Maybe the Raider defense would have held up against West Forsyth, R.J. Reynolds and Mount Tabor without its junior linebacker.

Perhaps the two interceptions and 17 tackles against the Spartans wouldn’t have been missed and South would have advanced to the 4A state playoffs anyway.

Then again, maybe not.

On Friday night, South Rowan held a 27-14 lead over Mt. Tabor with 1:14 left when Reyes roamed across the field and intercepted his second pass of the night. Before the final gun sounded, head coach Rick Vanhoy searched out his defensive star on the sideline.

“Coach Vanhoy shook my hand and said, ‘Great job, Joel,’ ”Reyes said. “They say that somebody’s always got to be the one to step up. I guess that may have been me.”

It was.

“I said, ‘That play locked up the playoffs for us,’ ” Vanhoy said.

Reyes’ performance marked the end of an incredible regular season for the Raiders and a difficult one for Friday night’s hero. South earned the No. 13 playoff seed not with its 4-7 overall record but the 3-1 effort pulled off in the CPC. The Mt. Tabor win extended South’s season by at least one game, as the Raiders travel to No. 3 Asheville Reynolds Friday.

Reyes will take every game he can get. After starting his first game of the year at linebacker against East Rowan, he separated his shoulder during the following week’s practice.

The waiting game and rehab process didn’t sit well with a player who started as a freshman and a sophomore on the offensive and defensive lines.

“He had a great game against East Rowan and then he popped his shoulder out the next week,”Vanhoy said. “The last three, four weeks is the healthiest he’s been, and now he’s playing the way we thought he could.”

Vanhoy and his coaching staff thought Reyes would thrive at linebacker but didn’t know for sure. The 5-foot-10, 200-pounder actually started at center as a freshman, then moved to nose guard.

“Guys twice my weight and twice my height,”Reyes said with exasperation. “It was a little awkward. I’m glad we’ve got Joe (Finney, 295 pounds) and some of those other guys down there now.”

But the injury, which came on a routine tackling drill, slowed his progress at linebacker.

“Joel’s only had about six, seven games under his belt,”Vanhoy said. “It’s a big step and he’s just learning it and getting more confidence at the position. We felt his aggressiveness would help.”

It did. Reyes came back slowly against Mooresville and gradually improved against Northwest Cabarrus and NorthRowan. Finally, the first conference game arrived. League champion Davie County won 27-17, but Reyes had five solo tackles and six assists.

In wins against West Forsyth and Reynolds, he combined for 10 solo tackles and three assists as South earned victories of 35-17 and 31-27, respectively.

“My shoulder had been bugging me a little bit before, but I just forget about it in games and it’d be a little sore afterward,”said Reyes, who then added with a smile:“Especially when we’re winning, it’s like, ‘Shoulder? What shoulder?’ ”

Then came the clincher against Mt. Tabor. Reyes ended the Spartans’ first drive when he dove for a tipped ball and came up with the INT.

“The quarterback was rolling out and Coach always tells us to go toward the ball,”Reyes said. “We practice tip drills and I guess it paid off.”

Another chance presented itself late in the second quarter, when the quarterback dropped back and threw a strike right at Reyes. He missed that interception because he was checking on the receiver behind him. But redemption came a little bit later, when it mattered most.

“I turned around and it was there,”Reyes said of his second interception. “I guess that was a makeup pick from the second quarter. I saw the end zone but then there were a bunch of people there.”

His only regret was not running it back for a touchdown. That’s something his teammates let him know about, too.

“They think I’m slow. It’s just an illusion,”said a grinning Reyes. “I run so fast I leave a shadow so it looks like I’m still standing there.

“Shh. It’s a secret,”he added with a finger to his lips.