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Chase certainly made things tough, but round one of the Rutherford County football championship goes to R-S Central.
While R-S Central on paper had the advantage coming into the contest, it became a test of two defenses that stood out as the Hilltoppers hosted Chase last Friday.
Chase turned the ball over three times in the first half, but the Trojans defense stood tall by allowing only one touchdown. Central led just 7-0 at the half. Chase had just 48 yards offense, while Central accounted for 75 yards in the first half.
The Trojans score a field goal on their opening driver of the second half and then the unexpected happened.
An inside slant that caught everyone off guard, even receiver Bruce Squires, who trapped the ball against his hip and sprinted 74 yards for a touchdown as Chase went up 10-7 early in the fourth quarter.
Three minutes later, Central fires back right after that as Desmond Whiteside catches a 44-yard touchdown.
The Hilltoppers would hang on after that to win 14-10.
It was a great game defensively for R-S Central’s Kanaan Brock, who had an interception and a number of key stops. Brice Hamrick and Andrew Steptoe also played well in getting pressure on the quarterback.
Chase had some solid defensive plays made by Squires, Malik Young, Stephan Phillips, Blake Pryor and Treston Abrams in Friday’s loss.
Following the game, here is what the coaches had to say.
“We are trying to get back into our offensive rhythm since we have been without quarterback Tyrese Tate for a few weeks now, R-S Central Coach Mike Cheek said. However, Chase did a good job of crowding the line of scrimmage and I had a feeling that they were not going to make it easy on us tonight.”
“We have played pretty well defensively this season, but we are not crossing the goal line as much as we would like, Daniel Bailey said. Despite being in a tough conference and having injuries issues, I thought tonight was a step forward for our kids.”
R-S Central will now travel to Kings Mountain and play the Mountaineers Friday (10/17/14). The Hilltoppers will have to play one of their best games of the season if they are to win this weekend.
Chase has this Friday off, but will host Kings Mountain the following week.
Community School of Davidson (3-4, 0-1) at Thomas Jefferson (5-2, 1-0)
Thomas Jefferson started a three game home stand with a key victory over Cherryville last Friday. The two teams mirrored each other for three quarters, but Mason Fenner’s late 24-yard field goal was the game winner in a Thomas Jefferson 25-22 win.
Mason Martin and Tyler Mitchell each had a rushing touchdown, while Bradley Freels tossed a touchdown pass to Fenner last week.
In order for the Gryphons to win this coming week, they will have to control the line of scrimmage on defense. Community School of Davidson’s Joey Bernardini already sits at 1110 yards rushing this season.
The Gryphons were introduced to him last season as Bernardini ran for a 173 yards in what ended up as Thomas Jefferson’s trap game. The Gryphons lost 9-7 last year. There is an upside. Last week, Benardini ran for 227 and two touchdowns, but they still lost 44-22 to Bessemer City.
Draughn at East Rutherford: The Cavaliers held close to Shelby for a quarter only to find out the Golden Lions were only warming up. Although, East was tied at 7-7 early on, Shelby scored 29 in the second quarter and converted just one first down during the second half in a tough loss last Friday. East Rutherford must regroup as they host Draughn, which that has struggled all season.
East Rutherford has managed just 23 points in the last two weeks, but Draughn is averaging just 8.25 points per game this season.
On the NASCAR scene, I thought Keselowski might be the driver to beat, but it looks like he might have beat himself in Charlotte. From the way things happened after the race, I wouldn’t be surprised if Keselowski was suspended for Talladega. I doubt it really happens though. Although, if Jimmie Johnson, Keselowski or Dale Earnhardt Jr. don’t win this weekend at Talladega, their championship run will come to an end. Top 5 NFL teams this week. 5) San Francisco 4)Seattle 3) Dallas 2)San Diego 1) Denver
