1AA football playoffs: Eagles' next challenge is Wallace-Rose Hill

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on November 19, 2014 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

TEACHEY -- "We're one of 16 remaining."

Rosewood head coach Robert Britt expressed that fact to his team after an impressive opening-round win over East Carteret last Friday evening.

To become one of eight?

Well, the Eagles (7-5 overall) must get past perennial prep football factory Wallace-Rose Hill, the top-seeded team in the 1-AA eastern draw of the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs.

Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. Friday at Legion Field inside Holley-Overman Stadium. Admission is $7.

"That's going to be a reward," Britt said of the playing one of the state's most-prestigious and highly-decorated programs.

"We're going to prepare just as hard we can for them and tell the kids it's a challenge. We're one of 16 (left overall) still playing, and everybody who is still playing is going to be good."

Eighth-seeded Rosewood turned in an exemplary offensive performance against East Carteret. The Eagles needed just 18 plays to convert seven offensive possessions into touchdowns, which turned an eight-point deficit into a 26-point cushion by halftime.

Four players -- Marquail Almontaser, Mike Woodard, Cameron Helt and Quan Joyner -- combined to score five touchdowns. Helt completed scoring passes to Almontaser and Joyner, called his own number on a 32-yard scoring run.

The quintet helped Rosewood racked up 366 yards rushing during that 12-minute span. The Eagles finished with 472 yards of total offense against a defense that put seven players in the box, and kept four in the secondary.

"It's a blessing to have guys on the outside who can catch a little five-yard pass and and make someone miss, and then go for a ways (downfield)," said Britt. "(The defensive scheme) might have had something to do with it to have more guys out there to make tackles."

Britt praised Helt for making the reads and knowing when to either give up the ball or keep it. He lauded an offensive line that stood its ground and denied the Mariner's linebackers of reaching the backfield -- a glaring weakness it showed one week before against archrival Princeton.

"The kids did really good," Britt said.

Now, the task is facing a physical, run-oriented Wallace-Rose Hill misdirection offense that is loaded with talented athletes. The Eagles' defense must read the option well and plenty of hats to the ball to break big plays.

The Bulldogs (11-1) have scored 40 or more points in eight games this season, and out-scored the opposition 534-139 overall. The Eagles' defense has yielded 298 points -- an average of 24.8 per game.

"We get to go butt heads with one of the better football teams in the state," Britt said. "We'll see where we stand. Maybe we can do a little better than we did the last time."