Southwest Earns Playoff Berth, Beats High Point Central 36-22- Wyatt Smith Reporting

The Southwest Cowboys came into Friday night’s game against the High Point Central Bison on the edge of a playoff berth that the school hadn’t seen in four years. Seniors such as Jeremiah Brown and Emmanuel Dines don’t have a single playoff game under their belts. That all will change next Friday night. Southwest beat the Bison 36-22, to seal a trip to the NCHSAA playoffs.

Southwest attempted an onside kick on a dreary, soggy, night at the Ranch on its opening kickoff, and although they failed to recover possession, they were first to score. With 6:40 left in the quarter, Cowboys quarterback Jaren Rainey scrambled away from defenders to connect with Mantriel Reaves for a seven yard touchdown pass. The Cowboys attempt at a two-point conversion was good when DJ Gray completed a pass to Colton Weeks.

The weather had an effect on play in the first quarter. Both teams had two turnovers, with the Bison committing two fumbles, and the Cowboys’ Jaren Rainey throwing two interceptions. One of them went through the hands of star receiver Jeremiah Brown and into the hands of the Bison’s Bryan Maynard who ran the ball back 45 yards for the score.

The first quarter was capped off by a 65-yard touchdown run by Bison star Geoffrey Wall. Momentum shifted in the direction of the Bison, where it remained until just after halftime.

The Cowboys came back from the half trailing 14-8 and looked like a completely different team. They received the ball to begin the second half and scored on a first drive that featured a now familiar connection from Jaren Rainey to Jeremiah Brown, getting them into scoring position. With 7:13 remaining in the 3rd quarter Tamarius Howze ran the ball one yard into the end-zone for the score.

On the ensuing possession by the Bison, Curt Ervin fumbled the ball on the second play of the drive, and, this time, it was the Cowboys who capitalized on a turnover. Just 2:04 after their last touchdown, Braxton Price had his number called and ran the ball one yard for the score.

Southwest wasn’t finished scoring in the 3rd. With 1:16 left in Cowboy-dominated 3rd quarter, Tamarius Howze scored his second touchdown of the quarter on a six-yard touchdown run to put the Cowboys up 29-14.

Bison quarterback Geoffrey Wall threw an interception that put the Cowboys back in their red zone. On the first play Jaren Rainey ran three yards only six seconds into the 4th quarter to make the score 36-14.

It appeared that all hopes for a Bison win were gone. That thought was proved wrong by a resilient Geoffrey Wall, who put the team on his back and scored with 9:55 to go in the game on a 15-yard run. He completed an amazing pass, falling away, to Jakeish Hinson for the two-point conversion. The Cowboys’ lead was only two touchdowns, and Wall had victory in his eyes.

The Bison were successful on an onside kick after the Geoffrey Wall touchdown run, but as the Bison started their drive, a fairly heavy rain began to fall. Wall dropped back to pass on the opening play of the drive, and his pass was intercepted by Mantriel Reaves. The rain and the overpowering Southwest Cowboys put out that fire burning in young Wall’s eyes.

“They’re a resilient group,” Coach Eric Rainey said of his team after the victory. “I told them at halftime to just stay the course. I think the adversity that we’ve faced all year long really helped us in the second half.”

Tamarius Howze: “I just want to thank my O-Line and all my fullbacks. The offensive line came out and blocked tremendously for me in the second half.”

“We didn’t really focus well in practice this week,” Central Head Coach Wayne Jones said. “We have to focus better during the week, and work harder to get back to where we were a couple of weeks ago. Sometimes you have to have those setbacks to move forward.”

With wins over both High Point Andrews and Central Friday night, the Southwest Cowboys hold the unofficial title of 2015 High Point City Champions.

Both teams are now (5-6,3-2) on the year. Southwest finishes second in the Mid-Piedmont 4A Conference with the win, and High Point Central finishes in third place.

Sources close to the Southwest program say this is the highest conference finish for the football program since the mid-1990’s.

Scoring Plays
SWG-TD: Mantriel Reaves 7 pass from Jaren Rainey (DJ Gray pass to Colton Weeks)
HPC-TD: Bryan Maynard 45 Interception Return (Clayton Howell Kick)
HPC-TD: Geoffrey Wall 65 run (Howell Kick)
SWG-TD: Tamarius Howze 1 run (Chase Bradshaw Kick)
SWG-TD: Braxton Price 1 run (Bradshaw Kick)
SWG-TD: Howze 6 run (Bradshaw Kick)
SWG-TD: Rainey 3 run (Bradshaw Kick)
HPC-TD: Wall 15 run (Wall pass to Jakeish Hinson)

Offensive Leaders
SWG: Tamarius Howze- 17 car for 70yds rushing, 2 TD’s
SWG: Jaren Rainey- (7-16) 106yds 2 INT, 17 car for 68yds 1 TD
SWG: Chase Bradshaw- 4-4 PAT Kicks
HPC: Geoffrey Wall- (4-11) 29yds 2 INT, 29 car for 128yds 1 TD

One thought on “Southwest Earns Playoff Berth, Beats High Point Central 36-22- Wyatt Smith Reporting

  1. SWG’s JV coaches are some great guys. I wish SWG’s Varsity shock some teams in the playoffs. Wonderful group of athletes.

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