‘Canes Are Defeated In Close Game
The ‘Canes lost their third straight game and their first region game to Morgan County last Friday 24-12 in another hard fought battle during which all but seven of the points scored were scored with less than four minutes left on the play clock.
Head Football Coach Eddie Roberts said, “They scored in the second quarter on a short fourth-and-goal situation, and the score remained 7-0 until there were only three minutes and fifty-eight seconds left in the game.
“At this point we had them in a third-and-eight situation and we stopped them and made it fourth-and-five, but a penalty gave them an automatic first down and they scored on the next play and made it 14-0.
“Chris Thomas scored our first TD on a run of about 70 yards. We missed the extra point and it was 14-6 with less than three minutes left to play. Then we attempted an on-sides kick, but they got the ball and went on to kick a field goal and had us 17-6.
“Once we got possession Thomas broke free again and scored on a long run. We missed the extra point but it was 17-12. With just seconds left to play they put up another score and we were out of time.
“Sadarius Rooks also had a good night and had 87 yards rushing. Dee Chapman, our quarterback, went down with an ankle injury in the first quarter and Brady McMichael came on to play the rest of the game at that position. We expect Chapman to be back on September 24 when we go to Pike County. Our injured safety, Juveral Bermudez, should be back for that game also.”
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The ‘Canes have an off night this Friday and will return to the field next Friday, when they travel to Zebulon to take on a so far undefeated Pike County.
Coach Roberts said, “We’re going to spend this open week trying to get better as a group and to eliminate some foolish mistakes we’ve been making, and try to narrow down what we do on offense and defense and get better at them.
We’re making a lot of mistakes. In the first quarter we drove the ball down inside their 10 yard line and missed a field goal, held them and drove it back down inside their 10 again and lost the ball when we couldn’t convert on a fourth down. We had the ball inside their 10 yard line on two occasions and didn’t get any points out of it, mainly because of mental mistakes and not knowing how to finish.”
Stats vs Morgan County PASSING
D. Chapman 3 attempts 2 comps. for 15 yards
B. McMichael 6 attempts 1 comps. for 1 yard
RECEIVING
Campbell 1 catch for 6 yards
T. Jackson 2 catches for 10 yards
RUSHING
S. Rooks 18 carries for 87 yards
C. Thomas 7 carries for 172 yards 2 touchdowns
T. Jackson 3 carries for 2 yards
A.J. Thomas 2 carries for 9 yards 1 fumble
D. Chapman 1 carry for -8 yards
B. McMichael 1 carry for 1 yard
DEFENSE
A.J. Thomas 16 tackles
S. Blankenship 6 tackles
E. Ammons 4 tackles
M. Sands, S. Rooks, C Thomas each had 3 tackles
D. Stone, D. Norwood, B. Barger, each had 2 tackles
SPECIAL TEAMS
Kicker-E. Enrique 0 for 1 in X.P. attempt and 0 for 1 in FG attempts
Punter-B McMichael 4 punts for 24.5 yard average
Punt Returner C. Thomas 2 returns for 10 yards
Kick Returner S. Rooks 1 return for 27 yards, C. Thomas 1 return for 22 yards, A. Campbell 1 return for 11 yards
Penalties 6 for 55 yards