WHAT WE SAW: Oceanside Collegiate 28, Carolina Forest 24

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>CHARLESTON | The Carolina Forest defense had Oceanside Collegiate figured out in a big way.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>By that, the Panthers had figured out how to stop [player_tooltip player_id='89344' first='Vaughn' last='Blue'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Or so they thought.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After slowing down the Landshark senior tailback for most of the second half by changing fronts, Blue took a late carry, broke a tackle, bounced it outside and made it to the end zone in what ended up being the deciding score in a 28-24 win over Carolina Forest at The Citadel.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It was everything that the rest of his carries from halftime on weren't.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“We had a rough quarter, quarter and a half. But you can't count us out,” Blue said. “If you give us anything, we'll run with it. We have a lot of special players, a lot of talent on this team.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blue (pictured) finished the game with 17 rushes for 134 yards and two touchdowns, including his 26-yard scamper with 2:21 to play. Considering that his first six carries of the second half went for all of 16 yards, and he clearly needed the breakout play in more ways than one.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As it turns out, the stall out made a little more sense.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>First-year Oceanside coach Chad Wilkes said Blue didn't practice Wednesday or Thursday after spraining his ankle and the team didn't think the UNC-Charlotte commitment would be available to play Friday's game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“He was hurt, hurt bad,” Wilkes said. “You wouldn't know it by looking at him.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Certainly not with his final carry of the game, but also not during the opening two quarters.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It was then that Blue ripped off 10 carries for 92 yards and a touchdown against a solid Carolina Forest defense.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>OTHER OCEANSIDE STANDOUTS</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Quarterback <strong>Edward Reidenbach</strong> is clearly still learning his way around some of the passing routes, but the senior completing 5-of-10 passes 100 yards through the air was gravy considering how much of a wrinkle he can be in the read-option or short-distance running game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Reidenbach matched Blue's two touchdowns with a pair of one-yard scores in a modified wildcat package and rushed for 37 yards total on nine carries.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Senior receiver <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='91359' first='Cole' last='Strickler']</strong> only had one reception, but that 49-yarder less than 4 minutes into the game stretched the Carolina Forest defense and set up Blue's first touchdown run of the game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Defensive linemen [player_tooltip player_id='139300' first='Ben' last='Britton'] and Timmy Castain are absolute forces. While Castain chewed up double coverages and prevented Panthers starting running back [player_tooltip player_id='267465' first='Kalil' last='Johnson'] from ever getting going, Britton bounced around the line and put up four tackles for loss.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>CAROLINA FOREST STANDOUTS</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='202739' first='Scott' last='Saylor'] bounced back from his poor showing against Summerville a week ago to throw for 293 yards and two touchdowns on 23-of-32 passing. He also rushed 10 times for 97 yards and a score. That gives him seven combined touchdowns on the year, all of which came in games one and three. He's also just shy of 600 passing yards and north of 200 rushing yards already through three contests.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Senior receiver <strong>Nathan Schuessler</strong> is quickly developing into the team's deep threat. Against Oceanside, he caught eight passes for 131 yards. He had a 38-yard, a 32-yarder and nearly added another home run ball to his evening before the ball drifted just out of his reach on a nice attempt on an over-the-shoulder pass.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Fellow receiver <strong>Anthony Aponte</strong> (five receptions, 56 yards, touchdown), <strong>Finnian Mahood</strong> (three, 39), <strong>Alec Youngblood</strong> (two, 33) and <strong>Owen Hall</strong> (three, 30, touchdown) also showed just how much this offense will be spreading it around the rest of the way. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->