Comment
Print
Last Friday was a strange twist and turn of emotion for every school in Rutherford County and even for Chesnee in the opening week of high school football. As weird as it may seem, the only team to get a victory within the county was Thomas Jefferson, while Chesnee did some damage south of the border.
The Gryphons, behind the leadership of an experienced Jerry Cash, gained their second ever win in the football program’s short hiatus last Friday. Will McGraw scored both touchdown for Thomas Jefferson (1-0) in a thrilling ending at home.
Thomas Jefferson jumped out 14-0, but the defense did the rest as they held on to a 14-12 victory. Anthony Helton was one of the key contributors, that lead the defense late to keep North Wilkes pinned on the Thomas Jefferson one-yard line to preserve the win. On Friday, they will host Andrews, who lost by 26 in their season opener.
On the other side of the coin, R- S Central (0-1) lost more than a game on Friday. In the opening game of the season, senior Dustin Atchley broke a leg in the second half. Atchley, a kid that Central thought would be their leader this season on the field will be relegated to the sidelines for the remainder of it or so it seems. It’s a very tough break for Atchley (had 84 rushing yards in the contest), who likely ends his high school career, but has played well every season in a Central jersey.
At McDowell, the Hilltoppers rallied late from 14 points down, but fell short 20-14, after the game-tying touchdown catch was broken up in the end zone. R-S Central travels up Saluda Mountain to East Henderson this Friday.
Central will likely have to find a spy for Eagles quarterback Seth Owen, who tossed for a score and ran for another in a loss to Swain last week.
In Cleveland County, Kings Mountain has a pretty good football team and East Rutherford found out about them last Friday. The Mountaineers proved more physical on both sides of the ball and showed flashes of an explosive offense.
Kings Mountain’s Dashan Guest put up 237 yards rushing and quarterback Jonathan Clark added another 217 in the air as the Cavs lost 36-19 last Friday.
East’s T.J. Watkins combined for 133 yards rushing and passing accounting for two touchdowns. While he was injured in the second half of the contest, Watkins should be ready to go this Friday.
East Rutherford (0-1) continues the road trek as they head to McDowell County on the 24th. In 17 contest with McDowell, East holds a 14-3 series record, but clipped them by one point a year ago.
In Vale, Chase (0-1) fell 13-10 to West Lincoln in their opener. Tyrell Boykins rushed for 122 yards and Marquis Cash added 78 more for the Trojans, but it wasn‘t enough. They will host Franklin this Friday. This past Friday, Franklin’s Marquel Manning ran for 200-plus yards in the opening week win against Murphy.
For Chase, they will have to cut down on penalties which cost them 100 yards-plus and called back some big plays. They also have to cut down on the turnovers, in which they had five in the week one loss.
Down in Chesnee, Lynn Fleming grabbed a joyous win in his debut as the Eagles head coach.
Darrius Proctor accounted for all three touchdowns in Chesnee’s 22-7 win last week over Broome. Chesnee (1-0) will host Chapman this Friday. And if anything, it should be fun to see if Chesnee has an answer for Chapman’s running back, Traves Smith. Smith averaged over 150-yards a contest a year ago and is eyeing 2,000 yards this season.
And for those who missed Sunday’s race at Michigan, Mark Martin had a scary ordeal with the pit wall this past weekend while leading. A concrete barrier crushed through and just behind Mark Martin’s seat. I think it would fitting that all pit roads have SAFER Barriers or some sort of protection that will not allow a situation like that to ever occur again.
Right now, it seems like one spot is left in the Chase with three races to go. Ryan Newman holds the spot, but needs a win to feel better about things. A win by Jeff Gordon or Kyle Busch would put hem back in the wild card spot. A win by Carl Edwards and Paul Menard in the next two events would make for a very interesting night in Richmond come Sept. 8th.
