Staff report
CATAWBA — Bandys beat South Rowan 71-14 on Friday in the first round of the 4A West playoffs.
It was 14-all at one point, but Bandys scored the game’s last 57 points.
It was the most points the Raiders ever have allowed in a football game. The previous record was 67 against A.L. Brown and Northwest Cabarrus. South has scored as many as 76 in a game (against Statesville).
The second half was played with a running clock, but it was entertaining right down to the end, at least for Bandys fans, who watched their heroes score 10 touchdowns. Bandys scored on a 2-point conversion for 64 and broke 70 with about a minute left.
“Bandys throws it about as well as I’ve seen anyone throw it,” South head coach Chris Walsh said. “They’re going to be a handful in the 4A bracket.”
For South Rowan fans who made the trip, there was an hour’s worth of excitement packed into the first seven minutes, but it went downhill from there.
Tanner Stewart scored five touchdowns for 10th-seeded Bandys (6-5). Brady Swett threw four TD passes.
Stewart started the scoring with a rushing TD three minutes into the game.
Seeded 23rd, South moved the ball into Carlos Landaverde’s field-goal range, but the snap came back low to holder Landon Deal. Deal couldn’t get the ball down cleanly, so he took off, avoided several tacklers as he sprinted to his left, then circled back to his right. Then he threw a TD pass to a wide-open Trystin Chadwick.
Landaverde’s PAT made it 7-7.
“Just a great play by Deal there on a broken field goal, and we get seven instead of three,” Walsh said.
The euphoria for the visitors lasted only a few seconds before Stewart returned South’s kickoff for a touchdown.
No problem. Dacorian Pharr answered, returning the Bandys kickoff for an 85-yard Raider touchdown. Landaverde added the point, and it was 14-all with five minutes left in the first quarter.
Stewart scored again for 21-14. Then South lost fumbles on consecutive offensive possessions, Bandys capitalized on two short fields, and it was 35-14 at the end of a wild quarter.
The second quarter was all Bandys. Two Swett TD passes and another Stewart TD, and it was 56-14 at the half. That meant a running clock for the entire second half.
South didn’t have anything to lose with a 42-point deficit, went for it on fourth down at the South 38, didn’t make it, and gave Bandys another short field. The Trojans hadn’t lost their zeal to score, and this time they put up an eight by adding a 2-point conversion to the touchdown.
Then the home team’s reserves tacked on one more TD at the end.
Walsh always sees the glass as half full. South (3-8) dropped its last eight games, but at least the Raiders were in the playoffs and he found some positives.
“A lot of our young guys got valuable playoff experience tonight,” he said. “I was proud of the fight.”
Bandys will play next at Stuart Cramer (8-2), the 7 seed.
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