STATESVILLE — Once Statesville got a firm grasp on the ball, the Greyhound ground game attacked East Rowan from every unstoppable angle.
Statesville, which fumbled on its first possession of each half, recovered to rack up 334 rushing yards in a 48-27 win against the Mustangs on Friday night at Greyhound Hollow.
The Greyhounds (4-1,
1-0 in the North Piedmont Conference) broke loose for three long touchdown runs out of the Wing-T against East (1-4, 0-1) despite a less than stellar effort from featured fullback Marcel Tucker.
“Coming into the game, I thought it would be easy to defend, just as long as we didn’t let them outside,” Mustang senior Matt Baker said. “On a couple of plays we let them outside, that’s when they got their big plays.”
Tucker, Statesville’s leading rusher coming into the game with 487 yards, gained just 34 yards on nine carries after struggling last week against Davie County.
A talented trio picked up the slack for the Greyhounds. Starting wingback Matt Winters ran off left tackle for a 66-yard TD run in the first quarter.
The other starter in the backfield, Jamil Mauney, broke loose for 78 yards on eight carries, but his backup was even more effective.
Cam Simpson went around right end for a 40-yard scoring run in the second quarter and sprinted off left tackle in the fourth quarter for a
69-yard touchdown.
Simpson finished with 157 yards on 10 carries and was one of a few backs that benefitted from Tucker’s misfortune.
“Both teams we’ve played in the last two weeks have been focused on shutting us off inside,”Statesville coach Roger Bost said. “We felt like our halfbacks could have a big game if we blocked well because they were sticking that defense in there pretty good.”
The Mustangs put up quite a fight with an impressive outing on the ground themselves.
East rushed for 359 yards against a Greyhound defense that had limited its opponents to 189.6 yards a game on the ground.
Cal Hayes Jr. rushed 20 times for 111 yards and one touchdown, and fullback Jacob Moore bullied his way up the middle for 105 yards on 15 carries with one score.
“If you keep going up the middle, it’s got to open up the end for Calvin sometime,”Moore said. “They can’t leave it wide open in the middle like that, you can’t cover two people at one time.”
Said East coachTomEanes, “We read the triple-option, and whatever the triple-option tells us, we do.”
Eanes altered his offensive strategy after watching film of Davie County’s narrow win against the Greyhounds last week.
The Mustangs, which run out of the hambone, also set up in the I-formation and wishbone and had success against the Statesville defense.
“The change in the offense gave a different look,”Hayes said. “Teams look at our film and see all hambone.”
Hayes also gave the Greyhounds a different look by catching two passes for eight yards, including a 5-yard TD reception from quarterback Drew Davis in the first quarter after the Greyhounds fumbled on their second play from scrimmage.
Hayes jumped up in traffic, caught Davis’ lofted pass and was able to get the tips of both toes inbounds near the back of the end zone to give East an early lead.
“Me and Drew made that route up, it wasn’t the route we were suppose to run,”Hayes said. “It was kind of like a game of catch in the backyard.”
East converted both Statesville fumbles into touchdowns, but the Greyhounds were just too tough.
Statesville linebacker Cornelius Sawyer picked off a screen pass intended for Hayes and ran 30 yards untouched for a TD that gave Statesville its first lead at
14-6.
With the Greyhounds ahead 27-15 in the third quarter, Deangelo Savoy returned an East punt 54 yards for another score.
Statesville was clicking on all cylinders and looked like a team that could easily snatch up one of the NPC’s two playoff berths.
“We have confidence in our football team, I told them that before the game,”Bost said. “They don’t know how good they could be when everything comes together.”
Notes: East’s Josh Harbinson and Statesville’s Justin Rackley and Larry Turner were “eliminated,” not ejected from the game in the fourth quarter. All three were called for personal fouls, and the referees told each coach to sit their players for the rest of the game.
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Contact Bret Strelowat 704-797-4258 or bstrelow@salisburypost.com
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