FOOTBALL CAPSULES -- Week 8

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on October 6, 2016 10:09 AM

• Print
• Email

J.H. ROSE (3-3, 2-0 ECC)

at SOUTHERN WAYNE (1-5, 0-2)

Last time out: Southern Wayne lost 30-28 to C.B. Aycock; J.H. Rose defeated South Central 20-19.

Last meeting: 2015, J.H. Rose won 57-6.

Notable: SW senior Manny Walker has 961 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns on just 94 carries this season. The Rampants and CBA share the league's highest-scoring offense.

Coach, you guys are coming off a great defensive effort against Charles B. Aycock. But Rose can put points on the board, too, so what's the biggest challenge they present to you? "Just containing their athletes, containing their play-makers. We think if we match our best athletes against theirs, we've got a chance to win," SW head coach Ronnie McClary Jr. said. "You can't play a team like J.H. Rose and make mistakes. We've got to have an almost perfect game to win against them."

What impresses you the most about them? "The athletes they, the play-makers they have are just quick. We have to put our hands on them to block them. Our DBs have to keep up with them. Their athleticism is impressive, but they've been like that the last couple of years. It doesn't surprise me, but every year it's somebody different."

What have you discussed with the players about this game? "We feel like we had a pretty decent game against Aycock and they have good athletes. They depend on the pass a lot and that was a good set up game for J.H. Rose. The game they're playing tonight is a better team collectively than Aycock. The mistakes we had, we can't make them. We want to approach every game like it's winnable, whether they have more playmakers or not. If we can get them to make mistakes and we can play mistake-free football, then I feel like we have a fighting chance. One thing to our advantage is it's a home game and community support is brewing again, so we feel like we're going in the right direction. We can't make those critical errors in critical parts of the game. We tell our kids they can only put 11 (players) on the field and we feel like at any point in time our 11 can play with any 11 in the state."

Manny and Quentin, how key are they going to be tonight? "They're always key (players). But what we have to realize is that every team we play against, they're going to key on those two. Just like we depend on them, opponents depend on their team to stop them. We need other guys to step up at running back or at receiver to make those plays. Both of them had pretty good games against C.B. Aycock. Every week everybody thinks if they've got a chance to stop No. 5 (Carlton) and No. 8 (Walker), they've got a chance. That's been the case, but we've been driving it to our other guys that they should be offended because they you make just as many plays. You can be just as critical in us winning a game or causing a turnover, whatever. To us, it's a slap in the face to the other play-makers we have and also to Quentin and Manny."

*

JAMES KENAN (2-4, 1-1 CAROLINA)

at NORTH DUPLIN (3-3, 1-0)

Last time out: North Duplin defeated Lakewood 13-6; James Kenan defeated Rosewood 43-19.

Last meeting: 2015, James Kenan won 46-8.

Notable: The Tigers have won four straight over the Rebels and lead the all-time series 28-10 since 1958, according to CarolinaPreps.com. North Duplin has not beaten JK since 2003.

Coach, your team has won three in a row, how do keep that momentum going? "We've got to continue to do what we've been doing is come in each week that we've seen from the week before that we've got to work on (in practice)," ND head coach Hugh Martin said. "It's been a slow progression of getting a little better at things. We've been able to control the ball and that's been a big key for us, too."

What are your thoughts on playing James Kenan. That 2-4 record is a little bit deceiving, don't you think? "You looked at who they played... very tough non-conference schedule. They had to make that transition from what they intended to do with "Little Ken" (Avent III) to what they're doing now. They've made that transition now. We're going to go out there, do what we do and just play. Hopefully, we'll have a great crowd. They're out of the conference again next year, so it will probably be a while again before we're able to play."

James Kenan held the ball for 36 minutes (total) and had five drives that were 11 plays or longer. How can you prepare for them? "We've got to hold our ground up front. Our defensive linemen have got to do a real good job on the line of scrimmage. They do enough things, too, that you've got to be looking at the right things and not get caught of place. We've got to react to what we see. They've improved every week offensively to execute now what they're doing very well. Hat's off to Ken. He's a great coach. He's going to get them to do things to have a chance to be successful."

You guys are doing a "Pink Out Game" and "Outlaw Foundation Support." "The Outdoor Foundation... Bill Outlaw is a North Duplin alum does that to try to help support families as they deal with cancer treatment. We felt like supporting a local agency would be a good way to participate in everything that goes on this month. The last year couple of years I've asked the players if they've wanted to wear pink and that we also do some type of fund raiser... tangible in wearing pink. It's broadened out to include the school and the community as well because folks will have a chance to buy ribbons in honor or memory in honor of someone who has suffered from cancer. The school has been doing some other things with fund raisers and awareness regarding that. It's a chance for us to provide some things back to the community."

*

HOBBTON (1-6, 0-2 CAROLINA)

at PRINCETON (2-4, 1-0)

Last week: Princeton had a bye week; Hobbton lost 53-14 to Spring Creek.

Last meeting: 2015, Princeton won 15-6.

Notable: The Bulldogs have emerged victorious in their last three outings against the Wildcats, who hold a commanding 22-4 advantage in the series, which started in 1971 but was discontinued on several occasions.

How have you used your bye week? "We've had nasty weather, so we were able to get healthy," first-year PHS head coach Travis Gaster said. "We scouted Hobbton the night they played Spring Creek. We had a good idea of what they were going to do, so we went ahead and started preparing for them. It made Monday's practice more productive than it normally is. Monday is usually an introduction for our defense of their formations and what they're trying to accomplish. We were able to jump right into it and run plays at each other. It gives you a step ahead (in the game), but you also have time where you can get back to the basics... working on special teams, working on fundamentals of tackling, footwork with our O-line, ball handling by the backs. It's almost like you're day getting back to day one of the summer."

What are your thoughts on Hobbton? "They're explosive. Two players (Raekwon Bryant and Omar Farrior), they can take it to the house any time they touch the ball. They both play both ways, so I know they're tired. But it doesn't matter if they're tired or not because if they see the open field, they can pick them up and put them down... can really run. They do a great job of getting them the ball where they can be successful. They like jet sweep a lot and then when you overplay jet sweep, they're going to try to hit you up the gut or run a reverse off of it. They havent shown the halfback pass this year."

They're still in the Wing-T? "Now, they're in the pistol -- a little short shotgun. They've got a tight end and wing sometimes, two wings sometimes and then two receivers when they move that wing out. They do a little a little bit of everything... line up in a lot of different formations, don't run a whole lot of plays. If they can get you misaligned with the speed that they have, they can hurt you."

Your running game continues to be your bread and butter. "My philosophy for the program, the running game is a must. Our kids have bought into it and believe in it. It starts in the weight room and before we get to the practice field. Eventually the defense is going to catch up with it. We get pounded in practice and we're starting to slow it down a little bit (offensive team) in practice defensively, so that's a good thing. Before our backs weren't getting touched and that's not good because they're going to get touched in a game. They need to get hit for ball security, how to take a hit and how to run through a tackle. Our defense is catching up with them and that's been good to see."

Were two weeks into conference play and have already seen some interesting results. It's going to be an interesting five weeks, isn't it? "We talked about it early, it's probably the best our conference has been in a long time overall. This year, I think everybody is playing better football than what we saw last year -- a testament to the conference that people are playing better across the board. When you line it up on Friday night, you better bring it because the other team has something waiting for you. That's shown with the games already that anybody is capable of winning, anybody is capable of losing on Friday night in our conference."