Published: 10:52 PM, Mon Sep 06, 2010
Late Hits - Tuesday, September 7
It's Fayetteville versus Durham this week as two of Cumberland County's three remaining unbeaten teams face matchups Friday with Durham schools.
Douglas Byrd, off to a 3-0 start, will be at home to take on Southern Durham. Byrd lost to Southern in Durham last year, 28-21. Southern's Spartans finished 12-2 last year and reached the third round of the state 4-A playoffs. They are off to an 0-3 start this year and have yet to score more than 17 points in a game.
E.E. Smith travels to play a Durham Hillside team that just crushed South View 53-13 last week. Smith lost to Hillside at Smith 41-27 last season. Hillside was 9-4 last year and lost in the second round of the 4-A playoffs. This season they are 3-0, have scored 42 or more points in each of their first three games, and have only not allowed more than two touchdowns to any opponent.
TERRY SANFORD
Terry Sanford surrendered 464 yards and seven touchdowns to two Gray's Creek running backs, Devonte Cooley and Jonathan Chiles, but was able to withstand the onslaught for a 54-49 victory. No offense to the opposition, Bulldogs coach Wayne Inman said, but part of their offensive output was due to the absence of linebacker Nick Broussard, finishing up his two-game suspension after being ejected in the season opener. "We miss Nick and when Nick's not in there, we're moving a bunch of people around. It ain't all Nick, but I guarantee you they don't run Cooley up the middle like that if Nick's in there. We'll have him back (this week) and I guarantee you it'll make a big difference in our defense."
GRAY'S CREEK
Jonathan Chiles wasn't supposed to be a starting running back for the Bears, but Will McLaughlin 's broken left leg changed that, and Chiles was moved from free safety to fill the void."I knew I had to step up," Chiles said after rushing for 233 yards and two scores. But the position change, while good for the Bears offense, hurts their defense, and they surrended 303 yards and five TD's to Terry Sanford's Anthony Hobbs. "Your pick your poison," coach David Lovette said of his lineup. "This isn't PlayStation where you run plays and everything's perfect and whatever you say works."
South View
South View suffered its most lop-sided loss of the season Friday against Durham Hillside, 53-13, but offensively it was the best game the Tigers have had this year, especially passing. Quarterback Dale Urquhart completed 9 of 19 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown. Temorrie McNeil was his favorite receiver with five catches for 149 yards. The Tigers continued to struggle running the football. Deshawn Ford and Diorus Proctor shared rushing honors with 55 yards apiece. Justin Frederick, the top Tiger rusher back from last year, had only 11 yards but scored South View's final touchdown on a 3-yard run. The Tigers will try to even their record this week against winless Hoke County.
Pine Forest
Pine Forest is off to its first 0-3 start since the 2004 season, but there's an asterisk to that. Although the Trojans lost their first three games on the field in 2004 before beating Western Harnett for its first win, Pine Forest picked up a forfeit win that year in its second game when Jack Britt had to give up a 35-7 win over the Trojans for using ineligible players. Pine Forest has not started a season 0-4 since before the 2000 season. They will seek to end their streak Friday against Westover, which is also 0-3 this year.
E.E. Smith
The Golden Bulls drew 51 yards in penalties on Westover's final possession and the calls helped the Wolverines move from their 19 to the Smith 1-yard line. The Golden Bulls kept Westover out of the end zone on the late drive in a 34-6 win but coach Duran McLaurin will address the inordinate number of flags as his team prepares to go to Durham Hillside for a matchup of unbeaten teams. "Hopefully we'll be able to correct those mistakes and get our kids using their heads a little more after the whistle blows and not getting involved in any personal battles on the field that can put our team in a tough situation," McLaurin said.
Westover
Wolverines right tackle Michael Jones went down with a dinged left ankle after attempting a cut block at the line of scrimmage and left the game after Westover had moved to first-and-goal at the E.E. Smith 1-yard line on Westover's last possession of Friday night's 34-6 loss to the Golden Bulls. "He's all right," Wolverines coach John McDonald said Monday morning. Westover lost four yards on three rushes after Jones (6-6, 285), who has committed to East Carolina, exited the non-conference comtest.
Seventy-First
Even as the Falcons were attempting to run out the clock with the game well in hand, leading 38-7 with less than four minutes remaining, Seventy-First just couldn't seem to stop scoring. The Falcon defense halted Hoke County with an interception at the Falcon 13 that defender Josh Kitchen returned 87 yards for Seventy-First's final score of the game.
Jack Britt
Fans who casually passed Buccaneers stadium Friday night, might not have recognized the teams on the field. Visiting Wilmington Hoggard wore its customary road uniforms, but Jack Britt left its purple pants in the locker room and for the first time in school history donned black britches. The administration planned the move, but the players didn't find out until just before kickoff. "After we finished our preseason warm-up we went back to the locker room," said senior running back Darius Scott. "The coaches brought the black pants out and so we came out in all-black. It was nice - we looked and felt pretty good." Added tight end Eric MacLain : "We were thinking about doing something special for Coach (Richard) Bailey's 100th win and thought a black-out would be awesome. When we came back out of the locker room with all-black on, I think it really excited everybody." Don't get too used to the Buccaneers in all-black though. The uniforms drew the ire of Bailey, who wasn't too happy with his team's performance against the Vikings. "I can tell you this, we won't be wearing them for a long, long time," he said with a smile.
Douglas Byrd
You won't find his name in the box score, but Darious Moultrie had as much to do with Byrd's 39-21 win Friday as much as anyone. Moultrie had punt returns of 30, 35 and 36 yards to give the Eagles' offense great field position all night. Nine of Byrd's 13 drives began in Cape Fear territory. Byrd had a slew of penalties, had two touchdowns called back and had only 10 players on the field on a Cape Fear kick return for a touchdown. But with Moultrie providing juicy field position all night, Byrd eventually pulled away.
Cape Fear
The Colts lost by 18 points but the game was far closer than that. The reason was versatile back, Johnny Autry. At running back, returner and receiver, he's a threat every time he's on the field. Against Byrd, Autry had 177 combined rushing and receiving yards with another 96-yard kick return for a touchdown. Starting tailback Chris Kelly (finger) may be sidelined, but with Autry around, Cape Fear's prospects are bright.