Blythewood -- Rather than take a 28-28 football game against Blythewood High School
into overtime, Goose Creek quarterback Kymani Clary and running back Meliq McGowan
charged the Gators with passes and runs.
The duo moved the team 84 yards in 12 quick plays in the final two minutes of regulation.
When they had the team at the Bengals’ 12-yard line, placekicker Owen Freres came on to the
field for a 29-yard field goal attempt with four seconds left. Freres drilled it high and between the
uprights with no time remaining, and Goose Creek walked off with its first non-region victory
since 2021.
“Unbelievable job by our kids,” Gators head coach Jason Winstead said. “We had a tough
start to the season and to see us do that and our kicker Owen Freres do that, unbelievable. What
a game. High school football is great.”
Clary passed for 349 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions on the night.
McGowan’s 143 yards on 28 carries kept the Gators going.
Army commitment Davion Malloy was Clary’s biggest target, pulling down 10 catches
for 182 yards and a score.
The Goose Creek defense had some trouble with Blythewood’s no-huddle offense, but the
Bengals largely beat themselves. Quarterback Harrison Collins threw two interceptions, including
a Pick-6, and the Bengals offense saw back-to-back drives die out deep into Goose Creek
territory in the second half.
“Some of it is mentality, and some of it is in execution,” Blythewood head coach James
Martin said. “When we execute the way we want to, we’re hard to beat. We didn’t execute in
the first half, and in the second half we stalled two times in the red zone, because when
you’re down 14 points at that point, you just can’t kick a field goal.”
Collins finished the night going 18-for-32 with three touchdowns along with those
interceptions, passing for 242 yards. Five Blythewood rushers totaled 101 net yards on the
ground. Blythewood, which fell to 2-3 on the season, got the game going when Aiden Winder
returned a Goose Creek punt 41 yards, and the Gators (1-3) took a personal foul penalty on
the play. That set the Bengals up at the Goose Creek 14-yard line. Three plays later, Zahir Jones
rumbled in from 10 yards out for the first score.
Goose Creek got on the scoreboard with Clary’s 19-yard TD pass to Ashton Drayton late
in the first quarter.
Collins found Tyler Kahle for a 12-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter, but Goose
Creek scored twice to take a 20-14 lead into halftime.
To make matters worse for Blythewood, Jordan Turner intercepted Collins on the first play from
scrimmage of the third quarter and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown. After Clary’s pass to
Drayton for the 2-point conversion Goose Creek held a comfortable 28-14 lead on the Bengals.
To make matters that much worse for Blythewood, its next two drives died out inside the Gators’ 10-yard
line, leaving the Bengals scoreless in the third quarter.
Collins, who by then had two interceptions and no touchdown passes since the first minute of the
second quarter, caught fire in the fourth quarter.
The 6-foot-4-inch senior marched the no-huddle Bengals offense down the field in an 11-play,
75-yard drive early in the final quarter. Collins capped it with a 26-yard TD pass to Trent Lewis with 8:25
to go. Blythewood missed the extra point and the Gators led 28-20.
After the Blythewood defense forced Goose Creek to punt at midfield, Collins took over at the
Bengals’ 16-yard line and moved them the length of the field in six quick plays and four first downs.
On fourth down and four yards to go at the Goose Creek 18, Collins found Kaleb Kelly wide open in
the right corner of the end zone for a touchdown with 2:06 left. Kelly then tied the game at 28 on a reverse
run to the left side of the end zone for the 2-point conversion.
With momentum on its side, Blythewood kicked off to Goose Creek and managed to pin the Gators
back at their 4-yard line after a block-in-the-back penalty.
Instead of settling the score in overtime, the Gators got fired up with Clary passes and McGowan
runs that set up Freres’ game-winning shot.
“I got the flag just to make sure it was longer,” Winstead laughed. “We had a little meltdown there
at the end of the game with some coverages. They (the Bengals) were going fast and had momentum,
but man our kids kept fighting. I couldn’t be more proud.”
Blythewood is off next week and opens Region 3-AAAAA play at Fort Mill on September 29. Goose
Creek travels to Summerville on Friday.
Goose Creek 6 14 8 3 – 31
Blythewood 7 7 0 14 – 28
First Quarter
B – Zahir Jones 10 run (Kyle Whisenant kick) 8:30
G – Ashton Drayton 19 pass from Kymani Clary (kick failed) 2:34
Second Quarter
B – Tyler Kahle 12 pass from Harrison Collins (Whisenant kick) 11:07
G – Jehoava Williams 3 run (pass failed) 8:50
G – Davion Malloy 39 pass from Clary (Clary run) 3:41
Third Quarter
G – Jordan Turner 21 interception return (Drayton pass from Clary) 11:43
Fourth Quarter
B – Trent Lewis 26 pass from Collins (kick failed) 8:25
B – Kaleb Kelly 18 pass from Collins (Kelly run) 2:06
G – Owen Freres 29 field goal :00
GCHS BHS
First downs 22 23
Rushes-Yards 41-150 34-101
Passing yards 349 242
Att-Com-Int 27-19-0 32-18-2
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 8-74 3-30
Punts-Avg 6-31.8 3-36.7
INDIVIDUAL
RUSHING
G-Meliq McGowan 28-143, Ashton Drayton 3-9, Evan Daniels 1-2, Jehoava Williams 1-3,
Kymani Clary 7-(-7). B-Desmond Macklin 14-41, Zahir Jones 12-54, Harrison Collins 6-(-4),
Kaleb Kelly 1-10, Mitchell Hepler 1-5.
PASSING
G-Kymani Clary 19-27-0. B-Harrison Collins 18-32-2.
RECEIVING
G-Davion Malloy 10-182, Meliq McGowan 3-58, Ashton Drayton 2-20, Jaylin Grant 2-60, Evan
Daniels 1-28, Team 1-1. B-Tyler Kahle 4-59, Trent Lewis 7-91, Kanye Reed 2-21, Mitchell
Hepler 1-14, Kaleb Kelly 3-41, Desmond Macklin 1-16.
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