PrepsNow Playbook: Little things add up for Middle Creek’s unbeaten start

One of the biggest plays Middle Creek’s offense made in its 30-10 win over Garner Monday night wasn’t a scoring play. And it didn’t even come on the positive side of the 50-yard-line.

Up 20-10 and on the opening drive of the third quarter, the Mustangs faced a third-and-14 from their own 16-yard-line. The play didn’t start ideally.

Garner’s interior defensive line got immediate pressure on Middle Creek quarterback Dominique Shoffner from the snap, forcing him back in the pocket. Shoffner started to roll to his left, just in time to avoid the now closing Garner stud Matthew Butler from his left defensive end spot (the blindside).

Shoffner avoided Butler and found the target he wanted downfield in Riley Frederickson coming on a crossing route from the right side of the field to the left sideline.

Shoffner lofted a high pass that the 6-foot-1 Frederickson was able to leap up and grab amid a crowd of three Garner defensive backs and another Middle Creek receiver in about a 5-by-5-yard hole.

The 25-yard gain kept the drive moving (It concluded with a field goal and nearly wiped out half of the third quarter clock), and ended the Trojans’ hopes of grabbing early momentum in the half.

“It was a huge play,” said Middle Creek coach Randy Ragland. “I wish that was something I could say we talked about, but that was all Dominique and those guys just making plays, knowing what to do at the right time.”

Northern breaks through

Enough with the 0-5 and 0-6 starts. Northern Durham won its first regular-season nonconference win on the field since a 23-13 victory at Apex on Oct. 12, 2012. The Knights had lost 18 straight, not counting a game against Greensboro’s Dudley High on Sept. 26, 2014, that the Panthers had won 24-6 before having to forfeit.

The Knights’ schedule has done it no favors the last few years and won’t this year. Still left for Northern in this year’s nonconference schedule are Millbrook and Southern Durham.

Northern’s 1-2 start to the year is its best since the 2012 season. The last three seasons started 0-5, 0-6 and 0-6, but each time Northern finished at least third in the PAC-6.

Carter reels them in

In three games, Clayton junior wide receiver has surpassed last year’s receiving totals in three games. He has 547 yards (445 last year) and eight touchdown catches (seven last year) in the Comets’ aerial attack that leads the Triangle with 357.3 yards per game.

Rain can be a fan’s MVP

If you are an high school football fan (or a college scout for that matter) and wanted to see as many teams as you want, the early-season weather that has moved games off Fridays and onto Thursdays, Saturdays, Mondays and Tuesdays alike is a blessing in disguise.

In three weeks, high school football in the greater Triangle has been played on 11 different days. So long as one of your games was last Friday’s South Granville hosting J.F. Webb in Tropical Storm Hermine, you could’ve seen 22 different high school teams before the NFL season kicks off.

The Starting 11: players of the week

(Times named to The Starting 11 this season in parentheses.)

Holton Ahlers, D.H. Conley (1): Threw for five touchdowns and ran in another in a 44-7 win at Washington.

Carnaji Andrews, Rolesville (1): Completed 13 of 23 throws for 276 yards and five touchdowns.

Devin Carter, Clayton (1): Caught 13 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns.

Dontavies Harris, J.H. Rose (1): Ran 32 times for 240 yards and six touchdowns, including all three of the Rampants’ overtime touchdowns to win 54-48 at Leesville Road in triple overtime.

E.J. Hicks, Rolesville (1): Caught four passes for 147 yards and three touchdowns.

Darius Hodge, Wake Forest (1): The N.C. State linebacker recruit picked off two passes and returned one for a touchdown against Southeast Raleigh.

Tyshawn Milam, East Wake (1): Ran 17 times for 149 yards and two touchdowns and was also 10 of 20 passing for 198 yards and three touchdowns.

Ricky Person Jr., Heritage (1): Had 18 carries for 183 yards and four touchdowns.

Larry Rountree III, Millbrook (1): Ran 26 times for 136 yards and three touchdowns.

Bryce Wheaton, Holly Springs (1): Caught a touchdown pass, recovered a blocked punt in the end zone and had two interceptions in a loss to Northern Durham.

Tyreese Williams, Franklinton (1): Ran 16 times for 243 yards and three touchdowns.

4-point stance: top defenses

Orange: Alex Long had a 40-yard interception return and the Panthers held Riverside to 94 yards of offense (1-of-12 passing, 21 yards) in a 14-0 win.

Riverside: It’s not often you see a losing team’s defense being honored, or two defenses from the same game even, but the Pirates’ D didn’t allow an offensive touchdown – and just 62 yards of offense – to Orange.

Sanderson: Had three defensive touchdowns – an interception from Tyrell Ford and a fumble and interception return from Alim McNeill – in a 48-6 win against Apex.

Wake Forest: Intercepted seven passes – tied for third-most in NCHSAA single-game history – in a 48-13 win against Southeast Raleigh. Darius Hodge and Jeremy Johnson returned picks for touchdowns. Hodge and Will Jones had two apiece. The only two NCHSAA teams with more picks in a single game each had eight.

Quick hits

▪ Standout Wake Forest defensive lineman Xach Gill switched his jersey from No. 94 to No. 54 last week to play on both sides of the line.

▪ Clayton quarterback Landen Leiser threw six interceptions but came up when it mattered most. He found Connor Shank in the corner of the end zone with 11 seconds left to give the Comets a 26-25 win. Leiser had 319 yards on 24 of 52 passing with four touchdowns. It was Shank’s only catch. South Johnston forced eight turnovers in all in the loss.

▪ West Johnston, which was idle last week, is the only area team to still have a season-long shutout. The Wildcats face a powerful offense on Friday with next-door rival Cleveland.

▪ The Cap-8 saw four teams suffer their first loss of the season, but the league still looks like the strongest. With two weeks of nonconference games left (most teams will play one game and have a bye week), the league is 17-5

▪ The PAC-6 got a bad rap over the last seasons thanks to its teams – sans Hillside – doing poorly in nonconference. Now, only Jordan is winless through three weeks of the season and Person (2-1), Hillside (2-0) and Cardinal Gibbons (3-0) – which didn’t join the league until last year – are above .500

▪ As the area’s only nine-team conference, the Southwest Wake Athletic starts league play this Friday. With only two late-season nonconference games left on the schedule, the SWAC is 8-17. Five of those wins belong to Middle Creek and Fuquay-Varina. The SWAC has four winless teams but that will be cut in half after Cary visits Panther Creek and Athens Drive visits Apex this Friday.

▪ Cedar Ridge is off to its best start in school history with a 3-0 mark thanks to three blowouts. The Red Wolves have won 60-0, 55-6 and 47-6, albeit against winless Carrboro, winless Jordan-Matthews and East Chapel Hill, whose only win is against Carrboro. Cedar Ridge made the 2AA semifinals in 2010 but started that year 0-1 under current Enloe assistant Joe Kilby.

“The team chemistry for this team is really good,” coach Scott Loosemore said Tuesday as he prepped for practice. “Even in the preseason, this was a good group to be around.”

Postcard

Russell Blunt Stadium: Greensboro’s Dudley High will visit Hillside’s stadium, named after the former coach that won 17 track and field state titles and coached some of the best basketball players in Triangle history. The game will be a battle of two undefeated teams used to winning – Dudley, led by Virginia Tech quarterback recruit Hendon Hooker, has won three state titles since 2007 and Hillside won the 2010 4A title. They are also two of just a handful of schools still remaining from the old N.C. High School Athletic Conference. The NCHSAC was the athletic association for black schools before integration. Go to the concession stand between the first and second quarter if you can – both bands put on halftime shows you won’t want to miss.

This story was originally published September 7, 2016 at 2:29 PM with the headline "PrepsNow Playbook: Little things add up for Middle Creek’s unbeaten start."