Now that the dust has finally settled, time for the Saturday Morning Rewind

The games are over and the dust has begun to settle and last night at Jamieson Stadium 8,300 fans showed up and it wasn’t a close football game by any stretch of the imagination, but the Page defense has so much to do these days with the outcome of the ball games…..

This is one of the better, if not the best defenses, that we have seen over the past several years…..These young men play together as a unit and they get to the ball in bunches……You look up and there are 6-7 red shirts on the ball with 4 others coming at you in hot pursuit…..With names like Blake Hickman, Ed Britt, Will Henry, Shaun Workinger, Savon Wall, DeAnthony Brooks, Grant Brewer, Christian Cranford, Carter Stanley, Jacob Green, Lorenzo Featherston and others getting to the ball, it is is a treat to watch them go to work…There is something special about team unitiy and these guys really seem to have it…

I remember back in the day getting plenty of those late hit penalties, trying to be in on every tackle, but with the Page defenders, it is not an issue, they are so quick, they are there in tandem and you(the offense) are not going anywhere…..They are quick and these guys can hit you…..Give that defense 21 points and they can make it stand up….Solid job by the Page offense too last evening, as they took care of business behind their leaders in James Summers, Drew Rogers and Orlando Hatfield…..I was also impressed with the work of the backup quarterback Jordan Putnam….He came in and ran a steady Pirate offense for at least a quarter and a-half…..

Some may not agree with me, but I got a kick out of seeing D.J. Reader line up at QB for Grimsley…..Would have loved to see more of that from the Whirlies…..Made for some interesting football and it would not have bothered me if they gave him the ball and turned him loose on the run 20-30 times last night, but you have to remember, I am fron the old school, where you just run it and take what you get…The offenses are a lot different these days and you have to adjust and change with the times, but for me, the power football was the way to go…..D.J. has got the power, just crank it up and point him straight ahead….There is the issue of collateral damage and in the long run and the short run, you have to make sure you don’t get your players injured, but at least for a moment last night, we got to see, the big man at QB and to me, that was a treat……You are big, you work hard and then you like to see what the hard work can do….That will be one of the biggest quarterbacks you’ll ever see, I can guarantee you that and it was fun to see….

There was talk of vandalism before the game and I hate to see or hear about something like that stepping in and marring the game, but the real vanadalism was done on the field last night, in a game dominated by the Page defense….Grimsley rarely sniffed the 50-yard line and for that, I give the credit to the Page defense….Heaven forbid that players would be involved in any damage to other’s property before a very important athletic event/contest and that is usually not the case….Most of the time it is the non-athletes that become over-zealous and the ruin the fun and the challenge of the game, for those that are making the event possible in the first place, the players and the coaches…….

The dust has settled and as Grimsley stays the course and the Whirlie program comes back around, this series will get even better……This series sure isn’t going anywhere, it will continue to one of the best in the U.S., for many years to come and with the emphasis predicated on the defenses, you can expect to see some mighty fierce battles in the future….It has to fun to be a part of a hard-charging and swarming defense…..

I said/spoke a big piece about the game last night, that was billed by some as the “Center City Showdown”, with Page and Grimsley and for our good men over at Ragsdale and Northwest Guilford, we have to send out a hearty thank-you this morning, for the wins you pulled off last night……

With Ragsdale topping Southwest Guilford 31-14 and Northwest getting past High Point Central 21-13, we have the “Big Game” that we were looking for coming up next week in Jamestown….The Tigers will host the Vikings in what could be the game that will decide the Piedmont Triad 4-A Conference championship and it sure will tell us a lot about who is in the driver’s seat, in that race……This is the next “Big Game” and it is coming up next Friday night in Jamestown….This is the one that NWG has been pointing to…The Vikings have not been able to get past the Tigers…..In the pre-season, I would have told you that this is among the top two games of the year in the regular season and it still is…..THe other would have been Page at Ragsdale and the Northern Guilford at Page game, was among the top two or three, as well…..The game this coming Friday will be huge and the coaches always tell us, that the next game is your biggest game and it is here……Northwest Guilford at Ragsdale Friday night October 7……

A couple of surprises last night, with Northeast Guilford dropping that game down at Asheboro and Western Guilford pulling out the game with just 10 seconds left, in the Hornets win over over Smith…

It is rare to see NEG drop regular season conference games and now the Rams must try to re-group and get ready to face a very tough Southern Guilford Storm team at home next Friday night…..Southern walloped Southwestern Randolph last night 49-6….That will be another big game and I had that one among my Top Five of the Year, prior to this season….SG at NEG next Friday……

Don’t look now, but Western Guilford has won two straight games, after last night’s 22-21 win over Smith….I remember some days back at WG, when were outscoring the opposition 101-0 in a given week, when you had to play on a Monday and then play again on the same Friday, but to win two one-point games in the same week, now that’s saying something right there…..For WG, 13-12 over Grimsley on Monday and now 22-21 over Smith on Friday…..Dorian Anderson with the winning touchdown catch from QB Josh Thompson, who is having himself an overall good senior season….Congrats to the Hornets and congrats to Brock Stadnik on his Under Armour jersey ceremony, from yesterday afternoon at Western….

Talk about another “Big Game” coming up next week, how about that Southeast at Dudley matchup? After last evening’s 38-7 victory by SEG over Southern Alamance, this one is really starting to take shape….Southeast is now (3-0) in the Metro 4-A and Dudley, after a slow start overall against very tough non-conference opposition, the Panthers are now (2-0) Metro….SEG has a real interesting game looming with Page down the road and so does Dudley, but there is the game this coming Friday at Tarpley Stadium and both the Falcons and the Panthers have to get past that game first, before they can even begin to think about facing Page…….

Also big wins by Northern Guilford over Eastern Guilford and High Point Andrews way past WS Atkins last night, but no details on those games so far….Northern((5-1/3-0) has Rockingham County(5-2/3-0) coming up at home in two weeks and Andrews has WS Carver on their slate in the last game of the regular season……

That is it for now and you have plenty to chew on, on this Saturday October 1….