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.