Prep football notebook: Plenty of football left to play

By Staff Reports
Published in Sports on October 15, 2012 1:48 PM

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CALYPSO -- Keep the same effort.

Keep the same grittiness and toughness.

North Duplin head varsity football coach Hugh Martin passed that message along to his players after a 33-14 loss to Ayden-Grifton on Friday evening.

"You've got to hurt through the weekend, come in Monday and work on the things that we need to work on," Martin said. "Next week is even bigger now."

The Rebels (5-3 overall) travel to Rosewood on Friday. Both teams are battling for the Carolina Conference's third and fourth automatic qualifying playoff spots behind league co-leaders Goldsboro and Ayden-Grifton.

North Duplin is seeking its 13th consecutive postseason bid and a possible home game.

"We need to do to help ourselves put us in a good position and I know Rosewood is doing the same," Martin said.

Correctable errors

Martin and his staff plan to break down the game film to see pieces of their offense and defense that need fine tuning.

Ayden-Grifton ran well outside and between the tackles at times Friday evening. The No. 9-ranked Chargers (7-1 overall, 3-0 Carolina) didn't break off huge chunks of real estate, but did convert key downs which helped move the sticks and keep the ball away from the possession-minded Rebels.

"I thought we did a pretty good job defensively of really getting after it," Martin said. "We gave a heckuva effort and they're really talented offensively. We had a couple of unblocked defenders coming through and I don't know if it was off the option read or if a lineman was getting beat.

"I will know better after I see the tape."

Growing Gators

SEVEN SPRINGS -- Spring Creek head coach Aaron Sanders found positives and reasons for optimism in the midst of the Gators' 33-6 loss to Rosewood on Friday night.

A nine-play, 76-yard drive that culminated in Anthony Russo's 13-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter marked Spring Creek's best drive in three weeks.

"That's huge," Sanders said of the Gators' fourth-quarter scoring drive. "That's one thing that can help build confidence. Every little bit of confidence, especially when you're working with young guys and you only have one senior that plays, confidence here and confidence there that's huge."

The Gators stood tall on defense early in the first quarter. They stopped the Eagles on third and fourth down at the SC 21-yard line.