WALLBURG— For a team that had nothing to play for, the Salisbury Hornets played like
something else Friday night in their season finale.The Hornets forgot about their 0-10 record coming in and made the
playoff-bound Ledford Panthers take notice before succumbing to Ledford’s depth and
size, 31-10.
Salisbury certainly seemed
satisfied with its play. It wasn’t acting like an 0-11 team, huddling up for a few
cheers before making its way to the bus to go home.
“For the seniors,
there’s relief but there’s a whole lot of sadness too,” said first-year
coach Raymond Daugherty. “I feel sorry for ‘em. They deserve better.
“This was a tribute to our
seniors,” he continued. “They didn’t quit in their last football game. It
would’ve been easy to just roll over.”
Instead, Salisbury rolled over the
stunned Panthers (5-0, 8-2) throughout the first half.
Despite leading 17-10 at the
break, Ledford had been outrushed (91-71), outpassed (115-96) and out-first-downed 11-8.
“We outplayed
them,’’ said Daugherty. “We made them sweat.”
After a little heart-to-heart chat
with coach Dick Cline at halftime, the Panthers got a bit more serious in the second half.
Cline simply handed the ball off to punishing fullback Madison Hedgecock, who bruised for
121 of his 165 yards in the final two quarters. Ledford’s two third-quarter scores
were enough to seal Salisbury’s fate.
Cline expected a win but certainly
not the type of solid performance from the Hornets. He handed out the appropriate praise
afterward.
“I thought they looked very
impressive,” said Cline. “They caught us a little off-guard because we
weren’t expecting them to run the football the way they did. And on the two films we
saw, they didn’t throw the ball a lot.”
Salisbury did both as soon as the
game began.
Ken Drye ran through the Panther
defense easily while senior quarterback Terry Johnson sprinkled in some completions to
Justin Johnson and Markeice Daugherty. Four first downs later, Drye sprinted into the
endzone from 12 yards out and an apparent 7-0 lead.
But two late flags hit the ground,
one for holding and another for Drye supposedly taunting Ledford after he scored.
“(The ref) said he held the
football out at one of their kids,” Daugherty said. “He didn’t say a
word.”
The two penalties suddenly threw
Salisbury back into a first-and 35 which quickly became a third-and-43 and a 74-yard drive
was squelched.
The sequence was typical of
Salisbury’s season, especially when Ledford drove 73 yards for a 3-0 lead.
Ledford upped the lead to 10-0 but
the Hornets found some resiliency in the second period, racing downfield on two long
scoring drives.
DeMarcus Davidson had an 11-yard
run and Drye an 18-yarder on the first march of 74 yards. Johnson drilled a 10-yard
completion to Justin Johnson, taking the ball to the three-yard line, where Drye went over
for a 10-7 deficit.
After Josh Hall found Sam Cecil
for a long scoring pass and a 17-7 Ledford advantage, Salisbury took over 81 yards from
the endzone with just 2:41 remaining.
A 37-yard Johnson-to-Daugherty
pass brought the ball to the Panther 10 with 10 seconds remaining setting up Patrick May
for a 27-yard field goal and a seven-point deficit at intermission.
“We couldn’t play any
better than we did in the first half,’’ said Daugherty. “And that’s a
good football team over there. Ledford, year in and year out, is tough.”
“We were happy at
halftime,” said Drye. “Maybe a little too happy, though. It seemed like a
different game in the second half.”
That’s because Hedgecock, a
6-foot-3, 240-pound UNC recruit, took over. He ran for 66 of an 80-yard drive that ended
with another Cecil touchdown catch.
“Madison wasn’t feeling
well,” Cline said. “His stomach was bothering him. I personally didn’t
think he ran as well as he has.”
And if tackling Hedgecock
wasn’t hard enough, Drye added, “He falls forward six yards when you do tackle
him.”
Ledford scored on its next drive
also and the rest of the game was sloppy and penalty-marred.
But Salisbury’s defense kept
Ledford from scoring any more points. The Panthers missed one field goal and Darren Lasco
blocked another.
“They swarmed to the ball
well,” Hedgecock said. Johnson (14-of-26 for 141 yards) had his best day of the
season, hitting Daugherty and Gromyko Walker four times each.
“We didn’t look at the
fact we were 0-10,” he said. “We go out on the field every Friday night just
like everybody else. We just think about the certain game we’re playing, not our
record.”
n
NOTES: Drye rushed for 79 of the
team’s 118 yards. ... Salisbury led in second quarter plays 23-10. ... Ledford faces
High Point Central next week for the Central Carolina Conference title. |
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