Thoughts on the Dudley-Page game

The Dudley-Page football game at Dudley’s Tarpley Stadium on Monday evening was not a classic but it was one extra-large night for the Panthers Kenny Okoro. Dudley defeated Page 20-14 after Dudley had gone out in front 18-0 but it was KO who stole the show.

I predicted that Dudley would win this game by six and they did but the game was a study of the Page Pirates and their determination to come back after being down by three scores.

I was 6-1 in my high school picks last week with the lone loss being the Northeast Guilford Rams falling to the other Rams up in Reidsville. NEG made a great comeback after being behind 20-0, closing the gap to the 34-28 final with Reidsville the winner.

Back to the Dudley(4-1)-Page(2-3) game. The Dudley Panthers’ Kenny Okoro stole the show with 2 touchdown catches and 3 interceptions. KO is the man and Dudley may give the Triad 3-A conference some extra action up at the top. Both Dudley QB’s looked good, with Ricky Lewis being the better runner and Dennis Jenkins the more efficient passer. The Dudley defense is led up front by Chris Neal and Josh Jones both junior linemen.

Dudley has two steady runningbacks in Kyree Ward and Joseph Jackson and punter Julian Alford is another threat. The Panthers also had a chance to use Torey Warren at the wide-out spot and he provided an additional receiving option to go with Kenny Okoro. Dudley’s kicking game never got off the ground when it came to extra point attempts and the Panthers may have to go back to Plan B and go for two after every touchdown.

The Page Pirates have a very mobile quarterback in Will Newman and he was able to pick up big gains on the ground running against the Panthers and he was also able to complete 2 TD passes, both going to receiver Corey King.

Newman is only a junior and he is the key to the Pirates fortunes. Newman will give Grimsley fits but he will also be putting his life on the line when he goes off trying to run the ball up the field against the Whirlie defense. Newman has a strong arm and can throw it straight up and across the field or go to the outside. On the outside he likes to hook up with Erik Barnard and they connected more than once on Monday night at Dudley.

I look forward to watching Newman and Page take on Grimsley and the Pirates will call on Calvin Stout, Dequay Thigpen, and Demarcus Ferguson to lead the Page defense. Matt Millisor is an excellent kicker and the battle between him and Grimsley’s K/P Stefan Shepherd should be priceless.

I hit on that Southwest Guilford game with Western because I called for SWG to win if Tyler Naron plays, and he did, after sitting out of the Cowboys soccer game with High Point Central last Thursday. If Naron didn’t play Monday night vs. the Hornets I was in the WG corner, but even if Naron sat out SWG probably would have come out on top. The final was something like 32-17 SWG.

41 thoughts on “Thoughts on the Dudley-Page game

  1. WOW, WOW !
    Page you better be thankful for Will Newman and start looking for another coach as the pirates get a glimps of the good old days with Kevin Marshall rocked the house as QB. But we did have a true 4A coach at the time that knows better than to have an onside kick at halftime. On a positive note, this Newman kid is for real. He is just a junior. In the Ragsdale game in only one hal, while injuried he accounted for 201 of the 283 yards. If he only had some recievers, look out record book.

  2. Grimsley is not scared of nobody. If they want to play us put us on the schedule. And grimsley team is also young.

  3. I am a old Page guy and I must admit I was hopeful of the current team and coach. There is no doubt that there is a great deal of talent on the team. I have watched those kids over the last few years at Mendenhall. There coach was fantastic and instill winning in their blood. I am not sure what is up presently. I am like others amazed to watch Will Newman. He truely has a gift as we witnessed in both lacrosse and football. I don’t believe he could do more to help his team. It is time for the team to step up and the coach to rise to this level.

    All ways a pirate!
    Weeser

  4. Coach Allen Brown had to go to the hospital after last week’s Thomasville game because of chest pains and he had several clogged arteries and went through quadruple by-pass surgery.

    We hope the coach is doing well in recovery and now will the T’ville Bulldogs use this as an excuse when they see their winning streak come to an end in the 1-A playoffs. T’ville is from what the rumors tell us, a 2-A or 3-A school playing at the 1-A level.

  5. The whirlies don’t need Newman. Ever heard of Zach Maynard? He’s not bad. Page will go down this year by at least three touchdowns. WHIRLIE PRIDE!

  6. Thats right whirlies by at least 3 touchdowns, and i dont think t’ville or reidsville wants to come down to jamieson stadium(the largest high school football stadium in nc)they might get scared of 10,000 seats. The newman kid is good thogh just dont think the whirlie D will give up points

  7. Thomasville will play anywhere—when you win the last 3 STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS you are not scared of any team or any stadium. I was trying to find out the Whirlies last championship, do the record books go back that far?

  8. The Whirlies would kill little old Thomasville. We play guys like Page, Greenville Rose, Boiling Springs Crest, Dudley, Charlotte Independence, and Matthews Butler. Thomasville beat a Davie County team that had lost their QB and still only won by just a point.

    If the Thomasville Bulldogs came to Greensboro they would be going home in a Pine Box. The only team the Bulldogs would beat in Greensboro would be Smith and Brownie Troop 211 could beat them.

    Tell the Bulldogs to shut up or get some of their girls coming over here and see if they have anything to say. The Bulldog players sure aren’t doing anything that requires a brain. The Bulldogs can’t compete with Greensboro Grimsley, Page or Dudley and remember Grimsley is the best team in this town.

    You won’t see any Bulldog football players saying anything over here in Greensboro because they don’t got no guts. I take that back, several of their dads have big fat guts that hang out over their pants and drag the ground.

    Any person from Thomasville ought to be ashamed of themselves and that goes for most of the Page Pirates too.

    Go Whirlies and Go Jane W our number one fan.

  9. Grimsley currently has fewer men serving time in State and Federal prisons than PAGE and Thomasville combined. JW

  10. At least the Thomasville players have championship rings while they serve there time—We are not runner-up U like the Whirlies.

  11. Wade, I don’t ever remember Grimsley playing Crest or Independence in the past 3-4 years. Only Butler and Rose, Page and Dudley are there every year no matter what. They were supposed to play Crest, but didnt.. so you cant really use them as an example.

    Thomasville is a quality program that would keep any game close and could probably win against 90% of all the schools in NC. There are some schools that i cant see them beating as easy, like Reidsville, Indy, Butler, West Charlotte, Hoggard, Richmond County, Scotland County(during a good year), Garner, Charlotte Latin, Southview, Western Alamance, and Crest.

  12. Originally posted by whirliefan:Thats right whirlies by at least 3 touchdowns, and i dont think t’ville or reidsville wants to come down to jamieson stadium(the largest high school football stadium in nc)they might get scared of 10,000 seats. The newman kid is good thogh just dont think the whirlie D will give up points

    The only reason Jamieson Stadium is as big as it is, is because the city of Greensboro built it. If the money came out of the athletic department at Grimsley, it wouldnt have been that nice or that big. That’s why Greensboro College plays there, because it isnt all Grimsley’s stadium.
    And if you think about what you just said alittle bit harder, why would Thomasville be scared of 10,000 seats? They have played in 3 college stadiums in the past 3 years and have won 3 state championships in a row. Why would they be scared of seats, when that is what they see at the end of every season. Seats in college stadiums that are 40 to 50 thousand seats bigger then Jamieson. You dont make any sense. Its like your about to eat your own words, if school is scared of seats, it would probably be Grimsley, they see the seats at NC State for the first time in, what was it, 36 years or something… and they go on to lose 21-0. Whose, “scared of seats” now?

  13. Hey man chill out it was just a joke i got respect for both of those programs. But Grimsley did play Indy in the 03 and 04 playoffsand if you remeber in 05 crest had to forefit

  14. I agree with you Whirlie Fan, but I think we are much better than Page and we have always been better than Page. Look at this year’s records. Grimsley 5-0 and Page 2-3 and barely at that. Page has a good QB but it will take more than that to beat Grimsley this year. When’s the last time Page beat Grimsley? It’s been a few years and we are talking about current days. Page will not beat Grimsley again for a while, that’s a fact. PAGE has no business on the Grimsley campus and Thomasville would probably need a map to figure out to get over here to Greensboro.

    Grimsley Rules and PAGE needs to check their diplomas and make sure they are legit, there have been many irregularities within the Guilford County School System in recent years and a diploma from PAGE might not be worth the piece of paper it is written on.

    Dan the Whirlie Fan.
    We don’t need no rope, we’ll kill them on the field.

  15. After looking back, i do see that Grimsley played indy in 2004, not 2003. Grimsley didnt even make the playoffs in 2003.

    And i said in my first comment, that Grimsley was supposed to play Crest but didn’t, so using them as an example doesnt matter.

  16. Dan, I will admit.. Grimsley has turned the football program around, and have been dominate in Greensboro since 2004ish. But to say, that Grimsley has always been better then Page. Wow, were you born yesterday? Page literally dominated Grimsley for 43 out of the last 50 years.

    Dan, if you remember last year, Grimsley was ranked 6th in the state (4A) and Page was 2-4, Grimsley was supposed to take Page to the woodshed last year.. Page was up on Grimsley at the beginning of the 4th quarter 10-7. It took the heroics of Lionel Shoffner to score 2 4 quarter TDs to win it for Grimsley. It doesnt matter what either teams record is when this game is played. Both teams have a chance to win.

    If its one thing i dont get about Grimsley fans its why they are so cocky. I dont think ive ever meet one humble Grimsley fan. Someone please prove me wrong.

  17. Kevion Lathem is doing well at Penn State, he redshirted this year and is working out to get bigger and faster.

    Also, Remene Alston (RB graduated in 2006) is getting some rushing attempts in at Oregon.

  18. If there is a better rivalry in the state i want 2 hear about it because Grimsley-Page is just awesome. I love seeing both sides of the stadium full because at jamieson the visitors side is always empty(except when page comes)

  19. Inreply to that editors note, about http://www.ncpreps.com , To post on the the message boards is absolutley free. to get all the news feeds and what not about high school prospects is $100 a year. Thats what I think Greensboro Sports needs, is a Message Board. All the fans would be able to talk about what they want to. I sent Dan a email about a suggestion for a message board, and for some reason i got a email back with an error message. Just a suggestion. =)

  20. I fixed the email link. I had turned it off because of the SPAM we get here. We might try a message board this Fall, if everyone can keep it clean. There have been several Sports Message boards – Greensboro Hockey being the most active – over the years; the problem is that they often get personal which eventually kills to board.

  21. Does anyone realize the inner rivalries inside the Grimsley Page game this year? Many of the players from both sides played together in middleschool, plus there are players like James Hinson and Stefan Shepherd that are former pirates who played well under the coaching of Bob Via but were not welcomed by the new coach. Now playing for the whirlies, those men have to come out against old team mates. I think this year is going to be one of the biggest years for the Page Grimsley game and also one of the best.

  22. Guys, you could almost write a book on the all the players and where they are coming in from. Shepherd and Hinson Jr. to Grimsley from Page, Zach Maynard and Keenan Allen at Grimsley fron Eastern Guilford, James Scales III at Grimsley fron Northeast Guilford, Will Newman at Page from Eastern Guilford, James ‘Tre Perry III at Dudley last year from Eastern Guilford, Rashad Shaw at Western Guilford from Northwest Guilford, Sean Pless a freshman at Northwest from Western and Pless is a starting runningback as a frosh and the list goes on and on.

    We may do an entire article on this one day. Tell all the Page and Grimsley players to get in here at Greensborosports.com….We need to hear from Maynard, Newman, Moore, Stout, Barnard, Daub, Allen, McNeil, Thigpen, Ray, Brown, O’Dell, Schultz, Shepherd, Millisor, and others. We always need to hear from the other schools as well.

    We know that many of you come to and read at the site but you need to follow the lead of PagePirates44, WhirlieFan, Dan, Greg, Jane, Wade and others and get in here and get something started with some comments.

    Wasn’t Mike Sheley one of the most well-known Page #44’s in school history? I remember that kid and I think he went to Elon as a linebacker and ended up getting injured and that curtailed his career.

    Can you imagine Eastern Guilford if they would have had James Perry, Zach Maynard, Will Newman, and Keenan Allen at the same time?

  23. Yes, Mike Sheley is one of the most well-known Page #44’s. I graduated from Page in 2006 but i know A LOT about the football history and past players as well as current stats and info.

    If a message board was started, of course some moderators would be needed to regulate the boards, make rules and enforce them promptly. They will always prevail with good admins.

  24. This is a great website! The Page Grimsley stuff is great. Be careful, Page is a sleeping dog that is about to wake up. They are only a few plays away from going 5-0. The Page / Grimsley game should decide the conference champs. The Page /Davie game is prehaps a look at the two best quarterbacks in the state. Should be a great game to watch. Do I stay and watch Grimsley slaughter Reynolds or watch two QBs air it out in the QB show? Good question?

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