Patriots reach second consecutive state title game
By Wes Wolfe / Staff Writer KINSTON FREE PRESS
Posted Nov. 7, 2015 at 11:25 AM
Updated at 11:27 AM
This wasn’t your average eight-man football game.
The style of football frequently skewed to deep balls, long runs, finesse plays and total scores that go north of 70 points didn’t show up Friday when Arendell Parrot Academy and Rocky Mount Academy took the field at APA for the state semifinal.
It was power football. Hard hits, loud collisions and jerseys both torn and completely grass-stained in equal measure. And it proved too much for the Eagles, who Parrott dominated defensively and ran hard against to put up a 44-14 victory en route to the Patriots’ (10-1, 7-1) second consecutive state championship game appearance.
Last season, APA lost in the regular season to Rocky Mount by 17 and by 13 in the championship, giving up 92 points over both games. After scoring a 56-35 win to start the season, the Pats shut out RMA in the first half Friday night.
Rocky Mount (7-4, 3-2) had all of minus-4 yards rushing on 24 attempts, forced to seven punts and several turnovers on downs.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our defense. When you stop the run, and make them one-dimensional, it really helps things, and I just thought the defense did a good job,” APA coach Matt Beaman said. “We’ve been working on flying around to the ball and trying to have eight guys around the ball in three seconds, and I thought they did a great job of that tonight.”
Not only that, but when a fumble in the red zone and a later interception both set up Rocky Mount with exceptionally short fields, the Eagles went backward, not forward.
“I think our defense really bowed their neck when they needed to,” Beaman said. “They bailed us out of a lot of tough situations that the offense put them in. But these guys study a lot and they have very heavy formation tendencies, and our guys were able to read their keys and get where they were supposed to very quickly.”
And on offense, an embarrassment of riches. Where goes the offensive most valuable player award – to the offensive line, which opened holes for senior running back Davis Basden, to Basden himself, who powered the team with 21 carries for 160 yards and two touchdowns, or junior Cole Daniels, who took the ball on jet sweeps and punishing goal line rushes to put up four touchdowns and 97 yards on 10 carries?
While both teams benefitted from a big pass or two, Parrott’s rushing attack was the only game in town for most of the game. That meant a 30-0 lead in an otherwise extraordinarily hard-fought gridiron battle before Rocky Mount first got on the scoreboard in the third quarter.
Daniels, who also had a reception for 52 yards, said he was out to prove which was the better team, and that sort of motivation is what kept him pushing against gang tackles well into the fourth quarter, when he scored that fourth touchdown on a 2-yard grind into the end zone.
“Parrott and Rocky Mount have always been pretty heated rivals, and I had that in my mind the whole game, so when it came time to play, I always had that in the back of my mind – just a chip on my shoulder,” Daniels said.
Parrott faces another rematch Saturday, when it takes on St. David’s. The Warriors gave the Pats their only loss of the season, a 50-28 performance in Kinston on Sept. 4. The championship kicks off at 6 p.m. at APA.
PARROTT 44, ROCKY MOUNT 14
Rocky Mount 0 0 8 6–14
Parrott 8 14 14 8–44
First Quarter
APA–Cole Daniels 29 run (Colby McLawhorn run), 9:42
Second Quarter
APA–Daniels 1 run (Daniels pass from Connor Bright), 9:51
APA–Davis Basden 3 run (pass failed), 4:36
Third Quarter
APA–Basden 28 run (Basden pass from Bright), 11:05
RMA–Isaiah Thomas 21 pass from Kyle Holland (Trey Smelcer pass from Holland), 9:32
APA–Daniels 1 run (run failed), 6:29
Fourth Quarter
APA–Daniels 2 run (Raekwon Fulton run), 9:48
RMA–Paul King 22 pass from Holland (pass failed), 7:19
RMA APA
First Downs 6 9
Rushes-yards 24-(minus 4) 49-285
Passing 11-30-2 9-20-1
Passing yards 125 86
Total yards 121 371
Punts 7 4
Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-1
Penalties 8-107 6-30
Individual Statistics
RUSHING–Rocky Mount: Jared McCall 4-8, Caleb Lambert 6-7, Kyle Holland 9-3, Tyson Jones 3-1, Isaiah Thomas 2-(minus 13). Parrott: Davis Basden 21-160, Cole Daniels 10-97, Raekwon Fulton 4-28, Colby McLawhorn 4-8, Phillip Johnson 3-6, Spencer Doyle 2-2, Charlie King 1-1, Connor Bright 4-(minus 17).
PASSING–Rocky Mount: Holland 10-25-2 120, Thomas 1-5-0 5. Parrott: Bright 8-18-1 77, King 1-2-0 9.
Receiving–Rocky Mount: Christopher Rabil 2-45, King 1-22, Thomas 3-22, Trey Smelcer 3-19, Lambert 1-12, Holland 1-8. Parrott: Daniels 1-52, A.J. Banker 4-30, King 1-4, Basden 3-0.
By Wes Wolfe / Staff Writer KINSTON FREE PRESS
Posted Nov. 7, 2015 at 11:25 AM
Updated at 11:27 AM
This wasn’t your average eight-man football game.
The style of football frequently skewed to deep balls, long runs, finesse plays and total scores that go north of 70 points didn’t show up Friday when Arendell Parrot Academy and Rocky Mount Academy took the field at APA for the state semifinal.
It was power football. Hard hits, loud collisions and jerseys both torn and completely grass-stained in equal measure. And it proved too much for the Eagles, who Parrott dominated defensively and ran hard against to put up a 44-14 victory en route to the Patriots’ (10-1, 7-1) second consecutive state championship game appearance.
Last season, APA lost in the regular season to Rocky Mount by 17 and by 13 in the championship, giving up 92 points over both games. After scoring a 56-35 win to start the season, the Pats shut out RMA in the first half Friday night.
Rocky Mount (7-4, 3-2) had all of minus-4 yards rushing on 24 attempts, forced to seven punts and several turnovers on downs.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our defense. When you stop the run, and make them one-dimensional, it really helps things, and I just thought the defense did a good job,” APA coach Matt Beaman said. “We’ve been working on flying around to the ball and trying to have eight guys around the ball in three seconds, and I thought they did a great job of that tonight.”
Not only that, but when a fumble in the red zone and a later interception both set up Rocky Mount with exceptionally short fields, the Eagles went backward, not forward.
“I think our defense really bowed their neck when they needed to,” Beaman said. “They bailed us out of a lot of tough situations that the offense put them in. But these guys study a lot and they have very heavy formation tendencies, and our guys were able to read their keys and get where they were supposed to very quickly.”
And on offense, an embarrassment of riches. Where goes the offensive most valuable player award – to the offensive line, which opened holes for senior running back Davis Basden, to Basden himself, who powered the team with 21 carries for 160 yards and two touchdowns, or junior Cole Daniels, who took the ball on jet sweeps and punishing goal line rushes to put up four touchdowns and 97 yards on 10 carries?
While both teams benefitted from a big pass or two, Parrott’s rushing attack was the only game in town for most of the game. That meant a 30-0 lead in an otherwise extraordinarily hard-fought gridiron battle before Rocky Mount first got on the scoreboard in the third quarter.
Daniels, who also had a reception for 52 yards, said he was out to prove which was the better team, and that sort of motivation is what kept him pushing against gang tackles well into the fourth quarter, when he scored that fourth touchdown on a 2-yard grind into the end zone.
“Parrott and Rocky Mount have always been pretty heated rivals, and I had that in my mind the whole game, so when it came time to play, I always had that in the back of my mind – just a chip on my shoulder,” Daniels said.
Parrott faces another rematch Saturday, when it takes on St. David’s. The Warriors gave the Pats their only loss of the season, a 50-28 performance in Kinston on Sept. 4. The championship kicks off at 6 p.m. at APA.
PARROTT 44, ROCKY MOUNT 14
Rocky Mount 0 0 8 6–14
Parrott 8 14 14 8–44
First Quarter
APA–Cole Daniels 29 run (Colby McLawhorn run), 9:42
Second Quarter
APA–Daniels 1 run (Daniels pass from Connor Bright), 9:51
APA–Davis Basden 3 run (pass failed), 4:36
Third Quarter
APA–Basden 28 run (Basden pass from Bright), 11:05
RMA–Isaiah Thomas 21 pass from Kyle Holland (Trey Smelcer pass from Holland), 9:32
APA–Daniels 1 run (run failed), 6:29
Fourth Quarter
APA–Daniels 2 run (Raekwon Fulton run), 9:48
RMA–Paul King 22 pass from Holland (pass failed), 7:19
RMA APA
First Downs 6 9
Rushes-yards 24-(minus 4) 49-285
Passing 11-30-2 9-20-1
Passing yards 125 86
Total yards 121 371
Punts 7 4
Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-1
Penalties 8-107 6-30
Individual Statistics
RUSHING–Rocky Mount: Jared McCall 4-8, Caleb Lambert 6-7, Kyle Holland 9-3, Tyson Jones 3-1, Isaiah Thomas 2-(minus 13). Parrott: Davis Basden 21-160, Cole Daniels 10-97, Raekwon Fulton 4-28, Colby McLawhorn 4-8, Phillip Johnson 3-6, Spencer Doyle 2-2, Charlie King 1-1, Connor Bright 4-(minus 17).
PASSING–Rocky Mount: Holland 10-25-2 120, Thomas 1-5-0 5. Parrott: Bright 8-18-1 77, King 1-2-0 9.
Receiving–Rocky Mount: Christopher Rabil 2-45, King 1-22, Thomas 3-22, Trey Smelcer 3-19, Lambert 1-12, Holland 1-8. Parrott: Daniels 1-52, A.J. Banker 4-30, King 1-4, Basden 3-0.
