SPENCER— His favorite receiver sat on the bench with a towel draped over his head and
a feverish visiting crowd grew more confident with every one of his eight straight
incompletions.All the
things that can make a great quarterback look average in any given game stood in Mario
Sturdivant’s way Friday night, and still he offered just a little bit more from deep
down inside. It was just enough to lead his North Rowan Cavaliers to a 26-21 win over East
in the fierce annual nonconference battle that now has gone to the Cavs nine straight
times.
“My quarterback showed great
poise tonight,”North head coach Roger Secreast said of Sturdivant, who scored all
four North touchdowns. “He really matured and turned into a great athlete this
year.”
Sturdivant’s talents faced
every possible test against the Mustangs, who forced the senior QB out of the pocket at
will, played tight defense on his receivers and thrived after North’s top receiver,
Andre Byrd, pulled a hamstring returning a kickoff. All six of Sturdivant’s tosses in
the third quarter fell incomplete as East built a 21-14 lead.
“The reason the passing game
wasn’t working was because East Rowan was not letting us pass the
football,”Secreast said. “They had six, seven people in pass defense, plus we
had Byrd hurt, too.”
But Sturdivant troubles teams with
more than his arm, and he followed a great kick return by Alfonzo Miller with a 31-yard
quarterback sneak to put North 11 yards away from tying the game.
From there, he rolled right out of
the shotgun formation toward the East sideline with several members of the East defensive
front giving chase before reversing course to the left. He turned the corner around the
defense and darted toward the goal line, where he met Cal Hayes Jr. head on and bowled his
way into the end zone for an 11-yard score that covered closer to 75 yards.
“That was designed to give to
the running back, but Isaw an open hole and said, ‘What have we got to
lose?’” Sturdivant said. “The line did a great job.”
A missed two-point conversion
attempt still left East on top at 21-20 with most of the fourth quarter remaining. The
Cavs’ defense sent East reeling on the next series, with junior Marcus Lawing turning
in back-to-back quarterback sacks, but North didn’t go anywhere on its next series
and East got the ball back. On second down from their own 34-yard line, East fumbled and
North’s Keighan Butler pounced on it.
Five QB sneaks later, Sturdivant
stood in the end zone and the Cavs led 26-21.
“We let Sturdivant beat us
more so with the run than the pass,”said East head coach Jeff Safrit of the
quarterback’s quiet 13-for-32 passing night.
Another missed conversion still
left East down six with nearly three minutes remaining. A short kickoff started East near
midfield, and when Mustang quarterback Raymondo Brady floated a deep pass to Hayes,
East’s hopes multiplied exponentially when the sophomore stretched out as far as
possible and made a diving catch at the 16 with two minutes to go.
East followed a timeout with a
short gain on the ground, then Brady threw for the end zone. On second down, Miller nearly
intercepted a pass to the corner intended for Brent Lambert. Brady threw over the middle
on third down and watched Dominique Bates make a great defensive play on a pass intended
for Andrew Barrier.
Then came fourth down. North sent
a strong rush at Brady, who eluded two defenders and saw Hayes in the back of the end
zone. He tossed up a high pass in that direction which Hayes and Miller jockeyed for, with
Miller getting position and knocking the pass away. All that remained was for the Cavs to
run out the clock.
“I thought we would
score,”Hayes said. “We tried to run and that didn’t work, then we tried to
pass. I think the ref missed one, they were holding my shirt. I think we came up one
penalty short.”
“I thought there was
definitely some contact on that,”Safrit said. “Maybe you call it in that
situation, maybe you don’t. I don’t know.”
One thing Safrit was certain on,
though — East’s two fumbles that led to North touchdowns played huge roles in
the final score.
Sturdivant found Chris Phillips
from 28 yards out on the final play of the first quarter for a 6-0 lead before East went
ahead on a Chris Faavesi 2-yard run and Hunter Kepley PAT.
With less than two minutes left in
the half, East tried to run time off the clock but fumbled on its own 30, where Cav Ras
Blackwell scooped up the loose ball and advanced it to the 25. Sturdivant found Michael
Blount in the end zone from 3 yards out — despite the hand Antwan Blakeney got on the
ball — and North was up 14-7.
“Turnovers again. At the end
of the half we were trying to take time off the clock and we fumbled and they scored. At
the end of the game we fumbled on second down,” Safrit said. “The defense
can’t keep stopping an offense with that kind of speed.”
Moments after North’s second
touchdown, East showed off some of its own speed as Hayes fielded the kickoff at the
18-yard line, broke a few tackles up the middle and raced to the end zone with nobody even
close to catching him. In the blink of an eye, the halftime score turned to 14-14.
“Everybody was congratulating
me, saying ‘We’ve got a chance to beat them, we’ve got a chance to beat
them,’”Hayes said of the locker room mood.
But East forgot about just one
thing — Super Mario was on the North sideline.
“It was tough. We knew we had
to pull this one out,”Sturdivant said, looking relieved after the game.
“I’m just glad we won. They’re a very good ball team.” |
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