Shawn Williams poses with Coach Thomas after Williams breaks the school field goal record with a kick of 49 yards
With weather threatening at game time the clouds held back and the much anticipated game that was postponed two weeks ago due to the flu bug got underway. North won the coin toss and elected to defer until the second half.
Shawn Williams set the tone early by kicking the ball into the end zone and forcing the Spartans to start from their own 20. The “Wing T” offense ran by Central seemed to catch the Black Knights off guard in the first half. With the misdirection and hide and go seek plays it was hard to find out who had the ball.
On North’s second series it was time to get the ball rolling and Brennen Dodd hit wide receiver BJ Smith for a pass at the 48 and Smith was off to the races. This was first time North fans had a chance to see the speed of Smith and Smith did not disappoint beating the defender to the end zone by 5 yards.
With North leading 6-0, Shawn Williams made the extra point and was perfect all night on extra points 4-4 and hit one field goal.
Central seemed to eat the clock most of the game grinding out 2-4 yards per carry, but penalties and sacks in the backfield seemed to be the only thing stopping the Spartans from scoring.
North only needed a few plays offensively to score, which meant the defense was on the field for abnormal amount of time. North broke big plays from scrimmage getting them inside the twenty or the end zone in each of its possessions. Central could not match the speed of Dodd, Morgan, Lowery and Tuttle.
With time running out in the first half, North called timeouts to stop the clock and with Central starring at a 4th and long Central went for it and came up 3 yards short. Dodd took over and with 42 seconds the offense moved the ball down to the 32 yard line and with time running out, stopped the clock and brought Shawn Williams to attempt a 49 yard field goal.
Williams lined up for the kick as everyone in the crowd knew this was the first time he had a real shot at breaking the record that he matched last year of 48 yards. Charlie Frye and Williams were tied before the kick. Once the ball was snapped to holder Josh Moser, Williams appeared to get a big foot into the ball and it took mere seconds for the ball to clear the uprights dead center. The kicked would have been good from 60. Congratulation Shawn and we look forward to seeing you break your own record more times this year.
North was able to keep Central out of the end zone until the 3rd quarter when a fumble recovery set up the Spartans with great field position and 4 plays later Central punched the ball in. That would be all the Spartans could get out of their offense. Central did rack up respectable yardage it seemed every drive would end with a sack in the back field. Central only punted one time and gambled on several fourth and short yardage downs on their side of the field and were successful 3 times.
North rolled in the second half making one big play after another. The time of possession was minimal for North because they only needed two or three plays to score. If the Spartans had not been running the Wing T the game would have resembled the massacre of last year’s 52-12 blowout. The Wing T was a good challenge for North and Central seemed to have it down pat, but the mere size and speed of North could not be overcome by the Spartans.
So with North making its annual beat down tour of Davidson County schools, the Black Knights have to find another gear as one of the most brutal conferences in the state gets started in less than two weeks. North will face teams that are faster, stronger, and more complex than the five teams that North has shredded in the pre-conference season.
In the space of 3 weeks North will face two top ten teams, West Forsyth will be up first at North on October 9th, then face Reagan (away) for the first time, and then the Black Knights will travel to Reynolds and Tabor then finish with Davie County. The road is paved with shards of glass in the CPC but North has the talent to make some noise and do some damage in the conference this year.
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