The Jaguars offense picks up a few yards on the kickoff return.
Aug 28, 2008
Teams from the Tri-Eight will be in search of redemption in Week 2 of the high school football season.
The conference collectively went 2-6 last week, and all six losses were by double figures. Panther Creek lost by 11, Cary by 21, Green Hope by 21, Middle Creek by 26, Athens Drive by 27 and Lee County by 34. Apex and Fuquay-Varina were the lone victors. Lee will have to wait until Week 3 to play again, as the Yellow Jackets have their open date this week.
The Tri-Eight will have its hands full again this week. The league’s opponents went a combined 6-2 in Week 1.
Cary (0-1) @ Leesville Road (1-0), Thursday, 7 p.m.
Leesville Road enters with a 10-game winning streak over teams from the Tri-Eight.
The last Tri-eight team to beat the Pride? Cary.
However, the Imps didn’t win on the field. Leesville Road won the 2006 season opener – Coach David Green’s debut with the team – 27-26 but they had to forfeit the victory when they later realized they used an ineligible player. Leesville last lost a game on the field to a Tri-Eight team on Sept. 16, 2005, when Middle Creek won 22-15.
“Coach Green has done an outstanding job taking the talent they’ve had there and putting them in a situation to be successful and win,” said Cary coach Ben Kolstad. “Their record the last two years (23-6) is unbelievable. They year they beat us in OT, their place went nuts. I knew they had something special.”
In order to end Leesville Road’s dominance over the Tri-Eight, Cary must take better care of the ball (four fumbles lost) and better protect quarterback Daniel Steed (sacked four times) than it did in last week’s 42-21 loss to Broughton.
Cary’s largest hurdle is itself. The Imps are short on numbers – only 38 players on the varsity roster – and that requires a number of players to go both ways. Kolstad said last week five or six players played both sides of the ball and that he plans to reduce that number to two or three this week and, hopefully, for the rest of the season.
Despite getting roughed up by Broughton, the Imps showed signs of promise. Late in the second half, they strung together two long drives – 11 plays, 78 yards that ended with a fumble at the Broughton 2-yard line and 12 plays, 80 yards that ended with Andrew Hill’s three-yard touchdown run.
“I thought we played a good second half,” Kolstad said. “We challenged the kids at halftime. Down 28-7, it was difficult. We told them, don’t worry about winning or losing. Play a more consistent game. We still made some mistakes. We’re just trying to limit them.”
Broughton (1-0) @ Apex (1-0), Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Apex senior tailback Kevin Fogg stole the show in the Cougars’ season opening 35-24 win over Holly Springs last week. Fogg rushed 12 times for 117 yards and three touchdowns. He also had 51 receiving yards and an 80-yard punt return for a touchdown.
Expect more of the same this week.
“That’s what we’re hoping will happen frequently,” said Apex coach Bob Wolfe. “They’re going to key on [Fogg]. They did last year, everybody does. Holly Springs was, too. That’s going to challenge us to make sure we can do some things and get the ball to him.”
While Broughton made short work of Cary last week, Cary tailback Andrew Hill accounted for 155 of the Imps’ 231 yards of total offense. Broughton’s return team also allowed a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
The Apex defense will have its hands full, too.
The Cougars allowed 204 rushing yards to Holly Springs last week, a team still in search of its first win in program history, and Broughton’s Emery Young rushed for 112 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries against the Imps.
“The difficult ting now for all defenses [playing the spread] is you’re playing in space,” Wolfe said. “That’s a tough thing to do. That’s always been difficult for us. I’m not overly worried about it. I think we’ll be OK defensively.”
The Cougars also had some special teams miscues – particularly two blocked field goals – that Wolfe hopes to correct this week. They’ll have an extra day to work on those areas. The game was originally scheduled for Thursday night but was changed because of inclement weather earlier in the week.
“Broughton, from what I’ve seen, they’re a good football team,” Wolfe said. “It’s going to be a challenge for us to execute and get some of the first-game mistakes out that we made.”
Harnett Central (1-0) @ Fuquay-Varina (1-0), Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Fuquay-Varina and Harnett Central rolled to Week 1 wins, outscoring their opponents by a combined tally of 65-9.
They’ll offer each other a much sterner test this week.
Central wracked up 443 yards of total offense (243 rushing, 200 passing) in their 37-3 win at Lee County.
Fuquay grinded out its 28-6 win – the first for new coach Ryan Habich – on the strength of its rushing game. The Bengals ran for 233 yards and did so with seven players carrying the ball. Corey Hunter had 15 carries for 41 yards and two touchdowns. Corey Mixon ran five times for 33 yards and a TD. Nate Buddle (6-23), Adrian Evans (7-49) and Christian Neilkens (1-68) all factored in the backfield, too.
The Bengals lost all but one starter from last season’s defense, a unit that gave up just 8.9 points per game. What this group does against the Trojans should offer a glimpse of what’s to come with this year’s group.
“When you replace 10 starters, it’s kids buying in to it and what’ve done the last three years,” said Habich, who was Fuquay’s defensive coordinator the past three seasons before being promoted to head coach. “That’s the key to the success of our team. … We’re going to find out real quickly where we stand and where we need get better. When you’re playing a team as talented as (Central), you’ve got to correct those mistakes fast.”
Sanderson (1-0) at Panther Creek (0-1), Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Looking at the game film earlier this week from Panther Creek’s 25-14 loss to Leesville Road, Catamounts coach Wayne Bragg noticed the running play he called most often in the second half was so successful simply because of the effort his players put forth in trying to execute it.
That effort wasn’t there in the first half, when Panther Creek found itself down 25-0.
“The main thing was we told them at halftime we were going to go at them and see what happens,” Brag said. “At some point, we’ve got to grow up.”
In the second half, the Catamounts started running the ball. Kel Jackson finished with 108 yards on 24 carries and a touchdown, the score coming on the aforementioned running play. Quarterback Gray Mazzone had a solid outing, completing 11 of 18 passes for 115 yards.
Defensively, Panther Creek made two goal-line stands and didn’t allow the Pride to score again after halftime. The unit will have its hands full with the Spartans, particularly quarterback Jeff Massey. He ran 11 times for 175 yards in his team’s 25-19 win over Clayton.
“They’ve got the double-slot option. You just have to play responsibly on defense,” Bragg said. “You can’t get fooled by the ball. Any time you play option, don’t get caught up in where the ball is. Play responsibly, trust your guys and good things will happen.”
Garner (0-1) @ Middle Creek (0-1), 7:30 p.m.
Talk about two teams in need of some good fortune.
Middle Creek led Northern Durham 15-8 late in the third quarter only to have the Knights score 33 unanswered points and hand the Mustangs a 41-14 loss.
It seems silly that the second game of the season would offer a gut check, but Mustangs coach Sean Crocker agreed that this week’s showdown with the Trojans will offer just that.
“That’s a good assessment,” Crocker said. “We’re young, but that’s no excuse. When we’re in a ball game, we’ve got to stay in it. We can’t let the wheels fall off. It’s time for our guys to step up and show we can finish a game.”
As hungry as the Mustangs are for that win, Garner won’t be a pushover. The Trojans had four turnovers in its 34-0 home loss to Millbrook, the first time they were shut out in 77 games. Looking at the film, Crocker said he didn’t see a bad team.
“You’ve got a very good team full of athletes, lots of speed,” Crocker said. “They’re no different from any Garner team. They ran up against a good Millbrook team. I don’t see a bad team. I see team capable of beating anybody in the Triangle.”
In order to avoid being one of those teams, the Mustangs must better protect quarterback Garrett Leatham, who was sacked five times and threw three interceptions against Northern.
If rinsing away the bitter taste of their Week 1 loss at Northern wasn’t enough to motivate the Mustangs, trying to end their losing streak to Garner should offer some more. Garner has a 3-0 record in the all-time series, with the wins coming by 10, 25 and 21 points.
“Every year’s a good year to be the first time,” Crocker said. “We feel like our guys are good players and any time we step on the field, we feel like we’ve got a chance to pull an upset.”
Athens Drive @ Enloe, Friday, 7 p.m.
The Jaguars lost their entire starting defensive line from last season, and the inexperience up front showed in their 41-14 loss to West Johnston last week. The Wildcats wracked up 341 rushing yards on 39 carries.
Things won’t get any easier this week when Athens travels to Enloe.
Enloe ran 77 times for 408 yards in its 28-21 win over Knightdale. Aziel Faison carried 38 times for 240 yards and three touchdowns, and David Highsmith had 26 rushes for 116 yards and a touchdown.
The Jaguars moved the ball reasonably well last week and did so with impressive balance. Athens passed for 184 yards and rushed for 185. Running back Darius Williams ran for 120 yards on 14 carries, and seven receivers caught a pass.
This story is closed for comments.
