FOOTBALL TAB COVER STORY: CBA 'backyard teammates' setting new standard

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on August 19, 2016 1:48 PM

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By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

Somewhere in the Charles B. Aycock football vault is a piece of game film -- destined to become a vintage highlight -- that turned prophetic.

The frame-by-frame account remains vivid.

Freshman quarterback Jake Flowers drops back and unloads a long pass intended for Chandler Matthews in their season-opening game against Rosewood. As they watched the play unfold, CBA coaches Steve Brooks and Allen Thomas both thought the long throw was uncatchable.

Then Matthews did the unthinkable.

The lanky receiver caught the ball.

Brooks looked at Thomas.

"OK," he said.

Thomas grinned.

"I think the next four years are going to be fun," he said.

"I think so, too," Brooks said.

*

Daw Pate Road and Stoney Creek Church Road are within a five-minute drive of each other.

It's a little longer if you walk.

That's where the Jake-Chandler -- that's how everyone knows them -- relationship began. Their playing days started on the baseball diamond, but soon switched to the gridiron when Matthews joined Flowers on the 12-Under Little Falcons football team.

After-school pickup games became the norm in either the Flowers' or Matthews' back yards. Cookouts almost became dangerous from the fear of knocking over the grills and ruining a good steak, hamburger or hotdog.

That never stopped Flowers from drawing up a pass play in the dirt.

Calling upon his best Johnny Manziel/Peyton Manning impression, he'd take a pretend snap and toss the ball to his comrade. Matthews, who idolizes North Carolina receiver Ryan Switzer, easily ran the route.

Seconds later, instant hookup.

"We just came up with different routes and stuff that we could do," Flowers said. "It's just backyard stuff that we did on the field and it worked. We never thought it would be productive in an actual game."

Brooks jokes that Flowers probably has every tattered football he could scavenge from Aycock tucked away in a bag somewhere in his closet at home. Most of the balls' pebbled leather is either peeled back or torn off, revealing a bladder that's been filled with air too many times to count.

*

The duo didn't play together much as freshmen when Matthews got called up to the varsity. Flowers directed the JV offense and was an understudy to varsity quarterback TJ Morrow during his sophomore campaign.

When Flowers stepped into a starting varsity role last fall, there was his old mate -- Matthews -- working alongside him in receiving drills.

"(Moving from) JV to varsity is a big step and people don't realize it," Matthews said. "(Our) sophomore season was like a set up for us to get ready for the junior season, so we knew what we had to do.

"We knew what was coming."

Opposing defensive coordinators didn't.

Flowers torched North Lenoir's secondary for a career-high 308 yards in a 43-20 romp. Matthews hauled in three receptions for 130 yards and two touchdowns.

One month later, Flowers and Matthews turned in more record-setting performances against county rival Southern Wayne.

Flowers threw for 321 yards and a career-best six touchdowns. His last three completions were scoring strikes of 20 and 26 yards to N.C. State commit Damien Darden, and 37 yards to Matthews.

Matthews reeled in a career-high 222 yards on nine catches against the Saints that night.

"At any point in the game, we're always on the same page -- whether it's a snap or he makes an adjustment during a play that he doesn't even have to tell me about," Flowers said. "We usually read each other like a book. He runs good routes... might not be the fastest person in our conference, but he runs good routes and makes it really easy to get him the ball.

"And when I do throw to him, he hardly ever drops it. It's great to have somebody that I've known for so long that I can rely on."

Each earned all-Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference and all-area accolades in 2015. Flowers threw for nearly 2,100 yards and 26 touchdowns. Matthews led the county in receiving for the second straight year and is closing in on 2,000 yards for his career.

*

Brooks is sitting at home one evening.

His phone rings and he gets a text message -- a video sent by Matthews.

"It's got drawings on it," Brooks said. "It says, 'if we get this, me and Jake have already talked. Is it OK if we make this adjustment?' I think that's what makes them so special. They know what each other is thinking.

"They know the adjustment without having to ask. They ask me out of respect. They're so into the game, they actually talk about it like what you hear on TV."

And they're just two weapons -- part of an arsenal of skill players that Brooks has the luxury of calling upon when he needs them this season. On certain plays last fall, Matthews acted as a decoy while Flowers threaded the needle on passes to Darden.

Caleb Gough bull-dozed his way through opposing defensive lines and earned valuable yards after contact (YAC). Luke Frederick became a threat. Mike Hemmingway -- who gained reliability at "H" back -- worked as hard as Gough.

Throw to score.

Run to win.

*

On a humid morning, Flowers squints into the rising sun while Matthews gazes toward the baseball field.

Flowers tosses the football.

Matthews chews on a fingernail.

Thoughts from last year's season-ending loss to powerhouse Eastern Alamance creep into their minds. Once they returned to campus in Pikeville, they made a conscientious effort to erase that memory with 6:30 a.m. workouts before classes started this fall.

Flowers described the defeat as "inspirational."

Matthews, meanwhile, said the Golden Falcons played like they had so many times before during the regular season. Aycock seemed to come out strong in the first half and fall apart in the second half.

"We have to stay healthy, conditioned, put everything together all four quarters," he said.

But there's more involved than just offseason preparation.

It's about the team, a camaraderie that's developed over the past 2 1/2 seasons. Flowers and Matthews want a conference championship, not only for themselves, but for their teammates as well.

That's not an easy task for a program that plays in a brutal, highly-competitive split-classification league that's produced one state champion (New Bern in 2014) and state 4-A runner-up (J.H. Rose in 2015).

County arch rival Eastern Wayne advanced to the eastern 3-A regional finals in 2012 and 2013.

"We've been successful the past three years," Matthews said. "If you don't have success, you're not going to have confidence at all. If you do have success, you're going to have the most confidence you've ever had and I think that's where it comes into play."

*

There's no calendar visible in the fieldhouse.

Everyone knows football season lasts 18 weeks -- a period that can fly by quickly. Brooks, instead, hopes it goes in slow motion.

"Everybody knows those two kids and they're definitely two of the leaders of our football program for sure," Brooks said.

He's enjoyed watching Nos. 14 (Flowers) and 18 (Matthews) blossom into quality players who can write their respective tickets to any college of their choice.

Matthews grew up in a baseball family and could play both sports at the next level. Flowers easily meets the criteria used by recruiters when they search for quality quarterbacks. Should he not get signed, the 6-foot-1 signal caller will succeed in whatever field of study he chooses.

They've set a new standard at CBA and they've proven the sky is the limit.

Yet, they've left plenty of room to fly.