Grismely(8-0) at home vs. Matthews Butler(8-1) this Friday night….Butler’s only loss of the season came at the hands of the Myers Park Mustangs, who are in the 4-AA Regional Final on Friday, vs. Charlotte Vance…Butler lost 24-21 against Myers Park, back on March 12…
Not trying to make Butler out to be a one-horse team, because they are not from a one-horse town, but Butler has really been led all season long by their 6’0/210 pound running back, senior Davion Nelson…Nelson has rushed for 1,194 yards on 143 carries, with 16 rushing touchdowns..Nelson with 8.4 yards per carry and 132.7 yards per game….Nelson has had 6 100-yard rushing games this season, and his biggest running night of the year came last Friday night versus Providence, in Round Two of the playoffs, when Nelson ran for 239 yards, on 25 carries and he scored two rushing TD’s…Look for Nelson to get the ball at least 20-25 times against Grimsley this Friday night…The ball and the ball game are in Nelson’s hands….9.6 yards per carry for Nelson vs. Providence, in the Bulldogs’ 35-0 win last Friday night…
Butler QB Parrish Metzger has put up some solid overall numbers too, going 71-131 passing for 1,324 yards, with 19 TD’s and 5 INT’s…Top receiver for Butler is Jake Snapp, with 27 receptions for 527 yards and 8 TD’s…Metzger was 10-16 for 135 yards and 0 TD’s vs. Providence and Davion Nelson was carrying the load that night for the Butler Bulldogs..
Butler came to Greensboro back in 2011, the year Page won the NCHSAA 4-AA Title…Page defeated Butler and Butler was led back then by Riley and Zach Ferguson..Riley was the Butler QB….But, Page had a very talented defense, and the Page defense and defensive line was coached by Norman Weeks…Today, Norman Weeks is the defensive line coach for the Grimsley Whirlies…There may be some real karma in this scenario..Coach Weeks leading that Page defense back in 2011, when Page knocked off the favored Butler Bulldogs, and now Coach Weeks leading the Grimsley defensive line ten years later, with Matthews Butler coming to Jamieson Stadium on Friday night…Page had a solid offense with James Summers at QB and Drew Rogers at RB, plus Orlando Hatfield and Brian Spain, among the key receivers….Page defensive stalwarts included Shaun Workinger, Blake Hickman, Christian Cranford, and Ed Britt, all who played college football…
Butler back in town this Friday night, with Travis Shaw, Tamorye Thompson, Sincere Burnette, Quentin Williamson, Cam Allison, Jordan Watkins, Myles Gowens, Caleb Curtain and others getting ready to step up on defense….Grimsley is set at QB with Alonza Barnett III, and at RB with Jeiel Melton…Albright, Dunkins, Tutuh, Resper, all ready at receiver…
(The unsung heroes for Grimsley?…Their offensive line.)
Grimsley knows what is at stake, but again, they will have their hands full on Friday night…
Dudley rushed for 206 yards vs. Mount Tabor back on March 20…Mount Tabor was able to produce the victory, with a 9-6 win over the Dudley Panthers…Dudley also threw the ball for 104 yards, but Dudley’s junior QB Jahmier Slade was only 7-24 passing(3 INT’s) in that ball game, played at Dudley’s Tarpley Stadium…Dudley had 310 yards of total offense in that loss to Mount Tabor, but the Panthers were only able to produce six points….Dudley had three runners, Milan Summers, Michael Shaw and Slade run for 50 yards or more vs. Tabor, but no back was able to reach 100 yards vs. Tabor….Mount Tabor only gave up 10 points to the Weddington Warriors last Friday night, and Weddington was the two-time defending 3-AA State Champion….
We have no concrete stat numbers on Mount Tabor from MaxPreps, and I guess they are not posting those numbers for this season, but from what we have seen so far this season, this Friday night game at Mount Tabor is going to be a defensive battle…The most points Mount Tabor has given up this season has been 15 points, and that came in the Spartans’ opening game of the season…That was back on February 26, versus WS Reagan…That was a 22-15 win for Mount Tabor(9-0)…Other Mount Tabor scores ran like 62-6, 57-0, 9-6(Dudley game), 50-6, 50-0, 36-13, 36-7 and 21-10(Weddington game)…
Dudley posted 77 points on the road last Friday night so you know the Dudley offense is ready…The Dudley defense only gave up six points to Mount Tabor back on March 20, so you know the Dudley defense is ready…If the Dudley offense can find some big holes in that Mount Tabor defense, Dudley will be on the move at Tabor City this Friday night…..The final feeling remains, this going to be a “Defensive Battle” on Friday night…
Andy..This is not the 1st time that Grimsley has met Butler in the playoffs. I believe it was 2007, the year after the Whirlies were in the State Championship game that they lost to JH Rose..they hosted Butler in the 2nd or 3rd round. I remember Butler had a big bruising running back that went on to play for the Tarheels (forget his name)..was a close game but Butler wound up winning that match. Hopefully the Whirlies get some revenge this Friday night.
I saw Pete Carroll last year at a NCHSAA playoff game and hope he doesn’t show up this Friday..
I remember that JH Rose game and they had some pretty good backs that ended up at East Carolina….Here’s hoping Grimsley can reverse the trend on Friday night at home, vs. Matthews Butler…
The year Grimsley was in the finals vs. Rose, they got to that game by receiving a forfeit from Boiling Springs Crest in the West Regional Final game…No game, Crest had to forfeit the game to Grimsley, and Grimsley was on to the 4-A State Championship game…
The Butler coach, Brian Hales, was with Butler when they came to town and lost to Page back in 2011….
Did Grimsley pull their JV/QB up, I mean, I watched the games on demand and that kid #7 is a “STUD”. I haven’t seen a kid throw like that in years, any info on that Andy?
Wolfpack78 is correct i was at the Butler vs Grimsley game it was the first time i saw a team run the Statue Of Liberty play. Butler had a RB that was a true BEAST at that time.
Backup QB has been the senior Nate Crawford, and last year’s JV QB Khalil Stimpson has been playing nose guard this season….The Attmore kid was the JV QB this Spring and he does have a super-strong arm…..Attmore did a great job this past season for the Grimsley JV’s and he is a true gamer…Crawford has been seeing plenty time of defense(LB) for Grimsley in recent weeks, with Clifton Buckrham having moved over and he has been playing and helping out on the offensive line….#7 Jordan Watkins(Grimsley Varsity) is a sticker and he will hit you…They list him as a DB, but he hits and plays like a linebacker….#7 Jordan Watkins has been a huge factor and huge part of the Grimsley defense this season….
You hear a lot about the mainstays and rightfully so, in Travis Shaw, Tamorye Thompson, Quentin Williamson, Sincere Burnette, Cam Allison, Myles Gowens and others, but Grimsley does really have a total team unit on Defense…
I think I know how to block Travis Shaw and I could have blocked back when I was 17 years old, but I am not revealing any secrets about how to play football and stop one of our local teams….The guys I used to block back in the day went to play ACC football, and I somehow used to block them two at a time, but today, I would be lucky to block a spammer(here on the computer)…..Football Blocking is an art and I used to love to drive DB’s crazy, blocking them downfield, two miles away from the play…..When you get those opposing players calling you every name in the book, you know you have done your job, and the execution has been correct…(One of those big, at least big back in the 1970’s, one of those big defensive linemen[6’4/240] back in the day was going to college to be a minister/preacher, but somehow his language turned sour on Friday nights, when we were able to drive him off the ball, with our one-on-one blocks….He called me some names that I had never heard before….)
Remember, much of the basis for this correct blocking begins in the weight room, and many kids these days aren’t willing to hit that weight room as much as they should…Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the off-season must be weight room days….You must be in there and ready to work out with 250 for your reps(Bench Press)…Rep 250 twenty times and you are on your way, and that is the way we did it back in the day…..
(We were using a Universal Machine, but even on a Universal Machine, going with 250 on the bench for 20 reps is a good solid workout, for a 16 year-old kid)…..
To be back in that old weight room on Wednesday afternoon, whether it be in PE class or after school, that would be a nice trip back down memory lane…That’s where I lived for four years of high school, or was it five years of high school??? Those hits to the head often fog your memory as you get younger, I mean older…..
Butler’s two best players back when I saw them in 2011 were the Ferguson brothers, Riley and Zach….Riley as the Butler QB, and his brother Zach was a receiver…Two of the best in the state, back in the day…When Grimsley and Butler got together back in mid 2000’s, I think I was over at Dudley that night, as the Panthers were going for a State Title, and the Dudley QB at that time, was Ricky Lewis Jr. His day Ricky Lewis Sr. was one of the football coaches for the Kiser Tigers, along with Addison Edwards and Coach Whitehurst…
Another interesting note on the high school football playoffs…
Dudley won a first round playoff appearance for the 20th consecutive time. The Panthers last first round exit from the playoffs came in 1996 and they have only missed the field four times during that span…..