What a game! It had it all and we were there! Dudley 26 Ragsdale 10‏

The big matchup that everyone wanted to see, came and actually lived up to and exceeded the expectations. I’m talking about the game between the two undefeateds-Dudley and Ragsdale, if you need reminding.
 
The crowd was listed at 4,000 in attendance. I think that was WAY off-I’m thinking 6,500-7,000. The Ragsdale side had at least 3,500 people. I looked down from our position as the game started and the seats were packed. I then looked over my shoulder at the ticket booth and saw at least 1,500 fans lined up all the way past the traffic circle at Dudley. I asked the old timers in the press box from Dudley if they had ever seen a bigger crowd at the stadium……the answer was an emphatic “No!”
 
Back to the on field stuff: The game was the most physical, hard hitting, lay it all on the line games by both teams that I’ve seen in high school football. You could see bodies being thrown, slung, pounded and generally making every yard and space earned.
 
Let’s jump to the third quarter with Dudley receiving the kickoff, having deferred by winning the coin toss. Dudley was leading 14-10 and received the second half kickoff and like I’ve seen Coach Davis do before, the Panthers came out physical, running the ball and controlling the line of scrimmage, imposing their will and physicality on the other team. The Dudley drive ended after running 9:49 off the clock with Ricky Lewis and Fred “Overdrive” Overby doing most of the damage. Lewis scored from 3 yards out to cap the long, time consuming drive and giving Dudley a 20-10 lead after the 2 point extra point attempt failed.
 
The next big situation came when Ragsdale had to punt and Dudley muffed it with Ragsdale recovering the ball on the DHS 14 yard line. After getting to the 3 yard line on second down running back D’onavan Smith was hit for 1 yard loss. Facing 3rd. and goal from the 3, QB Tim Romer dropped back and was sacked for a loss to the 13 yard line. On comes PK extraordinaire, Kasey Redfern for a 30 yard attempt, which he makes most of the time-not this time-hooked it wide left. Ragsdale, even with just a FG would have cut the lead to a 7 point deficit. Ragsdale had to get something out of the field position and go ZERO.
 
Dudley took over after the miss and Fred Overby broke one for big run up the middle to put icing on the Dudley win.
 
Games usually come down to 2-3 plays that make the difference in close games. This one was no exception. Dudley will now play another county foe, Northeast Guilford who won last night 7-6 over Northern Vance. The game will be at Dudley, also. I don’t see how Dudley can lose to the resurgent Rams, but in sports crazy things happen. We’ll be there, Andy and I, to call all of the action. The bar has been set very high for excitement and hitting. Friday’s game will be hard to top.