Broughton running back Emery Young, (25) tries to aviod a tackle by Leesville's Bradley Millice,(12) on Friday evening, October 3, 2008 at Broughton High School in Raleigh.
Oct 5, 2008
In the waning seconds of Broughton’s 35-14 win over Leesville Road, tailback Emery Young walked toward the Caps’ sidelines and flexed his muscles, one last reminder of the shifty 5-foot-9-inch senior’s dominance on the night.
Young ran for 165 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Caps past the previously undefeated Pride on Friday.
“I got a little excited,” the usually self-effacing Young said of his exuberance.
But it was understandable. The Caps (5-2, 1-1) haven’t beaten Leesville Road (6-1, 1-1) since 2005, and last year’s 45-7 loss to the Pride was still fresh in their minds. More importantly, Broughton’s win — coupled with Millbrook’s loss at Wakefield — allows the Caps to reenter the race for the conference title.
If they’re going to do compete for that, Broughton is going to need its defense to continue playing like it did on Friday. The Caps held the Pride to 199 yards of offense and forced three turnovers, including Connor Campbell’s 44-yard interception return that put Broughton up 28-7 with 5:02 to play.
“We just played physical up front and did what we talked about throughout the week,” said defensive tackle Adrian Richardson.
The Pride also failed to capitalize on good field position early. In the first half, they had drives start at the Broughton 42, the Leesville 49, the Leesville 47, the Broughton 48 and the Leesville 48, and they managed to score only seven points on those possessions.
The Caps also took it to Leesville Road’s once stout defense. The Pride entered the night having allowed 39 points all season and having not surrendered a touchdown in 18 quarters. When the Caps scored, they did so with a big play. Their three offensive touchdowns came on plays of 70, 26 and 35 yards.
“They kicked our butts,” said Leesville coach David Green. “We didn’t play very well, and they did. This is the result.”
The Pride took a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter when Jake Groeschen’s pass over the middle found Cameron Todd, who raced 45 yards to the end zone.
The Caps responded immediately, though. Rob Foster returned the ensuing kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown.
“That was big, because the momentum, instead of staying on their side, switched back to us,” said Broughton coach Chris Martin. “And I think that helped our defense to run around and fly around and play.”
The Caps took a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter when Young, on an option play, took the pitch from quarterback Chandler Browning and raced untouched 70 yards to the end zone.
“When I got it, I thought [Leesville’s Zach Green] was going to tackle me,” Young said. “Rob Foster did a good job sealing him off. After that, I knew I was gone.”
After a scoreless third quarter, Young took over early in the fourth. While the Pride had contained him for much of the night, Broughton’s offensive line asserted itself and gave Young room to maneuver.
“We really just changed it to one-on-one style play and we didn’t worry about double teams or anything,” said lineman Harry John. “Once we started doing our job, it came easy.”
On an eight-play drive, starting from their own 38, Broughton went to Young on seven plays. He capped the drive with a 26-yard run to the end zone, a run sprung free thanks to a block by lineman Colin Summers.
“The second one, it was just a really good pull by Colin,” Young said. “I saw the lane open up and I didn’t want to stop until I reached the end zone.”
The Caps put the game away on the next series, thanks to Campbell’s interception. As the Pride hurried to get the line of scrimmage after Chris Kobeda’s 24-yard reception, Broughton was trying to switch out defensive backs. Martin tried to call a timeout to get his personnel right, but it wasn’t awarded.
“Luckily Conner has been playing long enough and he saw the same thing,” Martin said. “He realized we didn’t have a corner out there and he did a great job. They almost caught us with our pants down on that one.”
Leesville got a touchdown back — Kobeda hauled in an 11-yard reception with 4:17 to play — but the Caps, as they did all night, had an answer.
Browning (15 of 23, 99 yards) hit receiver Sean Sheppard over the middle for a 35-yard touchdown pass to put the Caps ahead 35-14.
“Hopefully, we can just keep this momentum,” Martin said. “We’ve got to go against Wake Forest-Rolesville next, which is going to be another tough task. Millbrook, Leesville and Wake Forest-Rolesville, that’s a nice way to start off the conference. But we’re up for any task. We’ll let the kids have a good time this weekend, and we’ll come back Monday and get back to work.”
Contact Tim Candon at 821-8697 or tcandon@wral.com.
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