Nov 3, 2008
HighSchoolOT.com Editor Tim Candon
DESTIN, Fla. — At a stop on the Tim Candon Career Express, I once called a friend to ask if he was available to freelance a story for me on a Saturday afternoon.
He thought for a moment about if he could fit the assignment into his schedule, and after a few seconds of silence, he said he’d be happy to help.
When I asked if he had anything else going on that day, he said he had his graduate school graduation that morning and a barbecue at his grandmother’s house that afternoon.
I told him to blow off my assignment, have a wonderful Saturday with his family and I’d get someone else to cover the game.
“No way," he said. "I’ll fit it in. This is playoff time. You know how it is. Once it’s in your blood …”
If I haven’t lost you yet, there’s a point to this little story. I had no intention of writing anything this week, checking my e-mail or even looking at HighSchoolOT.com. I’m off for the week on the Gulf Coast (or as another friend reminded me before I left, the Best Coast) for my brother-in-law’s wedding later this week.
But after what happened on the gridiron on Friday night, and after what transpired on the NCHSAA’s unofficial Championship Saturday, I couldn’t NOT write anything this week.
This is playoff time. You know how it is. Once it’s in your blood …
(On top of that, I get to file something with a dateline not just outside the Triangle, not just outside the North Carolina but outside the Eastern time zone. That’s alone makes it worth writing something).
The sound of silence
There’s nothing quite like being a part of an electric crowd at a sporting event. That energy helps push a special game or series into a surreal stratosphere (the crowds during Wakefield’s 2006 state basketball championship run remain just as vivid in my mind as the Wolverines’ games).
If a crowd can elevate an event to higher level in a good way with its vociferous support, it can do the same in negative way by doing nothing at all. If the best sound to come out of a crowd is a roar that rips through every corner of an arena, the worst noise one can make is absolutely none at all.
Just before halftime at Millbrook, Wildcats linebacker Justus Hoffman intercepted a pass near the Millbrook 10-yard line and went charging up the field. Behind the play, Millbrook defensive back Malik Fair and WF-R wide receiver Torrey White collided.
I suspected/feared it was bad immediately because WF-R coach Earl Smith, Millbrook coach Clarence Inscore and both teams’ athletic trainers raced onto the field within seconds of the play’s conclusion. After a few minutes, Fair got up and hobbled off the field, but White lay motionless.
“It was tough; it was tough for me to go out there,” Smith said later. “When I got out there, he was out.”
I saw a picture of the play (nice work Ray Black III) and Fair’s knee looked to drive right into the ear hole of White’s helmet. As team and medical personnel tended to White, the sound of sirens off in the distance kept getting closer.
And the crowd went silent, so silent that if you closed your eyes you wouldn’t have known there were actually a couple thousand people in the immediate vicinity. It made the scene all the more gut-twisting.
The news that White had a concussion came as no surprise, but that it was nothing worse was the best news of all. Injuries are an unfortunate part of sports, and I’ve witnessed nasty ankle sprains, a few ACL tears and a handful of concussions, but I cannot recall a scene like that at Millbrook on Friday night.
Championship week, part I
In this wacky season, it’s only fitting that none of the area’s four conferences have a clear champion as we head into the final week of the regular season.
The Southeast Raleigh-West Johnston showdown this week figured to be a must-see game all season, but the scope of the game changed over the course of five days last week. After West Johnston (8-2, 4-2) lost to Knightdale on Oct. 27, that left West and SER (8-2, 5-1) with one league loss, meaning this week’s game was to determine the league champ. Then Smithfield-Selma beat West 28-14 on Friday, dropping the Wildcats to second place, and the Bulldogs took over first place with their 35-14 win over Holly Springs.
Now, after being in control of the league all season, West needs to beat Southeast on Friday to force a share of the title. If the Bulldogs win, the championship is theirs alone.
Expect a wild one at Southeast.
Championship week, part II
In the Cap 7, WF-R had distinguished itself as the frontrunner ahead of Millbrook and Leesville Road. Then Leesville Road roughed up Millbrook, then Millbrook eked past WF-R last week, setting up a championship game this week between WF-R (9-2, 4-1) and Leesville (9-1, 4-1) at Trentini Stadium.
This will be the third straight year these two teams have met in the final game of the regular season with a conference championship on the line.
In 2006, WF-R won 7-0, forcing a three-way tie atop the league between WF-R, Leesville and Broughton (Leesville avenged that loss in the second round of the playoffs). In 2007, WF-R won 21-14, claiming the title outright and finishing the regular-season undefeated (Leesville avenged that loss in the second round of the playoffs).
I think this week’s game will come down to who is able to pass. Both teams rely heavily on the run, and do it extremely well. And both teams have tremendous defenses that don’t allow a ton of rushing yards. I doubt either team is going to pass 25 or 30 times, but if either’s able to go to the air just enough and keep the other defense honest, that team’s going to be your winner.
Expect a close game. WF-R’s allowing 11.7 points a game this season, and Leesville’s giving up 8.9.
Championship week, part III
The Tri-Eight and PAC 6 don’t offer as much intrigue this week, but again, this has been such a strange season that nothing would surprise me at this point.
All Fuquay-Varina (9-1, 6-0) needs to do to win the Tri-Eight outright is to beat Cary on Friday. Apex (7-3, 5-1) can claim a share if it beats Lee County and Cary beats Fuquay, but the Bengals get the league’s No. 1 seed for playoff purposes since they beat Apex head-to-head.
We’re looking at a shared championship for the third straight year in the PAC 6. After Jordan-Hillside in ’06 and Southern-Hillside in ’07, it appears this year’s title will be shared among Hillside, Southern and Chapel Hill. All three go on the road this week — Hillside (8-1-1, 5-1) is at Person, Southern (7-3, 5-1) is at Riverside and Chapel Hill (7-3, 5-1) is at Jordan — and while I expect all three will win, Chapel Hill is going to have the most difficult time getting that W. Assuming the title is split three ways, that will create a scenario in which the schools will have a draw determine their conference standing for playoff purposes. Draws are always unfair, but there really is no other way to break the tie.
Need a new OC?
Two weeks ago in this space, I advocated for Hillside running back Desmond Scott to get more touches.
In the first six games of the season, he had 53 carries for 311 yards and one touchdown. In the two games leading up to my expert analysis that has since led me to believe I could be an offensive coordinator (OK, not really), Scott had 38 carries for 600 yards and seven touchdowns.
And in the two games since, he’s had 47 carries for 344 yards and three TDs. He’s also caught five passes for 59 yards and a touchdown.
Hillside’s shown that you can’t just load up and key on Scott. Dual-threat QB Corey Gattis completed 75 percent of his passes Friday against Northern and had 213 total yards and three touchdowns in the Hornets’ 33-19 win.
It’s worth noting too that Scott and Gattis plan to take their show just down the road in Durham next year to Duke.
Game Balls
Cory Hunter: The Fuquay-Varina running back had 139 yards and three touchdowns in the Bengals’ 28-21 win over Apex.
Gabe Henderson: The Southeast Raleigh quarterback was 10 of 18 for 200 yards and one touchdown, and he had 10 carries for 114 yards and two TDs.
Trevor Taylor: The Ravenscroft running back had 12 carries for 131 yards and a touchdown, plus a 27-yard touchdown catch, a 76-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and two successful two-point conversions (one catch, one run) in the Ravens’ 65-34 win over Harrells Academy.
Drew Wilkinson: The Wakefield quarterback was 16 of 33 for 212 yards and five touchdowns in the Wolverines’ 41-24 win over Broughton.
Justin Dixon: The Smithfield-Selma running back/linebacker had 17 carries for 138 yards and two touchdowns in the Spartans’ 28-14 win over Southeast Raleigh.
Darius Williams: The Athens Drive running back had 20 carries for 120 yards and a touchdown to go along with three catches for 54 yards and a touchdown in the Jaguars’ 25-20 loss to Middle Creek.
Chandler Browning: The Broughton quarterback was 28 of 53 for 322 yards and three touchdowns in the Caps’ 41-24 loss to Wakefield.
Millbrook defense: Though they gave up a good chunk of yards to Wake Forest-Rolesville (365), the Wildcats forced three turnovers, held the Cougars scoreless on four of their seven red zone trips and limited WF-R to its lowest point total of the season in a 16-15 win.
Stat of the week
As mentioned above, Wake Forest-Rolesville and Leesville Road have met four times in the last two years, twice in the regular season and twice in the second round of the playoffs. Three of those games have been decided by seven points and one by four.
Non-football thoughts
What a day Saturday.
In the second round of the soccer playoffs, six ranked teams met head-to-head. No. 7 Green Hope beat two-time reigning state champion Broughton 1-0. No. 8 Millbrook beat No. 11 and Tri-Eight champion Panther Creek 2-0. And No. 12 Apex beat No. 5 Jordan 1-0. Also, Fuquay-Varina, the fourth-place team out of the Tri-Eight advanced with a 3-2 win over Sanderson.
At Reynolds Coliseum, West Henderson and Cardinal Gibbons played an epic 2-A championship match. The Falcons ended Gibbons’ three-year title run, coming back from a 2-1 deficit to win 3-2. Congratulations to West and coach Jan Stanly, who became the state’s winningest volleyball coach earlier this year and was able to cap the season with a state championship.
At the cross country championships, we had a three-time 4-A boys winner (Chapel Hill’s Taylor Gilland), a three-time 4-A girls winner (North Mecklenburg’s Kimberly Spano), a two-time boys 4-A team champion (Broughton) and a four-time 2-A girls team champion (Cardinal Gibbons). My favorite moment of my day in Clemmons was watching the East girls team get more and more excited as the place winners were announced from the 4-A girls race. When the Wildcats were announced the champion, they were genuinely shocked. The girls race was that close.
Team of the week
Take a bow, Fuquay-Varina.
The Bengals clinched at least a share of their fourth-straight Tri-Eight title with a 28-21 win over Apex.
This is a team that replaced its head coach and 10 defensive starters from a team that last season went 11-2 and allowed 8.9 points per game.
Ryan Habich, the defensive coordinator for the first three titles, took over as head coach this season for the retired David Riggs, and the Bengals haven’t missed a beat. In their nine wins, Fuquay allowed 8.67 points per game and earned four shutouts.
The Bengals have a budding star in sophomore tailback Cory Hunter, who’s rushed for 1,340 yards and 16 touchdowns this season.
And if the Bengals win this week, they could be the No. 1 seed in the playoffs (4-A or 4-AA is to be determined) because they will drop their 38-14 loss to Harnett Central because it was a nonconference game.
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