SCPrepTalk

Where to start.........first off, what a beautiful place to watch a football game. Great environment and top notch facilities. Not hard to find, get in and out of, and best of all, easy parking for the visitors. Second.......whew, what a well coached team North Augusta is. Fundamentally sound, no mistakes, and they play hard and fast.

After a scoreless 1st quarter, NA kicked a FG on the first play of the second quarter and followed that up with a late TD drive before missing the PAT for a 9 nothing lead at the half. I felt like Beaufort was outplayed by a lot more than that, and that we were fortunate to only be down by 9.

We got the ball to start the 2nd half, and on the first play, Sr. RB Eric Blakely broke a big run. He was finally run down inside the NA 20 yard line. The Jackets forced a Brady Cormier FG and NA was up just 9-3. Game on........or so I thought. NA came right back with a huge run that lead to another TD, this time the PAT was good, and the Jackets led 16-3. After our QB threw an interception inside of our 40 yard line, the Jackets promptly converted the misque into 7 points and led 23-3 heading to the 4th stanza.

Beaufort was unable to sustain any offense in the second half after Blakely went down with what appeared to be an ankle injury. NA went on a time consuming drive that culminated with an errant pass, picked off by a Beaufort LB, and returned 99 yards for an Eagle TD. The PAT was good, and the score was 23-10. That is the way that it finished with little meaningful action during those last 4 or 5 minutes of play.

My congratulations go out to the North Augusta Yellow Jackets, and I wish them well the rest of the way.

As for Beaufort, it's the end of the road for this season, and for AAAA for the immediate future. Beaufort High will return to the AAA ranks next season and compete with schools of much the same size. This year was, in my opinion, one of head coach Mark Clifford's best coaching jobs. He did much more than anyone expected, and turned a very inexperienced bunch into a group of real believers. My hat is off to Coach Clifford and his entire staff for a job well done. I know that the direction of this program is looking brighter every day, and a meaningful tradition is being built. Thanks for another fantastic season of Eagles football, and I will see you again next year.

Congrats to North Augusta on the win over My Beaufort Eagles. It was a very hard fought game. The Yellow Jackets have a good team with some good athletes. I really enjoyed my time in North Augusta except seeing My Eagles lose of course. . I really loved North Augusta's Football Stadium and their Video Board.

It was cool seeing the Motorcycles circle the stadium in the pre-game festivities. I thought that Beaufort played the Yellow Jackets pretty tough. It really hurt Beaufort when star RB Eric Blakely got hurt. But North Augusta has a good team. The Yellow Jackets QB, WR'S and Their RB are good athletes.

I wish North Augusta the best of luck in the rest of the playoffs. I would love to play them again some time. But it will probably be awhile as My Beaufort Eagles are dropping to 3A next season. Beaufort finishes up the season with a record of 9-4. It was a good year by My Eagles. I had fun this season. Hardly anyone thought that Beaufort would finish with a good record or make the 2nd rd of the playoffs. Great Job Beaufort!!!!

GO BEAUFORT EAGLES!!!!

Glad you guys came down and had a good time (other than the score of course). Game went down like I thought...everyone was thinking NA would roll and I didn't think it was the case...you guys run the football so much even when you don't score you take 4-5 minutes off the clock. That limits possessions...NA will need to play the same type of game this week @NW if we want to make a game of it late. If we try and run up and down the field we will get blown out...but hey I'm not a coach so I might be surprised...