The Mooresville Blue Devils eat, drink and sleep the wishbone and have for years. South Rowan is in its first year learning the complex offense. And the Raiders got a lesson in how to properly run the wishbone offense — and how to stop one — in a 21-3 nonconference victory.

While Mooresville, ravaged by injuries so far this season, evened its record at 2-2 with its second straight win, inconsistency still plagues Rick Vanhoy’s South team. After averaging 31 points in the previous two weeks, the Raiders managed just three points, despite moving into Blue Devil territory on several occasions.

They just couldn’t score a touchdown, leaving their coach exasperated.

“We have just got to get the ball in the eodzone,” said Vanhoy, whose team fell to 1-4. “But we couldn’t generate any offense. Mooresville had a lot to do with that. If anybody knows how to defend the wishbone, it’s Mooresville.”

South’s last gasp came with just over eight minutes left. Down 21-3, it took advantage of three long runs to get inside the Blue Devil five. Ernie Wiggins raced 12 yards, quarterback Tim Cook ran for 17 and Tore’ Girty scampered down the sidelines for 26. When Wiggins caught a Cook pass for 10 yards, South was on the Mooresville three.

“There’s still a lot of time left and a score would make it 21-10,” said Vanhoy. But facing a third-and-two from the three, Cook was tackled for a three-yard loss. On fourth-and-six, Keith Garrett was thrown for a three-yard loss, ending all hope of winning the game.

The lack of offense offset a good defensive performance from the Raiders, who, despite giving up 309 yards rushing, made big plays to halt a few Mooresville marches. Jay Phillips recovered two fumbles. Ricky Childers intercepted a pass and Brad Lanning forced a few bad throws with good coverage. Mighty-mite Matt Shoemaker played much bigger than his 5-foot-6 frame and Reggie McConneaughey seemed to be in on every tackle.

It left Mooresville coach Mike Carter totally impressed.

“South’s a much better team than they’ve been in the last few years,” said Carter, a former Salisbury and Davie County coach. “They’re very physical. We’ve improved an awful lot over the last few weeks and we struggled getting points against them.”

It didn’t appear to be a struggle at all once the game began. Quarterback Chris Liner, a converted tailback, led the Devils straight downfield on a seven-play, 53-yard march on its first possession for a 6-0 lead.

“That’s a sign of a Mooresville team,” said Vanhoy. “They get after you real quick. But we survived it. In the past, our kids haven’t responded real well to that.”

Mooresville could have put the game away in the second quarter when South began making mistakes. But the Raider defense would not allow it to happen.

A Mooresville punt to begin the second period was touched by Lanning and recovered by Mooresville’s Ryan Huffman at the six. But Phillips pounced on Liner’s fumble at the three.

The Blue Devils still scored. On the first play after Phillips’ recovery, Wiggins was trapped in the endzone by Alan Pautsch for a safety and an 8-0 deficit.

“Those are the things that have haunted us for a long time,” lamented Vanhoy. “We have to eliminate those errors. Kids are going to make mistakes. Their kids made mistakes. Ours just seemed to come at the most inopportune times.”

South had its first long drive of the game after Childers picked off a Liner pass inside the 10 and ran it back to the 24. The Riaders used several long runs by scatback Garrett to reach the 32, where Robby Basinger drilled a 42-yard field goal for an 8-3 deficit.

And when South stopped the Blue Devils on their first drive of the second half, Vanhoy felt like his team was ready to pull ahead. But again, more bad luck.

South’s first possession of the third period ended with a fourth-and-inches situation. Vanhoy elected to punt and the kick was tipped after a hard rush. Mooresville, starting on the South 26, quickly scored on four plays for a 14-3 advantage.

“When it’s 8-3, you’ve got to punt it,” Vanhoy reasoned. “But they block it and we’re in jail.”

With the South defense tiring, Mooresville used a patented 14-play, 67-yard wishbone drive for an 18-point lead early in the fourth quarter. The courageous Raider defense had nothing left. Unfortunately, neither did a struggling offense.

Vanhoy tried to talk about the positive, stating, “The kids have to understand that we’re playing better.”

Carter said basically the same thing.

“They don’t need to be down or depressed about this,” said the 11-year veteran of Blue Devil football. “They have a chance to have a real good season if they hang in there.”

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