PrepsNow Playbook: Southern Durham’s defense steps up

When Southern Durham kicked off the 2015 season, most of the Triangle’s focus was on the Spartan offense. With 16 starters overall gone from last year’s Big 8 3A Conference champions, the big question centered on who would replace Wake Forest recruit Kendall Hinton at quarterback.

Not a lot of people paid attention to the Spartan defense, where just one starter – cornerback Kaleb Barfield – was returning.

The Spartans got Orange’s full attention last week – shutting out the state-ranked Panthers in the second half of a 34-16 win.

Leading 19-16 at halftime, Southern intercepted three passes (Albert Teet made two of those picks, while Barfield snared one). The Spartans also recovered two fumbles, for a total five takeaways from Orange.

“The bigger the game, the better our defense plays,” Southern Durham coach Darius Robinson said.

Eason-Riddle adjusts to QB1

Leesville Road’s Cooper Eason-Riddle, who has spent his career as a receiver and running back, had six days to prepare for his first start as quarterback. He noticed there were quite a few differences.

“Everyone is looking at you the whole time,” he said of his new position. “When you’re a receiver, you only get the ball a couple times. I just learned I need to trust my players. My O-linemen, they did awesome. Without them, I couldn’t have done anything.”

Wildcats see no upset in big win

West Johnston stunned Southeast Raleigh 15-14 on Thursday night. The win, which followed a 10-quarter span where the Wildcats were outscored 127-14, came as a surprise to everyone outside of the West locker room.

“We didn’t forget how to play and coach in the last three weeks,” West coach Jimmy Williams said of the Wildcats’ three-game skid entering Thursday’s game. “I thought we’d have a great chance to (beat Southeast) if we were in the game at halftime. The last two weeks especially were pretty tough on us, but we didn’t lose confidence in ourselves.”

West’s win happened in part because the Wildcats stymied Southeast’s strong rushing attack.

“We added a linebacker to the box and mixed up our fronts some,” Williams said. “I think we ‘out-physicaled’ them up front and tackled really well.”

Panthers turn to Parker, a lot

The Granville Central offense runs through four-year starting quarterback Jay Parker, but Monday’s 7-6 win against Franklinton took it to a new level of dependence.

Parker, who has more than 8,000 yards passing in his career, either threw or ran on all but five of the Panthers’ plays from scrimmage for 109 yards rushing and 121 passing. He ran in a 1-yard touchdown with 9:59 remaining in the fourth quarter for a come-from-behind win.

“I expected both teams to be in the 20s or 30s,” Parker said. “We drove the ball but made some mistakes. Our defense really stepped up for us. I certainly didn’t think it would be like this.’’

N&O game of the week

Millbrook at Wake Forest: The two Cap-8 4A giants – a literal term in the case of 6-foot-4, 330-pound Wake Forest defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, the No. 1-ranked player in the country – have played each other nine times in just the past five years.

Why so many? In four of the last five years, Wake Forest has ended Millbrook’s season in the playoffs after also winning in the regular season. Millbrook has stars such as quarterback Reid Herring and running back Larry Rountree, but the game will come down to offensive linemen Will Stahmer, Cameron Nelson, Jacob High, Asaad Shaw and Andrew Strickland.

The Starting 11: Players of the week

(times named to Starting 11 in parentheses)

Mark Baldwin, Southern Vance (1): Ran 18 times for 213 yards and two TDs.

Chris Bumpers, Bunn (1): Had four TD runs on 20 carries for 93 yards.

Jaylan Burton, Northern Durham (1): Ran 24 times for 194 yards and three TDs.

Connor Collins, Wake Christian (1): Blocked a punt, got a piece of another, and recovered another blocked punt for a touchdown. He also had a 17-yard touchdown run.

Marius Cooper, Wakefield (2): Caught five passes, three for TDs, for 135 yards.

Cooper Eason-Riddle, Leesville Road (1): Ran for 95 yards and 3 TDs and threw for one TD on 7 of 20 passing for 34 yards.

Devon Lawrence, Wake Forest (1): Ran the ball eight times for 136 yards and three TDs.

Tevin Perry, Bunn (1): Ran 16 times for 263 yards and one TD.

Larry Rountree III, Millbrook (2): Amassed 215 yards on 19 carries for four TDs.

Dominique Shoffner, Middle Creek (3): Completed 11 of 14 passes for 163 yrds and three TDs and added a TD run.

Ishois Times, Southern Lee (1): Ran 12 times for 186 yards and four TDs.

3-point stance: Top defenses

Hillside: Held East Chapel Hill to just 49 yards of total offense in a 54-0 win Monday.

Leesville Road: What a turnaround! The team that allowed 54 points to Panther Creek and 83 to J.H. Rose held Heritage to no points and no rushing yards in a 30-0 win Friday.

South Johnston: Shut out North Johnston 31-0. The Panthers were averaging 32.2 points per game.

Quick hits

▪ Causation or coincidence? Twenty-four of 34 games played in The News & Observer area featured at least one team that was shut out for a half.

▪ Week 6 of the high school football season was the longest week of the year. Games across the state were played last Wednesday, Thursday, Friday as well as Monday and Tuesday. Carrboro at Randleman was moved to this Wednesday and will count toward Week 7.

▪ Rain is in the forecast for this Friday as well. Expect some teams to bump up games to Thursday – which appears to be the least likely day for rain this week.

Postcard

Wake Forest’s Trentini Stadium: There are few better settings for a high school football game than Wake Forest’s massive Trentini Stadium, named after the former player and coach Tony Trentini. It was first called Groves Stadium and opened in 1940 as the home field of the Wake Forest College Demon Deacons. Two years after the college moved to Winston-Salem in 1955, the stadium was sold to the high school for $10 – quite the bargain for a place that can now hold 8,000 fans easily. Today, players march down the steps through the crowd to get to the field, where they’ve won 13 straight home games. When the school was renovated in 2009, a parking deck was added adjacent to the stadium – but you’ll still want to get there early to ensure you don’t have to find street-side parking somewhere else.

This story was originally published September 29, 2015 at 3:23 PM with the headline "PrepsNow Playbook: Southern Durham’s defense steps up."