Blackman maintains focus, whips Hendersonville in first round

The Blackman football team hasn't had a lack of focus lately.

The Blaze didn’t let its season-opening thumping of Hendersonville affect its focus Friday night in the first round of the 6A playoffs.

The No. 10-ranked Blaze bottled up Hendersonville all night and rolled to a 38-7 victory over the Commandos.

Connor Mitchell led the offense with three rushing touchdowns on a slippery field.

“We were concerned about having a letdown, but I thought our kids really responded,” Watson said. “I thought we really played physical, and we seemed to block really well. (Hendersonville is) a good offensive football team, and last time they threw the ball on us and moved the ball a lot. Tonight, our defense played tremendous and stepped up to limit them.”

Now, Coach David Watson's team can focus its attention to a rematch with rival Oakland.

Blackman (9-2) will travel to Oakland (11-0) in the second round in what is the second straight rematch for the Blaze. Blackman won its previous meeting with Hendersonville 63-28.

The Blaze got on the board first with a 37-yard field goal by Thomas Burks, and went ahead 10-0 late in the first quarter when Jordan Brown ran for a 4-yard touchdown.

But the Commandos (6-5) momentarily turned the tide on the ensuing possession, as Anthony Hughes took a fake punt for a 76-yard score to trim the deficit to 10-7 early in the second.

“I thought at that time of the game, we were about to take control of it,” Watson said. “For them to go for it there and get it, it kept them in the game. We were able to weather the storm and get some more stops.”

Mitchell turned the tide back in Blackman’s favor when he broke several tackles on a 44-yard touchdown run. After Ibrahim Qadir picked off a Brett Coker pass, Mitchell scored from 11 yards out to make it 24-7 at the break.

“That gave us some breathing room getting the turnover at midfield, and then being able to take it in and score,” Watson said.

Mitchell – who finished with 18 carries for 155 yards – tacked on a 31-yard touchdown early in the fourth. Luke Hayes capped the scoring with an 18-yard run late.

Brown added 17 carries for 78 yards for Blackman.

Hughes – who was injured during the teams’ season-opening matchup – ran 16 times for 127 yards to lead the Commandos offensively. Other than Hayes’ scoring run, Blackman gave up just 126 yards of offense.