Prep notebook: Warriors' Chris Pridgen answers coach's challenge

By Staff Reports
Published in Sports on November 17, 2014 1:48 PM

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Eastern Wayne's Chris Pridgen has plenty of responsibility on Friday nights and is expected to be the team's vocal leader.

When the Warriors' defense looked flat against Jacksonville on Friday evening, head coach Bubba Williams pushed his senior to rile up his teammates.

Pridgen did just that and the Warriors shut down the Cardinals, allowing just 127 yards of total offense.

"He did a god of (leading us) tonight," Williams said. "We count on a lot of different guys to get us going and he's certainly one of them. But we need to get to the point where they're all going at once."

As if that wasn't enough, Pridgen moved to center for the first offensive possession -- a position he hasn't played since last year. He had no trouble with the snaps and Eastern Wayne marched downfield to score on a DayDay Pridgen touchdown from six yards out.

"I'll play anything," Chris Pridgen said. "I'm going to play my hardest no matter where I am out there."

Offensive explosion

The unsung heroes -- Rosewood's offensive line -- paved the way for the Eagles' most-impressive scoring effort of the season against East Carteret.

The group consistently opened holes for quarteback Cam Helt, backfield specialist Mike Woodard and provided enough blocking to get the ball into the hands of receivers Quan Joyner and Marquail Almontaser.

Rosewood scored touchdowns on all seven of its first-half possessions. The Eagles needed just 18 plays to compile 40 points and 366 yards rushing.

"Now that it's the end of the year, the offense that we run really sparked this game," said Helt, who completed all three of his passes including two that resulted in touchdowns.

"I think we did a great job."

A little squabble

There was almost trouble in paradise.

DayDay Pridgen was tackled after an eight-yard run that could have gone for a score, but teammate Deshawn Boudy missed a block.

Pridgen let his best friend know about it. He yelled at Boudy and implored that he blocked better on plays.

"I'm one of the leaders so I have to get on them, but they did a really good job overall and I'm blessed to have these guys," Pridgen said.

The blocking improved.

The friendship didn't change, either.

A little history

Rosewood has won seven games in season for the first time since 2003 when then-head coach Daniel Barrow Sr. guided the Eagles to nine victories.

Barrow's 2001 and 2002 squads each won seven games.

The Eagles (7-5 overall) also clinched their first winning season in more than a decade.

"We pulled together as a team tonight," said the Eagles' Garrett Tyndall, whose interception/fumble recovery helped spark a 48-point outburst.

"We're a band of brothers, we love each other, we love to play football together."