KANNAPOLIS — Not long ago, everyone wanted to know what was wrong with a Kannapolis
defense which had twice surrendered 31 points. But after Friday night’s 20-0 South Piedmont Conference win
over East Rowan, the members of the offensive unit had better be buying lunch for the
defenders, who have allowed seven points over the past four weeks.
“I told (Kannapolis defensive
coordinator) Bill Wightman that their defense is underrated,” said East coach Jeff
Safrit after a frustrating evening in which the Mustangs were limited to eight first
downs. “We just couldn’t do some of the things that we thought we’d be able
to do.”
The discouraging thing for the
Mustangs (5-4, 3-3 SPC) was that Kannapolis’ offensive woes gave East all kinds of
chances to get things done.
Of course, East’s defense had
a little something to do with those Wonder woes. Mustang defenders came out of the blocks
totally unintimidated by the state’s top-ranked 3A team and knocked the stuffing out
of anyone wearing green.
On the Wonders’ first three
possessions — usually three touchdowns — East forced a trio of fumbles.
On the third play of the game,
Kannapolis QB Justin Hardin was stripped and Isaac Washington recovered for East at the
Wonder 31.
With the help of a 15-yard face
mask penalty, East quickly moved to the 3. But on third-and-goal, sophomore QB Drew
Davis’ pass was intercepted by a diving Ryan Craft in the corner of the end zone.
“I knew they were fixin’
to come to my side,” said Craft. “I watched the quarterback, broke on the ball
and I got there.”
“I thought we’d called a
safe play,” said Safrit. “You figure if third down is incomplete, we still get a
field goal and the lead.”
The Wonders’ second
possession died at the East 21 when Hardin was blind-sided by Chris Faavesi and fumbled.
Chris’ brother, Henry, recovered.
The Wonders’ third possession
lasted all of one play. Jason Brown bobbled a handoff and again Henry Faavesi came up with
the ball.
Unfortunately for East, it
couldn’t turn those turnovers into points, as the game became a brutish toe-to-toe
slugfest with the defenses in complete control. It was like two muscular cavemen swinging
clubs at one another. East’s defenders were nothing short of magnificent in a first
half that ended in a scoreless tie.
“I don’t believe
they’ve been hit this year like we hit them,” said East’s Thomas
Hendrickson. “They won’t forget us.”
Hendrickson and Chris Faavesi
destroyed the Wonders’ usually potent option package, denying Hardin the corner.
And when Hardin tried to drop back
and throw, he found Danny Misenheimer and Henry Faavesi much too close for comfort.
“We could get open all
right,” said Craft, who doubles as a wide receiver. “But they were all over
Justin. He said he couldn’t see us.”
The Wonders (9-0, 6-0)
couldn’t run either. Marcello Stanback went over 1,000 yards for the season, but was
hit for losses five times in the first half. Stanback got lots of opportunities to get to
know East linebacker Blake Abernathy a little better.
But as Stanback would say after
the game: “Offense wins games, defense wins championships.”
And the Wonder defenders played
like champs. East’s running game repeatedly hit stone walls named Josh Lee, Lee
Basinger and Desmond Williams.
“Our defense played great,
our offense stunk,” said Safrit bluntly. “Our blocking was a disappointment. We
went back to doing some stuff that we were having trouble with several weeks ago.”
The blocking breakdowns created
enormous pressure on Davis, who threw nearly as many interceptions (five) as completions
(six). The young QB hung in there, but took some wicked licks, especially from Wonder end
Justin Chambers.
In the first half, the Mustangs
ran 24 plays for a miserable 38 yards. They had no pass completions and only three first
downs. With big-play man Calvin Hayes Jr. injured, East’s longest gain in a
close-to-the vest first half was 11 yards.
“Without Cal, it’s just
hard for us to get outside,” said Safrit.
But East did get a big play to
open the second half, as Hendrickson took the kickoff from his goal line to the Kannapolis
39.
“We never had a doubt —
not for a second — that we were going to beat them,” said Hendrickson. “We
were always confident.”
And East looked confident. Keyed
by a Davis-to-Brent Lambert completion for 19 yards, the Mustangs got to the Wonder 14 and
looked poised to take a lead.
But on fourth-and-6, Hunter
Kepley’s field goal try was rejected by Craft.
“The coaches told me to go in
there and block it, so I did,” said Craft, who had been pulled from the game briefly
after missing a tackle on Lambert. “I’m pretty quick off the line, so I almost
over-ran it. I actually blocked it with my back.”
“That was huge,” said
Safrit. “Not scoring there and not scoring on that drive at the start of the game,
that was the difference.”
The blocked field goal was
East’s last chance to get control. Because after the block, Kannapolis’ vaunted
ground game finally got moving.
“We challenged our offensive
line to come off the ball better,” said Kannapolis coach Bruce Hardin. “The
first half, we were soundly whipped at the line of scrimmage. I told our kids that they
were up against the very same people (Misenheimer and Henry Faavesi) that our defensive
line was doing well against.”
Duly inspired, Wally Tuttle and
Kurjuan Kirkpatrick suddenly started punching holes and the Wonders rolled 75 yards to
score. Justin Hardin finally got around Chris Faavesi and raced into the end zone to break
a scoring drought of 31 minutes.
Less than two minutes later, it
was 14-0 after Marcus Rivens sprinted 65 yards with a Jordan Shinn punt. Rivens bobbled
the ball briefly, then roared untouched down the near sideline as Wonder blockers wiped
out all potential tacklers.
“All I had to do was catch it
and run,” said Rivens. “The wall was perfect.”
Rivens picked off a pass on
East’s next series, but Adam Trexler returned the favor, staying home to pilfer a
surprise pass by Stanback to keep the Mustangs close as the third quarter ended.
The Wonders’ final score came
with five minutes left in the game after Charlie Fox’s second interception and a
60-yard run by Stanback, on which he bowled over several weary East defenders.
A sack by Basinger and another
interception by Craft spoiled East’s last-ditch bid to dent the scoreboard.
“We’re not satisfied
just because we played well on defense,” said Safrit. “We’re still alive
for the playoffs, and if that’s the No. 1 team in the state, then we’re not very
far behind.”
A statement with which Bruce
Hardin was in complete agreement.
“The difference in the top
six in this league isn’t any bigger than my thumbnail,” he said.
n
NOTES: East must beat second-place
Concord and Sun Valley in its last two games to stay in the playoff chase. In different
scenarios, East could still get the SPC’s No. 3 spot outright or could wind up in a
drawing for the third spot. ... Kannapolis broke a three-game losing streak to East at
Memorial Stadium. |
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