By Cole Little
Courier Sports

news@thepccourier.com

PICKENS — Taking to the gridiron in front of a faithful home crowd at Bill Isaacs Field for the final time this year, the Pickens Blue Flame could not live up to the excitement surrounding Senior Day on Friday night.

Bringing an inglorious end to the 2017 home slate for Pickens, the Belton-Honea Path Bears shut out the Blue Flame 31-0.

Despite a solid performance on the ground with 164 rushing yards, the Blue Flame were unable to string together any successful drives, failing to reach the red zone all night in the shutout. However, Pickens was the aggressor at the start, producing a seven-minute drive to begin the game that saw the Blue Flame advance as far as the BHP 23-yard line before a sack of quarterback Cole Beatty led to a punt.

That offensive success did not hold up, though, as the Blue Flame did not experience another drive of more than 20 yards until late in the third quarter.

The Pickens defense was a different story in the first half, however, limiting the BHP offensive juggernaut to just 10 points.

“I thought we did well,” Pickens head coach Chad Smith said after the game. “BHP is a great football team. We just didn’t have enough pop at the point of attack.”

Both teams embraced the run game on the evening, with BHP, one of the top-ranked teams in

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