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Well, the first week of high school football is in the books and three teams went onto victory. Below is a recap of what happened last week and a capsule to gear for the coming week's games.
R-S Central
McDowell knew what it wanted to do and looked to easily beat R-S Central last Friday. However, the Hilltoppers made enough defensive stands, holding the Titans scoreless over the last three quarters to notch a 14-10 win last week. Tyrese Tate rushed for over 80 yards and had one touchdown each on the ground and threw the air.
While the defense wasn't spectacular, R-S Central made stops at the right time. They hung around and got a late break when McDowell turned the ball over on downs, thus the change of possession turned into the winning score.
The Hilltoppers welcome Stuart Cramer on Friday. August 28. The Storm, who are in their second full year of varsity play were destroyed by Central one year ago, 48-6. However, the Storm just opened the season with a 42-0 trouncing of Cherryville. The Storm scored about every way a team could last week.
Keys: The Storm have to be feeling upbeat after last week's win, so the Hilltoppers must have a strong start. Continue to play the bend, but don't break defense.
Chase
The Trojans were up 13-7 at the half, but were shutout in the second half. Chase eventually lost 23-13 in the season opener to Polk. The effort certainly wasn't bad and much of game plan was successful. They held Jamaal Wheeler to under 25 yards rushing and held Polk to 260 yards overall.
Chase could break through this week as they hit the road for the second time this season to face Cherryville. Cherryville's Drew Hughes played well last week at wide receiver and on special teams, but not much else went right for the Ironmen.
Keys: Just take care of the football and don't turn it over. Defensively, don't change much. Good effort last week by the Trojan defense as the Ironmen's offense isn't as strong as Polk's.
Chase will also be the feature game of the week.
East Rutherford
East Rutherford goes 364 yards on the ground and hit pay dirt seven times rushing the football in a 57-25 opening win over East Henderson last week. North Gaston's triple option offense struggle last week.
Senior running back, Kameron Garrison got off to a solid start, rushing for 103 yards and a touchdown to lead the Cavs. Fonzbee Clyburn, Demetrius Mauney and Tyrese Carson each scored twice and all three went over 70 yards rushing apiece.
Keys: The option is the toughest offense a defense can face. The East defense must stay disciplined. Offensively, East should just run it right at them. Kings Mountain picked up well over 400 yards of offense against the Wildcats last week. Who says they can't have similar results. East won last year, 29-7.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson easily got past Peculiar Generation last week 27-6. The Gryphons hit the road for the second time this season as they travel to Charlotte and face Hickory Grove. Seth McCraw scored two rushing touchdowns and the defense nearly pitched a shutout Bill Lay (nearly 70 yards rushing last week) should continue to get a ton of work behind the lead of McCraw.
Keys: Hickory Grove maybe better than last week's opponent considering their program isn't new by any means. Only 25 kids are rostered, so if the Gryphons can hold their own and play the wear down game, it's TJCA's for the taking.
Lastly, NASCAR heads to Darlington next weekend. I'm glad to see Darlington back to Labor Day weekend, restoring it's original tradition. This is an important event among NASCAR standards. There is only one Darlington and one chance a year now to win at the famed speedway. Give me Joey Logano to win. He seems to win every big race this season.
Friday's games: Stuart Cramer at R-S Central, Chase at Cherryville, East Rutherford at North Gaston and TJCA at Hickory Grove.
