Page Comes Back and Runs Over NW Guilford

A couple of things popped out at me when I saw the stat break down. Page’s defense holding the Northwest rushing game to under 100 yards was huge. In the 2nd half the Pirates made the Vikings do what they haven’t done much of all year, which is pass the ball. I think Page’s game plan was to stop the run and make the Vikings try to beat you in the air.

The Pirates also played a bend but don’t break defense. In the first half, NW Guilford had a 1st and goal from about the 5 yard line and Page stopped the Vikings from getting in on all 4 downs, turning the ball over on downs. Also, Page held the Vikings at the end of the game at the 20 yard line, Northwest needed a touchdown and Page stopped the threat on all 4 downs again.

Page looked like they might run Northwest right off the field on their first possession. The Pirates put together a long 70-yard drive that consumed nearly seven minutes off the clock. The drive was ended when Will Newman snuck in from 1 yard out on third and goal. Austin Anthony’s kick would be blocked and the score is 6-0 at this point in the game.

The rest of the first half for Page would be hampered by a handful of very questionable calls by the referees. The biggest one being, on a Page punt the ball hit a NW player in the back and a line judge saw it and threw his marker down on the ground. Page would pick up the ball and advance to the end zone. The refs huddled for a good 3 minutes and discussed what happened. Instead of Page getting the TD or even the ball where the pirates picked it up. The refs ruled a re-kick. I’m not sure what the ruling on the field was, but I have never seen or heard of that happening before.

That aside, the Vikings would get a gift with the re-kick and towards the end of the half, the Vikings would score off a Carlos Gagliardo catch from Dan Bernard 16 yards out. 7-6 at the half.

Page did a good job of shutting down NW Guilford star RB Chris Kennedy for the most of the game. Sean Pless was more of the threat. NW Guilford would receive the ball at the beginning of the 3rd quarter and they wouldn’t waste time to put together a long drive and score. Pless would plunge into the end zone from 6 yards out. But a very questionable call by the Northwest coaches for the PAT could have cost the Vikings the game. They would elect to go for 2 points, potentially putting Page in a 2 possession deficit, making it 15-6. But, Page would stop the attempt at 2 and the score was 13-6.

The Pirates would put together a nice drive with some big catches by Brad Workinger. The drive would then set up a burst up the middle to the left sideline for a 24 yard TD run. Giving the Pirates much needed confidence. 13-13.

NW Guilford would then try to move down the field on there next possession, but the Page defense shut the Vikings down and would bring up a 3 and out. The Vikings would punt Page deep, inside the 10 yard line. The Pirates would slowly creep out to the 30 yard line. On the next play Page called a drawn up Newman run around the right side. Newman would go untouched into the end zone from 70 yards out for the TD. Just to give a visualization of how fast Newman is, around the 50 yard line, the NW safety and outside linebacker looked like they were standing still as Newman ran by them.

Northwest would get the ball back to try and put a drive together and score, but the Page defense came up big again stopping the Vikings forcing them to punt on 4th and long.

The Pirates would try to run the clock out using all 4 downs to do so. Turning the ball over on downs with about a minute and 40 seconds left on the clock.

Northwest would make a couple of long plays, one of them a 35 yard shuffle pass down the middle to Pless. Setting up a 1st down at the 25 yard line. But, the Vikings offense wouldn’t find anymore openings on the next 4 plays as Page took over after stopping the Vikings tying score drive. Page would kneel down to win the ball game.

Both teams learned a lot from this game. Page took out of it that when your down and battling adversity on the road with the opposing team giving it there all on Senior night and the referees making questionable calls. They never gave up. Northwest played tough and they have a good team over there in Viking Country. NW Guilford plays to their strengths and really controls the line of scrimmage and powers you with their running game. They need to find a way to try and control the tempo of the game a little bit more and they will be a tough out in the playoffs. I think that Page really showed that they edge the Vikings in the speed department last night. But, Northwest really showed that they edge the Pirates in the size department up front. The Vikings offensive line gave Dan Bernard just enough time to throw the ball. Also, even though Will Newman had 3 interceptions he never gave up and put the Pirates offense on his shoulders and scored the tying and go ahead scores.

Page NW Guilford
First downs 13 11
Rushes-yards 34-192 36-91
Passing yards 119 200
Comp-Attempts-Int 10-19-3 11-28-1
Punts-average 3-36 4-34
Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-2
Penalties-yards 10-70 1-5
Page 0 6 7 7 20
Northwest Guilford 0 7 6 0 13

The Vikings are looking at this situation going into the playoffs. Either a 10 or 11 seed in the 4AA West Bracket.

10. NW Guilford or Vance
11. NW Guilford or Vance
Both #3 Seeds with 6-4 records

The Pirates are looking at this situation going into the playoffs. Either a 5 or 6 seed in the 4A West Bracket.

5. East Burke or Page
6. East Burke or Page
Both #2 Seeds with 7-3 records

10 thoughts on “Page Comes Back and Runs Over NW Guilford

  1. Can this site please get someone who didn’t play for Page to report on their games. It sounds like this guy did everything but go down to the track at Northwest and do jumping jacks with the cheerleaders on the Page sideline.

  2. why not give some credit to NW’s defense? They pretty much held the two top scoring offenses in the conference (page, EF) at bay. they picked off 3 passes last night, if not for 2 big plays in the second half by an insanely fast qb,page wouldnt have scored again after the 1st drive. According to ncpreps they have the lowest points given up in the conference despite playing mt tabor, east forsyth, page, and ragsdale. Yet i dont hear people talking much about them.

  3. Sorry, Triad Football, I have never played a down of football in my life.
    I don’t know if there is some misunderstanding or something.

  4. Triad Football,

    The guy who wrote this article DID NOT even play football for Page, just a die hard fan. Lay off. His “job” is to report solely on the Page football games every week.

  5. Originally posted by gborosportsfan:if not for 2 big plays in the second half by an insanely fast qb,page wouldnt have scored again after the 1st drive.

    You can’t really say, “if this happened”, because it didn’t.

    I do see what you are saying though, the NW defense did play well, but they came up short on those 2 drives by Page that resulted in scores. I think the Page defense just played alittle bit better last night, thats all. No hard feelings.

  6. I think the Page defense just played alittle bit better last night, thats all. No hard feelings.

    of course no hard feelings. But page’s defense wasnt playing against a team that has been putting up 30+ points, Nw’s defense was. So its hard to say who played better, Nw’s offense doesnt usually put up a lot of points, Page’s does, just like EF. Yet at the end of the day both offenses were contained, and really the things that page usually does well, they werent able to do. some would argue that there were holds on both of those long Newman runs. but it was a good game.

  7. It’s not Page’s fault that NWG’s offense doesn’t put up 30+ points a game. To be honest, I’d rather have a offense that puts up a lot of points. Just like you said, if Page’s offense was contained, then NW Guilford was contained just as much if not more. You can’t say that NWG doesn’t have a good offense. They have the best rushing offense in the Metro. NW could have scored 28+ points last night, but didn’t because of the Page defense. A stop on 1st and goal from the 5, for no points.. come on now..

    There were a lot of no calls for NWG too (especially holding). That’s all I’m going to say about that.

  8. ok first of all, the only reason i said anything about the two holds was becasue you metnioned in your article that there were terrible calls against page, so im just reiterating that the bad calls went both ways, its all a matter of perspective. Second im not saying anything bad about pages defense. im just saying, well forget it, you are a page fan, you see things as a page fan, im just a nuetral observer who was really supprised at norhtwest’s defense, becasue i dont hear anyone saying anything about them. then you go to the stats, annd you see they are the best defense in the conference… they will be a tough out in the playoffs…

  9. It’s still opinion, and I still respectfully disagree.

    I’m not taking anything away from the NW defense. But, Page’s played well too.

    You can say that NW has the best defense in the conference. But, 3 points is the margin that is between the 2 teams. I think they are pretty even.

  10. I’m a Page fan myself, and I would like to congratulate Page for an awesome win…There is no doubt in my mind that Northwest is one of the best 6-5 teams that you’ll see on a football field…The game was hard fought by both sides, so to make a determination on the better team would be to look at the scoreboard…Mentioning a high scoring East Forsyth as basis for your claim would be naught, because Page held EF to 9 points and could have won the game but came up short with a missed field goal…So, no matter the what if’s, the better team on that particular night was EF…Also, factor in that NW is one of the best running teams in the conference if not the best with the two really good backs that y’all have, and to hold them two to 81 total yards rushing was an extremely great goal that Page accomplished…I’m not for sure if #24 for NW has had that low a night rushing in quite some time…As far as the questionable hold calls go, well, let us just say that they weren’t called; therefore, there were no holds…I watched the game and seen many times where NW could have been guilty, but I can’t expect the refs to watch and see each player on every single play…NW got a break too when a Page punt hit one of the NW players and an inopportune whistle blows right before the Page player picks the ball up at the 10 or 15 yard line…So, the score might have been a little different had that whistle not blown too early…However, we could go all night about the what if’s…NW is good, but Page was just a little better…Simply put…I wish NW well in the playoffs, and I think if they play as hard as they did last night, then they could make a strong case to finish well…

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