BAMBERG - Backed up at his own 15 with timing running out in the first half, Bamberg-Ehrhardt head coach Kevin Crosby was content taking a 7-point lead into the lockerroom against Ashley Ridge.

As he witnessed junior running back Demetrius Williams take the handoff and rush to the outside, the Red Raider coaching staff became even more animated on the Leon Maxwell Stadium sidelines.

“Actually, we were on the sidelines yelling ‘Get out of bounds! Get out of bounds!’ to stop the clock,” Crosby said.

Fortunately for B-E, Williams had one idea in mind as he dashed, cut and juked his way past the Swamp Fox defense into the open field. After a quick stutter-step near the 30-yard-line helped shake away sophomore linebacker Otis Neals, Williams completed his 85-yard touchdown run without a Swamp Fox in pursuit.

The run highlighted a career night for Williams as his four touchdowns led the Red Raiders to a 40-21 victory. Williams finished with 284 yards on 18 carries and his three, 1-yard touchdown runs were set up by scampers of 73, 8 and 43 yards to go with his electrifying 85-yard score.

“When he’s on the field, he has great vision and once he gets going, he gets going,” Crosby said. “He gets in one of those modes and gets going.”

“I just work hard in the weight room and practice hard,” said Williams, who’s rushed for 407 yards in his first two games. “I practice like I play and everything falls into place on Friday nights.”

Not to be outdone was B-E backfield mate O’Keefe Jones who rushed for 107 yards on 14 carries, including a 54-yard touchdown to open the scoring.

Meanwhile, a week after posting a career-best 197 yards, Ashley Ridge freshman Romelo Doctor was held to 68 yards on 16 carries against a B-E defense missing University of Kentucky commitment Justin Henderson. The senior defensive lineman was serving a one-game suspension for team rules violations.

Ashley Ridge quarterback Cameron Cox led the team with 85 rushing yards and two touchdowns to go with 214 yards on 14 of 23 passing and one TD. Afterwards, head coach Doc Davis commended the Red Raiders’ play.

“You can’t coach speed and it’s the great equalizer,” he said. “With all things equal, the fast team wins and they’re extremely fast and I thought they did a good job.”

The first quarter looked like a flashback to last week’s win over Edisto as B-E jumped out to a 14-0 advantage. This time, it was Jones who gave the Red Raiders a quick advantage by scampering down the left sidelines for a 54-yard touchdown on the third play of the game.

After a potential scoring drive for Ashley Ridge (0-2) ended with an incompletion on fourth down, Demetrius Williams took the first-down handoff and broke past the Swamp Fox defensive line into a secondary for a 73-yard run.

A hustling Ashley Ridge defender temporarily kept Williams from the end zone by tackling him at the 1. Williams would not be denied as he scored on the next play with 5:44 remaining in the first quarter.

“I knew it was going to be a big night,” Williams said. “After I got that run, I just made up my mind that I was going to work hard and play ball for my team.”

Ashley Ridge answered with two scoring drives of its own to tie the game at 14-14 in the second quarter. Cox capped a 14-play, 80-yard scoring drive by hitting Nick Webb in the end zone from 17 yards on fourth down.

A fumble on B-E’s next series was recovered by the Swamp Foxes at the Red Raider 30. Within six plays, the game was tied with 7:19 remaining on Cox’s 3-yard run and PAT.

B-E (2-0) responded with a long scoring drive of its own, going 70 yards on 11 plays. Like Ashley Ridge, quarterback Random Sandifer converted a key fourth down with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Carl Anthony Williams.

Ashley Ridge had to punt the football back to B-E’s 15 with less than a minute remaining, setting up Williams’ touchdown run before halftime.

“That killed us,” Davis said. “If we go in 21-14 with some momentum, but all of the sudden, they score and basically running the clock out. It’s third down, we’re getting ready to call a timeout and force them to punt and he breaks it for (85) yards. Yeah, that was a back breaker.”

The second half opened with a Cox fumble recovered by B-E at its own 26. The Red Raiders ran the football mostly with Williams who scored from a yard out to make it 34-14.

A 14-yard touchdown run by Cox with 7:25 left in the fourth quarter cut the lead to 34-21. It took only 78 seconds for Williams to give B-E insurance as he broke free again for a 42-yard run to set up his fourth TD and third from the 1-yard-line.

B-E will have a bye week before returning to action Sept. 11 at Barnwell.

T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at tgrant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5547. Discuss this and other stories on-line at TheTandD.com.

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