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It’s strange how the inevitable is just that. In week three of the 2012 high school football campaign in Rutherford County, each team was clicking on all cylinders.
It was the first time in Rutherford County history, all four schools from within won on the same night. Ironically, the other three times that Thomas Jefferson has won a game, nobody else from Rutherford County could do so.
Thomas Jefferson (3-0) keeps on rolling as they posted their first ever road victory in school history, 26-7 over Asheville School. While Mac Martin is the leader on offense, the defense continues to impress allowing just nine points per game this season. They very well could have grabbed a shutout in Asheville, if not for a botched punt that led to Asheville School‘s only points of the night.
Getting that third win likely puts Thomas Jefferson into the playoffs for the first time in school history. They will host Rosman this on Friday. You can bet on hearing the name Blaise McCall, who should see a number of carries from the fullback position for the Tigers.
As I am making my way around the county to see every team, I viewed Chase this past week cruise by Bessemer City 40-6.
Chase (1-2) earned just 248 total yards for the game, but used a short field to a gain a 34-0 lead at the half. They also held the Yellow Jackets to 71 first half yards and 188 total.
After the game, Chase coach Daniel Bailey took the good with the bad in the contest.
“I was happy with how the first half played out,“ Bailey said. “I felt like even though we got banged up a little bit, we lost our composure in the second half. Still, it feels good to get that first win despite being competitive in all three games this season.”
Shavon Logan gave some ruthless hits on defense this past week and Cody Greene scored twice on both sides of the ball as the unsung hero on Friday.
Chase goes to Cherryville this week, in which they face an Ironmen team that has struggled over the past couple of seasons.
This week, I will head to R-S Central, where they will host Erwin. And speaking of the Hilltoppers, they got a HUGE 22-15 upset win over Polk last week at home. They had lost five games in a row dating back to last year.
Jharri Miler is my pick for player of the week, considering he makes a big catch on their game-winning touchdown drive and gets an interception while playing great defense in the secondary all night.
Many have wrote off the Hilltoppers after Dustin Atchley got injured in week one, but toughness and determination helped Mike Cheek’s club pick up the biggest win they have encountered since 2009 against South Rowan in the playoffs.
R-S Central (1-2) beat a good Polk team, a team that relies on some athleticism, but mainly in being smart and disciplined. Erwin (3-0) is just as good and R-S Central will have to keep focus of dual threat quarterback, Austin Brown this Friday.
Needing something to come together, East Rutherford broke an eight-game losing streak dating back to last year in a 42-21 blowout this past Friday. The Cavaliers had a balanced attack on both offense and defense for the first time all year. More impressively, the defense didn’t allow North Gaston’s option offense a touchdown until the fourth quarter. T.J. Watkins orchestrated four touchdowns (two rushing, two passing), but a better sight is that both sides of the ball got involved and stayed focused.
East Rutherford will host West Lincoln on Friday, which stunned Chase 13-10 in the season opener.
Chesnee (2-0), who had a bye last week, will welcome in Woodruff on Friday for what should be a tough match up. Woodruff renewed an old rivalry with the Brynes Rebels and lost by just 12 points last week.
As for NASCAR’s Chase, the final wildcard spot falls directly on Kyle Busch or Jeff Gordon in reality unless Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman or Marcos Ambrose win this weekend in Richmond. If I were to put money on it, I would say Kyle Busch out of this group gets the final spot for obvious reasons since he won at Richmond in May.
College football is back, but if Alabama continues to play like it did this past weekend against Michigan, there won’t be any need to play a national title game this season.
