Richmond (Rockingham) held
Butler (Matthews) to its lowest point total in almost two years, but that wasn't enough to knock off the top-ranked team in the state.
Butler High's Jahwan Edwards.
Photo by Ron McCann
The Bulldogs — the defending 4-AA champions and the No. 1 team in the Associated Press N.C. 4A poll — defeated No. 3 Richmond 21-7 Saturday night.
Butler senior fullback
Jahwan Edwards had five catches for a career-high 124 yards, and he scored the winning points on a crossing route early in the third quarter that turned into a 53-yard touchdown.
"During the summer we went to a lot of passing league camps and it was hard for me, as a fullback, to get involved," Edwards told the Charlotte Observer. "So I started learning routes and how to run them. Friday, coach (Mike Newsome) asked me was I ready to catch the ball. I said, 'Yes sir,' and I went out there and caught it with confidence."
The Bulldogs have scored at least 27 points in every game the past two seasons, including a 38-31 win over then-defending champion Richmond last year. Butler looked like it would continue to roll on Saturday after scoring on the opening drive, but Richmond held the Bulldogs except for two big plays — the crossing route by Edwards and a 58-yard end-around from
Uriah Lemay in the fourth quarter.
Sophomore
Riley Ferguson completed 15 of 28 passes for 227 yards and two first-half interceptions filling in for Georgia commit Christian LeMay, who led Butler to last year's championship but is sitting out this season after violating school rules.
Mark Bridges led the Bulldogs on defense with 14 tackles.
Fayetteville vs. Durham: Two undefeated teams from Fayetteville faced Durham schools over the weekend, and the result was a split decision.
Hillside (Durham) blanked
E.E. Smith (Fayetteville) 48-0, while
Douglas Byrd (Fayetteville) beat
Southern (Durham) 20-13.
Brandon China scored four touchdowns and Georgia Tech-bound
Vad Lee was 14 of 23 for 240 yards for Hillside (4-0), which has scored at least 40 points in all four of its games. E.E. Smith (3-1) had outscored its opponents 101-25 before coming to Durham.
Byrd got some bragging rights back for Cumberland County.
Lorenzo Pooler scored on a 33-yard run with less than three minutes remaining, giving the Eagles their first 4-0 start since 2001. Southern, which went 12-2 and advanced to the third round of the 4-A state playoffs last season, continued to struggle on offense and fell to 0-4.
Long win streak ends: The 40-game winning streak for
Trinity Christian (Fayetteville) ended abruptly Friday night when the Crusaders (3-1) lost to
Oak Ridge Military Academy 43-0. Trinity Christian had just 39 yards of offense. The Crusaders had won three straight state titles in 8-man football but moved up to 11-man football this season despite having just 20 players on the roster.
"This is a different feeling for all of us," coach Chuck Webster said in the Fayetteville Observer. "But guess what? The sun will shine tomorrow."
More shutouts for West Rowan: West Rowan (Mt. Ulla) posted four shutouts in 2009 and four shutouts in 2008, and both years ended in 3-A state championships. After four games this year, the Falcons already have three thanks to a 28-0 win over Salisbury.
West Rowan has now won 34 straight overall and 34 straight against Rowan County opponents. Next up is
Mooresville, which is 3-0 with two shutouts of its own. The Blue Devils have already made giant leaps from last year's 0-11 season, but first-year coach Hal Capps isn't satisfied.
"You’ve beat a 3A team. You’ve beat a 2A team, and now you've beaten a 4A team," Capps told his team, according to the Hickory Daily Record. "Now you get a chance to beat a defending state champion."
Blocked punts lead to comeback: Clay Jones blocked two punts in the final five minutes to lead
Broughton (Raleigh) to a 30-27 comeback win over
Terry Sanford (Fayetteville). Terry McDonald (16 carries, 235 yards) rushed for his third touchdown to put the Bulldogs up 27-7 in the third quarter. But Jones' blocked punts gave the Caps the ball at their opponent's 21 and 14 yard lines, respectively, which led to the final 10 points of the game.
Just like last year: Clayton, the only team to beat 3-AA state finalist
South Johnston (Four Oaks) in the regular season last year, beat its rival again this year by a score of 21-20. South quarterback
Michael Booker threw 15 straight completions at one point, but Josh Doughty made a crucial interception with two minutes left to seal the win.
Not at all like last year:South Caldwell (Hudson) was 3-0 when it lost to
Ashbrook (Gastonia) last season and didn't win another game. The Spartans again entered this year's contest 3-0, but this time they won 35-7. "As soon as our game was over with Draughn last week our guys were saying that we are not last year, we are going to keep rolling," coach Butch Carter told the Hickory Daily Record.
Harold Gutmann is a professional sportswriter who lives in Durham. You can reach him at haroldgutmann@gmail.com.
