Normally a weather postponement is just a scheduling headache. You regroup, rebook, make the drive again. But sometimes a couple extra days only makes the outcome feel like it was worth the wait.
BHP arrived in Abbeville County on Monday night and was the class of the game from the opening kickoff. Abbeville received the kick and talled five first-half drives. Punt. Turnover. Turnover on downs. Punt. Turnover. Five possessions, 35 total yards, 2.1 yards per play. Two of those drives ended with the ball going the other direction with a Bear player toting the rock. Kamarion Glenn recovered a fumble and returned it 17 yards to the end zone. Sam Lowe caught an interception and ran it back 80 yards for six. Two defensive touchdowns in a single half, which brings the season total to five non-offensive scores in the last eight quarters.
I am running out of superlatives to describe this side of the ball.
But here is what I want to make sure does not get buried: the offense was doing something equally important in that first half, even if it never showed up on the scoreboard the way touchdowns do. BHP had only three drives, gained 141 yards at nearly five yards per play, converted six of eight third downs, and held the ball for more than 17 of the first 24 minutes. Good teams talk about complementary football. This BHP team is actually playing it, and the reason this defense stays dominant is partly because the offense keeps it off the field.
The statement drive came right out of the halftime locker room. BHP took the second-half opening kickoff, started on their own 19-yard line, and marched 81 yards in 13 plays to push the lead to 21, eating nearly six minutes off the clock against a 13-time state champion. Methodical, patient, and physical. That is the most will-imposing offensive possession BHP has had all season, and it came on a Monday night on the road when a lot of teams would have been happy to simply not give anything back.
BHP closed the game the same way. Up 21-0 with 3:20 left, they took possession, converted three first downs, and ran the clock out on their own terms. The final score was never in doubt, and BHP made sure of that themselves.
By the final whistle, Abbeville had 47 total yards on 34 plays, 1.4 yards per play. The Panthers converted 2 of 8 third downs. BHP forced three turnovers, returned two for touchdowns, and recorded the program's 12th shutout in the last 10 years. Previous shutouts came against programs like Pickens, Blue Ridge, Southside, Walhalla, West Oak, and Palmetto. Not one of those came against a team with 13 state championships like this one did.
Now, with a week off, they go for three in a row.
Week 5 Preview
Bear Fans, this one is worth showing up for early. BHP hosts Greenwood this Friday in a matchup that has never been played before. Two programs separated by about 20 miles, both with long and decorated histories, and somehow their paths never crossed until now.
Both teams come in at 2-2. Greenwood opened the season by beating Riverside 33-7, dropped back-to-back games to Spartanburg (21-14) and North Augusta (45-13), then bounced back last week with a 43-40 win over Midland Valley. They can score, and last week showed they can come from behind when they need to.
The tradition here is legitimate. Since 2005, Greenwood has had only one losing regular season, a 4-6 record in 2015, and that kind of consistency does not happen without real players coming through that program. Ben Coates, Josh Norman, Armanti Edwards, Robert Brooks, D.J. Swearinger, Kelcy Quarles, and most recently Tristan Lewis, who is now with the USC Gamecocks. None of them suit up Friday. But the standard they established is still very much alive in that program.
This Greenwood offense runs through two sophomores, and both of them are already a problem. Running back Cassidy Lee is the most physical back BHP has faced this season. He starts with power between the tackles, which gets the first wave of defenders in trouble before he ever gets to his second move. That move is a quick jump cut to create angles, and once he finds open space he has the finishing speed to make it count. Greenwood will run out of different formations and with different personnel groupings around him, tight ends and multiple backs in the mix, and Lee is patient enough to let those blocks develop before he picks his lane.
Quarterback Quay Justesen does not need to carry this offense himself, which is probably what makes him effective. He is one of the faster decision-makers when it comes to getting the ball to receivers on perimeter screens, and he can work both under center and out of the shotgun, which makes it harder for a defense to key on tendencies pre-snap. Between a quarterback who can spread the ball out and a back who demands attention every time the ball is handed to him, BHP's defense is going to have to answer for both in the same game.
Up front, center Hunter Smith and left guard Jayden Cunningham give Greenwood the size to lean and strain and create running lanes that Lee knows how to read. Add in the variety of formations they run and the multiple personnel groupings they use, and this offense is a different kind of problem than anything BHP has faced in the first four weeks.
Defensively, Greenwood plays an odd-numbered front that keeps more linebackers and defensive backs on the field, and those defensive backs are where this unit shines. Sophomore safety Jamere Jackson and sophomore cornerbacks Omar Quarles and Ashton Jenkins are all playing positions that challenge experienced upperclassmen, and these three are excelling at it. All three are disciplined in zone coverage and sharp at reading and jumping routes before they develop. When the front, led by KJ Moton and Jayden Logan, gets pressure on the quarterback and allows those defensive backs to sit back and process, the quarterback tends to force something. And forced throws against this coverage group tend to become turnovers and a short field for Greenwood's offense.
Keys to the game
First, the run game has to show up in a way it has not all season. BHP is averaging 100 rushing yards per game on 3.1 yards per carry, and no individual run has gone for 20 yards or more through four games. Against an odd-numbered front, BHP's line has the mass to move down linemen and get to linebackers at the second level, which is exactly where those chunk runs open up. Rylan Crooks added a running dimension at quarterback last week that this offense had not established before, and Friday, against this front, could be the game where the ground game finally shows what it is capable of. If the Bears can establish something on the ground, the rest of this offense gets a lot harder to defend.
Second, the turnover battle. BHP sits at plus-3 on the season with 9 takeaways against 6 turnovers, and the priority has to be protecting the ball while this defense keeps doing what it has been doing. Greenwood's defensive backs are built to jump routes and manufacture turnovers, and BHP cannot afford to hand the Eagles short fields after all the work this offense has put into controlling possession. On the flip side, this BHP defense has been relentless at taking the ball away, and a Greenwood team that has shown tendencies toward giving it back in losses is exactly the kind of opponent where that needs to continue. The team that wins that exchange Friday controls a lot of what happens in the fourth quarter.
Third, finish it. BHP has outscored opponents 28-10 in first quarters this season. In fourth quarters, they have been outscored 41-7. That is a gap that matters against a team that put up 43 points last week. Keeping the ball, protecting the lead, and keeping this defense as fresh as the offense has been allowing it to be, that is as important as anything BHP does in the opening quarter.
And one more. BHP comes off a bye week, and by Friday night it will have been 21 days since they played a home game. Inseason byes always cut with a double edge. This team can come out rested and sharp, or it can come out flat and spend the first drive trying to find itself. Against a program with Greenwood's history and the players they put on the field, flat is not something BHP can afford.
Nevertheless, BHP has all the ability and firepower to make a statement this Friday against a bigger team. What they did last Monday showed a spark, this can start a raging fire that can last the entire year.
Quick Stats
- BHP has never played Greenwood.
- BHP gave up 47 total yards to Abbeville last week, that is the 5th lowest total since 2013.
- Turnover margin is almost a dividing line between winning and losing. BHP is 29-0 when finishing +2 or better in turnover margin since 2013.
- When BHP gets a defensive "trifecta" (recording an interception, a fumble recovery and at least 3 sacks in the same game) they have done that 11 times — and are 11-0 in those games, winning by an average of about 30.8 points.
- Six of those 11 defensive-trifecta games came in just 2024 and 2025. One of the most extreme was the 2024 Powdersville game: 3 interceptions, a fumble recovery, 7 sacks and 2 defensive touchdowns in a 35-14 win.
- BHP has 10 defensive takeaways through four games, second-most in the comparison set. Only 2019 had more, with 12.
- The Bears have 7 interceptions through four games, also second-most in the defensive-stat comparison. The 2019 team had 8. Those 7 interceptions have been made by six different defenders. Jai Harling is the only player with two; Ty Dubose, Sam Lowe, Christian Brown, Adrian McGlotten and Malachi Bohler each have one.
- T.L. Hanna and Daniel combined for 675 yards against BHP; JL Mann and Abbeville combined for only 297. That's a reduction of 378 yards from the first two games to the next two.
- BHP is 2-2 through four games for the 13th time in program history. Of the previous 12 teams to start 2-2, only three finished with a winning record. The best finish came in 2005, when the Bears rebounded to 7-4 and won a region championship.
- Since 2020, BHP is 3-2 coming off bye weeks.
- Excluding the inaugural 1966 season, BHP is 30-21-1 against first-time opponents.
- BHP is 24-11-1 at home against first-time opponents, a 68.1% winning rate, compared with just 6-10 on the road.
- Since 2010, BHP is 11-4 in first-ever meetings. That’s a 73.3% winning rate.
- The most recent five true first-time opponents produced a 4-1 record: York, Fountain Inn, Southside Christian, Mountain View Prep, and Oceanside Collegiate Academy.
- BHP has held a first-time opponent to 7 points or fewer 20 times, going 16-3-1 in those games.
Wrap Up
It has been three weeks since BHP played a home game. They went to Abbeville, got rained out on Friday, came back Monday, and shut out a 13-time state champion. Now, after an off week, Greenwood comes to the Bear Den for the first time in the history of either program. Bear fans have earned this one. Get there early and bring it loud.
Prediction: BHP 24 - Greenwood 17
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