Bishop England wears out Woodland

DANIEL ISLAND — Bishop England’s offense often garners most of the headlines but Monday it was the defense that jumpstarted the Bishops. Bishop England moved past Woodland, 35-24, in its first game at home in Jack Cantey Stadium in 30 days. The Bishops piled up 206 yards in the first half but still faced a 13-6 halftime deficit. They put together another 210 yards in the second half but this time scored four touchdowns. “We were moving the ball in the first half, just not scoring,” Bishop England coach John Cantey said. “It felt like we had some momentum though. We just needed something to get us going.” Bishops junior safety Steven Sumner provided an instant spark out of halftime, intercepting Woodland quarterback Taurean Singletary at midfield on the second play from scrimmage. Four minutes later, Bishops quarterback Leo Albano slammed a 4-yard touchdown run up the middle of the Wolverines defense. Albano then connected with Will Bastian on the two-point conversion to give the Bishops their first lead of the game, 14-13. “Defensively, we made some big plays in the second half that were big momentum swings for us,” Cantey said. “We started to control the ball more on offense and started to wear them down.” Bishop England forced Woodland to punt on its second series. Albano cashed in again, this time on a keeper from 10 yards out that pushed the Bishops ahead 21-13 with less than two minutes left in the third quarter. Terrez Elmore narrowed the gap to 21-19 with a 6-yard touchdown run in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter. Christian Greavu answered for Bishop England just a few plays later, taking an option pitch 59 yards to the end zone to reopen a two-score advantage. The Bishops defense seized control with turnovers on the Wolverines’ next two possessions. First, Bastian recovered a fumble at the Bishops’ 20-yard line. Then, Charlie Michel picked off Singletary at the Woodland 30. Albano ran in a 25-yard score shortly after to lift the Bishops to a 35-19 lead with less than four minutes to play. “Just bad execution,” Woodland coach Tydles Sibert said. “We didn’t play well at all in the second half. We really didn’t play that well in the first half either. Too many drive killers. When you play a good team like Bishop England you have to make sure you execute well.” Albano finished with 166 yards on the ground and passed for another 91, the bulk of it coming on a 74-yard touchdown pass to Greavu midway through the second quarter. Albano was 3-of-11 passing in the first half and only threw the ball twice the rest of the night as the Bishops established an effective ground attack. Bishop England rushed for 115 yards on 18 carries in the first half. The Bishops ran the ball 41 times in the second half, though, piling up 204 more yards on the ground. “We adjusted our formation and loosened up a little bit,” Cantey said of his offense’s halftime adjustments. “We weren’t blocking very well in the first half but we took better care of our assignments later in the game and it opened things up for us a little more.” Bishop England (2-2) hadn’t played in 17 days as its Week 3 rivalry matchup with Porter-Gaud was canceled because of the threat of Hurricane Irma. The Bishops will now pack two games into five days as Academic Magnet (1-2) visits on Friday.

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Bishop England High School Athletics

BISHOP ENGLAND WEARS OUT WOODLAND

FRANKIE MANSFIELD

Moultrie News | 9/18/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Frankie Mansfield