What We Saw: Barnwell 22, Blackville-Hilda 6

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>BARNWELL |</strong> Sophomore <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1819832' first='Jayden' last='Peeples']</strong> used Barnwell's season-opening 22-6 victory over Blackville-Hilda as a coming out party for the War Horses. Peeples played both ways and made an impact on both sides of the ball. He ran for 96 yards and two touchdowns and added several big-time hits on defense to make an opening game statement.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Peeples (pictured) feels like he did what was expected. The War Horses reached the Class 2A title game last season but knew they would have a new look in 2025 after losing several starters from that team.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“Teams and people have been doubting us, and we just came out here and handled our business,” Peeples said. “We knew our offensive line was going to do their job and we just had to do our thing behind them.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Barnwell took an 8-0 lead at the half when Peeples scored from nine yards out with 4:39 remaining in the half. Peeples set up the scoring drive by intercepting a pass deep in the end zone and returning it out to his own 42-yard line.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>But Peeples wasn't the only one to shine. Barnwell had to replace All-State performer Cameron Austin at quarterback and&nbsp;<strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1819829' first='Vincent' last='Gibson']</strong>&nbsp;more than held his own. The junior ran behind a dominant offensive line for 48 yards and a touchdown on seven carries while completing 5-of-6 passes for 40 yards.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gibson ran for a lot of his yards on a simple quarterback sneak. Barnwell uses a wishbone and wants to be physical and when the front that includes junior&nbsp;<strong>Brandon Beasley,</strong>&nbsp;senior&nbsp;<strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1819824' first='Jackson' last='Bedingfield']</strong>, junior&nbsp;<strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1816133' first='Carl' last='Hines'],&nbsp;</strong>junior&nbsp;<strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1816691' first='Traven' last='Wilson']</strong>&nbsp;and senior&nbsp;<strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1822356' first='Emmanuel' last='Greene']</strong>&nbsp;pushed the pile, Gibson just slipped in behind them for easy yardage</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After getting a fourth down stop inside the red zone, Barnwell went 88 yards in seven plays to increase the lead to 16-0 after Gibson's 7-yard TD run late in the third quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1817436' first='Nehemiah' last='Brown']</strong>&nbsp;rounded out the running trio with 64 yards on 10 carries.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“I thought we controlled the ball game up front and that was our goal,” Barnwell coach Brian Smith said. “Not a lot of people see the wishbone and we're going to be a physical bunch.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The War Horses salted things away on their next possession, going 77 yards in nine plays that was capped by Peeples' 10-yard scoring run with 6:53 remaining.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Junior&nbsp;<strong>Damahjai Devoe</strong>&nbsp;caught four passes for 33 yards but he made a bigger impact on the defensive side of things where the War Horses limited the Hawks to 139 yards of total offense and just 105 yards on the ground. Devoe was quick to provide run support from his safety spot and when he did, he usually arrived by laying the wood on someone.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Junior linebacker&nbsp;<strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1819827' first='Henri' last='Creech']</strong>&nbsp;was as active in the Blackville-Hilda offensive backfield as he was making sure everyone was lined up properly. Senior linebacker&nbsp;<strong>Kalvin Peeples</strong>&nbsp;also played well, making several big hits at or near the line of scrimmage.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“I hate that we gave up the late score, but we've been playing really well on defense and that's something we have to maintain every week,” Smith said.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blackville-Hilda avoided the shutout when&nbsp;<strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1758746' first='Jayden' last='Jackson']</strong>&nbsp;scored from two yards out with 43 seconds remaining.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Hawks had a lot of guys going both ways, but junior&nbsp;<strong>Terrion Johnson</strong>&nbsp;and senior&nbsp;<strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1003565' first='Jayden' last='Dash']&nbsp;</strong>played well on both lines of scrimmage. Blackville-Hilda only had 27 players dressed out.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sophomore&nbsp;<strong>Trevor Kinard</strong>&nbsp;led the charge with 54 yards rushing and 34 yards passing despite taking several big hits.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>&nbsp;<strong>OTHER NOTABLES</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blackville-Hilda linebacker&nbsp;<strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1395064' first='Messiah' last='McFadden']</strong>&nbsp;recovered a fumble and played well from his linebacker spot.&nbsp;<strong>Isaac Kem</strong>&nbsp;also provided leadership from his linebacker spot for the Hawks.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->