodmont at Blythewood

Ben Lippen at Cardinal Newman

Fairfield Central at Richland Northeast

Nation Ford at Ridge View

Westwood at Catawba Ridge

(Photos from Blythewood football) – The Blythewood football team following the 20-7 win at Westwood.