Berwick improves to 2-0 with 35-14 victory against Abbeville

Berwick High School broke a 14-all tie with 21 second-half points en route to a 35-14 victory against Abbeville Friday in Berwick.
The Panthers, who improved to 2-0, took the lead for good on its opening drive of the third quarter when quarterback Mitchell Sanford connected with wide receiver Kenan Jones for a 13-yard reception. Sanford bought himself time while surrounded by Abbeville defenders and completed the two-point conversion pass to Tysin Meads for a 22-14 Berwick advantage with 8:43 remaining in the third quarter.
Berwick added another third-quarter touchdown with 19 seconds remaining when Collin Louviere connected with receiver Josh Carver for a 30-yard touchdown pass. John McCorkle’s extra point was good for a 28-14 Berwick lead.
While Louviere completed just 2 of 7 passes for 33 yards with an interception, both of his completions were touchdowns, the 30-yard strike to Carver with seconds remaining in the third quarter and then the Panthers’ final score of the night on a three-yard pass to Carver on fourth-and-goal. The extra point failed with 52 seconds remaining in the game for the final margin.
The final touchdown was set up by a Barret Hover interception of Abbeville quarterback Demarcus Collins at the Abbeville 48.
Carver had a huge night for the Panthers as he caught four passes for 127 yards and four touchdowns. Sanford completed 6 of 16 pass attempts for 173 yards and three touchdowns.
Defensively, Berwick held Abbeville scoreless in the second half and to less than 80 yards of offense — all rushing. Abbeville had totaled 171 yards of offense in the first half.
“We had some mistakes early on, and we had to make some adjustments at halftime but we did,” Berwick Coach Eric Holden said.
He said Berwick had to make some personnel changes, too, and once they did, they were successful at stopping Abbeville.
Holden credited his assistant coaches with the success his defense had in the second half.
“Coach (Brandon) Bravada did a great job just seeing some things we could do differently,” he said. “Coach (Kenny) Williams also did a great job. We came together like a small little think tank at halftime, and we figured it out at halftime, and we came out here and we got it done.”
Abbeville had five fumbles in the second half, losing two, along with Hover’s interception.
Abbeville interim head coach Kevin Kern agreed that Berwick had a few more plays and a few less mistakes than Abbeville.
“We shot ourselves in the foot too many times, and we didn’t make plays when we had a chance to,” he said. “We had a few (chances) at picks and we didn’t capitalize on it.”
Offensively, Kern said Abbeville would move the ball and then hurt themselves with penalties.
He said once they get the minor miscues out of the way, he thinks they will be OK.
Berwick had 293 yards of offense Friday (203 passing and 90 rushing), while Abbeville had 243 yards of offense (237 rushing and six passing)
Prior to Friday’s game, Berwick honored Gary Adkins, Abbeville’s coach who passed away Sept. 3.
In addition to reading a list of his accomplishments, Adkins was honored by the school’s cheerleaders, Top Cats and the school’s Sound of Pride. The three groups wore burgundy ribbons, symbolic of the fight against throat cancer.
“That was very nice of Berwick,” Kern said. “I really appreciated that.”
Abbeville scored the game’s first touchdown as Collins concluded a 10-play, 53-yard drive with a three-yard run with 1:19 remaining in the first quarter. The point-after attempt failed for a 6-0 Abbeville advantage.
Berwick responded in the second quarter with a two-play 58-yard drive through the air.
With the ball at its own 42, Sanford connected with Jones for a 24-yard reception and a first down at the Abbeville 34.
On the next play, Sanford hooked up with Carver, who caught the ball and took it into the end zone for an easy touchdown with 8:42 remaining in the opening quarter. Berwick’s extra point failed, leaving the game tied at 6.
The touchdown drive was one of several big-play strikes by the Panthers during the contest.
Abbeville retook the lead again late in the second quarter after a drive set up by a Sanford fumble when the ball slipped out of his hands on a drive deep in Abbeville territory.
Abbeville recovered the ball at its 14 and eventually turned it into points, driving 86 yards in 13 plays.
Twelve of the plays were runs before Collins connected with tight end Allen Arclies on a 6-yard pass on the final play of the drive for a touchdown. Braeden Williams’ two-point run was good for a 14-6 Abbeville lead with 21 seconds remaining in the half.
After a short kick was recovered by Berwick at its 40 by Cooper Roussel with 15 seconds left, the Panthers again turned to its big-play arsenal with another two-play drive, this one covering 60 yards.
Following a Sanford incompletion on first down, the sophomore connected with Carver on a pass that the standout wide receiver took the rest of the way through the Abbeville defense, slipping past defenders en route to a touchdown with no time left on the clock.
While Louviere’s two-point run was good, the play was negated via a holding call and the ball moved back 10 yards.
On the second attempt at a two-point conversion, Berwick again was successful on the attempt as he connected with Jones to tie the game at 14.
Berwick will try to improve to 3-0 when it hosts Varnado Friday in a 7 p.m. contest.
Asked what wins do for his team’s confidence, Holden said, “I try to keep ’em well-grounded. Every victory is just a victory and that’s one game. We’re taking one game at a time, one rep at a time, one play at a time, and that’s our motto: Give me one great rep.
“Give me one great play and we’ll attack that next play the same way: one great rep, one great play and that’s the same way we’re approaching games: Let’s play one great game. Let’s not worry about who we played before. Let’s not worry about who we play after.”

BHS AHS
First Downs: 13 14
Rushing yards: 90 237
Passing Yards: 203 6
A-C-HI: 23-8-1 7-1-1
Total Yards: 293 243
Penalties-yds: 3-25 3-20
Fumbles-lost: 2-1 7-2

Score by Quarter
Abbeville: 6 8 0 0 — 14
Berwick: 0 14 15 6 — 35

Scoring Summary
First Quarter
Abbeville: Demarcus Collins 3-yard run. (Kick failed) 1:19

Second Quarter
Berwick: Mitchell Sanford 34-yard pass to Josh Carver (Kick failed) 8:42
Abbeville: Collins 6-yard pass to Allen Arclies. (Braeden Williams run) 0:21
Berwick: Sanford 60-yd. pass to Carver. (Collin Louviere pass to Kenan Jones) 0:00

Third Quarter
Berwick: Sanford 13-yard pass to Jones (Sanford pass to Tysin Meads) 8:42
Berwick: Louviere 30-yard pass to Carver (John McCorkle kick) 0:19

Fourth Quarter
Berwick: Louviere 3-yard pass to Carver (Kick failed) 0:52

Berwick Individual Stats
Rushing
Josh Jones 13-68, Collin Louviere 7-26, Kenan Jones 2-15, Josh Carver 2-6, Toby Everage 1-(-2), Team 1- (-11), Mitchell Sanford 3- (-12)

Passing
Mitchell Sanford 6-16-0, 173 yds., 3 TDs; Collin Louviere 2-7-1, 33 yds., 2 TDs

Receiving
Josh Carver 4-127, 4 TDs; Kenan Jones, 3-48, 1 TD; Cody Roberie, 1-28