Oct 30, 2008
HighSchoolOT.com Editor Tim Candon
Regardless of what goes down in the season’s final two weeks, the 2008 football season has been one of the wackiest in recent memory.
I said it earlier in the year, but it bears repeating, this season reminds me of the 2007 college football season, where the No. 2 ranked team in the country changed almost weekly, Appalachian State beat Michigan in the Big House and a two-loss team won the national championship. It was all unfathomable until we witnessed it play out.
A quick recap of the 2008 Triangle football season …
A down the stretch they come
For all the wackiness of the first 10 weeks of the season, the final two offer loads of intrigue.
As many as nine teams have a legitimate chance to stake a claim to a conference title.
WF-R and Leesville could share the Cap 7, assuming WF-R beats Millbrook this week and Leesville beats WF-R on Nov. 7. If the Cougars win out, the league championship is theirs.
Apex and Fuquay-Varina are unbeaten in the Tri-Eight, and the winner of their meeting this week will likely win that league outright.
Assuming West Johnston and Southeast Raleigh win this week (quite likely), then their meeting on Nov. 7 will be for the Greater Neuse conference championship.
And in the PAC 6, Southern, Hillside and Chapel Hill all tied for first place. They’ve all already played each other, so if the logjam is going to sort itself out, one of the teams in the middle of the league will have to spring an upset. It’s doubtful that Southern or Hillside will lose again, while Chapel Hill still has a tough test against Jordan on Nov. 7.
Houston has no problems
Apex quarterback Houston Hawley’s 23-yard, game-winning touchdown pass to Brandon Carr with 11 seconds to play at Cary was a thing of beauty.
The Cougars ran the same play two snaps earlier, and Hawley’s pass went just out of Carr’s grasp. Given the opportunity, both players wanted to run that play again. That they nailed it was impressive, even more so considering the play was designed for tight end Rob Fronk over the middle. But Hawley knew he would hit Carr.
That Hawley bounced back from three interceptions – one which led to a thorough chewing out by Apex coach Bob Wolfe on the sideline – to make that play was equally impressive.
But thing the blew me away talking to Hawley on the field afterwards was how he kept his head on straight.
“I was throwing off my back foot, lofting balls and you just can’t do that,” he said. “The team showed a lot of resiliency. We came together. Even after all those picks. The team backed me up. They wouldn’t let me keep my head down. That’s why we came back and won. Nobody doubted me. I knew I could do it, but I needed their help to get me to realize that everything was going to be fine. We had to come together as a team and it all worked out.”
Stat of the week
Cary’s Bryan Wilson was a special teams menace in the Imps’ 24-17 loss to Apex. In the first half, Wilson recovered two onsides kicks, returned a kickoff 65 yards and jumped on a punt to pin Apex inside its own one-yard line.
Game balls
Week 10 game balls are aplenty.
Kevin Fogg: the Apex running back had 13 carries for 43 yards and a touchdown to go along with eight catches for 102 yards in the Cougars’ 24-17 win over Cary.
Phillip Barren: The Athens Drive receiver caught six passes for 126 yards and two touchdowns, and he had a 15-yard touchdown run in the Jaguars’ 49-25 win over Panther Creek.
Cory Hunter: The Fuquay-Varina running back had 244 yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries in the Bengals’ 46-14 win over Green Hope.
Brexton Young: The Wake Forest-Rolesville running back had 162 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries in the Cougars’ 53-0 win over Sanderson.
Aziel Faison: The Enloe running back had 18 carries for 149 yards and three touchdowns in the Eagles’ 31-21 win over Wakefield.
Zach Gentry: The Leesville Road running back had 110 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries in the Pride’s 24-0 win over Millbrook.
Josh Gorham: The Knightdale running back had 151 yards on 12 carries, plus a 75-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and a successful two-point conversion run in the Knights’ 31-21 win over West Johnston.
Deonte Anderson: The West Johnston wide receiver had nine catches for 189 yards and a touchdown in the Wildcats’ loss to Knightdale.
Dominque Jones: The Southeast Raleigh defensive back’s 76-yard interception return for a touchdown was the game-winning score in the Bulldogs’ 35-34 win.
Andrew Peacock: The Northern Durham quarterback was 13 of 15 from 229 yards and three touchdowns, and he ran 16 times for 135 yards and two TDs in the Knights’ 76-14 win over Riverside.
Corey Gattis: The Hillside quarterback was 11 of 17 for 216 yards and two touchdowns in the Hornets’ 34-31 win over Chapel Hill.
John Haus: The Chapel Hill quarterback was 17 of 30 for 256 yards and two touchdowns in the Tigers’ loss to Hillside.
Apex defense: After allowing 105 yards and 17 points to Cary in the first half, the Cougars held the Imps to 28 yards, no first downs and no points in the second half of their 24-17 win.
Leesville Road defense: The Pride shut out Millbrook and held the Wildcats 186 yards of total offense.
East Wake defense: The Warriors shut out Clayton and held the Comets to 36 yards rushing (on 35 attempts) and 74 yards of total offense in their 12-0 win.
A special game ball
When the conference, regional, and state coaches of the year awards are announced at the end of the season, a lot of deserving coaches are going to get their just recognition.
One person who won’t get much of a sniff for any postseason award is Cary coach Ben Kolstad.
I’m not advocating that he should, but people should be aware of how well he and his staff have done at Cary this fall. They have only 38 kids on the roster, and that number has dipped at times due to injury. Kolstad and his staff are able to pull more out of those 38 kids than some teams with two and a half times as many players
The Imps are 3-6 and they could conceivably miss the playoffs (they have to play Panther Creek and Fuquay-Varina, and it looks like four wins will not get a playoff bid). Cary has lost three games in the fourth quarter this season (the Imps were up one on Sanderson only to lose by 17; they were up 10 on Athens only to lose by 10; and they were up seven on Apex only to lose by seven). Not to discredit those on the team, but you’ve got to imagine that with a few more bodies and fresher legs, that Cary pulls out one, two or maybe even all three of those games.
Team of the week
This week, it’s a no-brainer – come on down Knightdale.
The Knights opened up a 20-6 lead in the first quarter, and unlike the last time they led big early (20-0 at Holly Springs), they didn’t think the game was over.
When West Johnston came back and took a 27-23 lead by the end of the third quarter, the Knights had an answer. Greg Jackson had a 28-yard TD run, and Aaron Smith put the game away with an 85-yard interception return to the end zone.
Just like that, the Greater Neuse championship chase opened up, as did the entire Eastern half of the state.
One more note
There will be no Week 11 notebook next week. I will be in Florida all next week for my brother-in-law’s wedding.
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