From Friday night, it was the Dudley Panthers over the Statesville Greyhounds/Hounds, 20-6, at Statesville High School…#3 Dudley now at (13-1), and getting ready to face the #16 seeded South Point Red Raiders(11-3) from Belmont, at Tarpley Stadium/”The Tarp”, on the campus of James B. Dudley High School, next Friday night at 7:30pm…
This game will be for the NCHSAA 3-A West Regional Championship, and the right to move and play for the 3-A State Title, on December 11…Congrats to the Dudley Panthers on their big road win, at Statesville, on this Friday night…
And a cold night it was on Friday night, in Statesville, N.C., and not to be confused with Statesboro, Georgia, home of the Georgia Southern Eagles, the team that Erk Russell coached for so many seasons…
The Dudley Panthers rode into Statesville, and arrived at Statesville High School looking for a win vs. the Greyhounds/Hounds and the Panthers left out, headed back to Greensboro, with the victory in tow…And it sort of makes you think of the number two…
This will be the second time in the same calendar year that the Dudley Panthers have played for the West Regional Title…Dudley went for the 3-AA West Crown, back in the Spring of 2021, with the Panthers falling at Mount Tabor, to the MT Spartans…
Looking forward already to seeing Dudley take on the South Point Red Raiders next Friday night, at “The Tarp”…
Like we were saying a few paragraphs up above, it was cold outside in Statesville on Friday night…Joe Sirera, from the News and Record and HSXtra.com, was out there with us, fighting those elements, and as always, Joe had some very good info that he shared with us, during the course of the ball game…
Never got a final total from Joe on this part, but I’m just saying, Dudley scored three TD’s in the game, and there is a very good chance they could have scored three more, if not for the penalties…Did not get a total from Joe on this one, but Dudley was bit/hit by the ‘After Thanksgiving Penalty Bug’ on this night….Most of those penalties were of the Five-Yard variety, with a bunch of them hitting the Panthers due to false starts….Got to get those cleaned up by next week…
Dudley forced a punt on the first offensive series of the game from Statesville, but Dudley’s return man, Mehki Wall, muffed the punt and Statesville recovered the loose football, for a Hounds possession…Dudley did not get burned by that turnover, and in fact Dudley did not allow the Greyhounds to score at all until very late in the contest….
Dudley’s defense was standing tall again tonight, with Jyheem Pittman leading the charges up front along with Logan Wright, Austin Lloyd, Braeden McCall, Jaylen Richmond, Jeremiah Barnes and others…At times Dudley had a three-man back line in the defensive backfield, including Steven Davis II, Mehki Wall, and RJ Baker…Sofiyan Omarou also turned in some solid minutes at DB on this night…
On offense, at times it was becoming the Jahmier Slade and RJ Baker Show…Baker was part of two huge pass plays, where he caught TD passes from Slade, and Slade was running the ball hard tonight/Friday night, and he kept that Statesville Hounds defense guessing….Mehki Wall took several direct snaps from the Wildcat Back spot on one key series…But, it was Slade and Baker that stood out on offense in this ball game…Dudley lost Michael Shaw due to injury, and he had to be taken out of the game for medical observation…Let me give you the names of two Dudley running backs who came into the game late, and they both really gave Dudley a big boost, and helped Dudley get out of deep hole, down near the goal line after Dudley recovered a late fumble by the Statesville Hounds JZ Harrison-O’Conner, at the Dudley five-yard line…That fumble by JZ was a back-breaker for the Greyhounds…They were five yards away from the end zone, and down by two TD’s so, if they scored they could have cut the Dudley lead to six points, and then went for the on-side kick, and they had just recovered one on-side already…But it looked like Steven Davis II came up with the loose football, and Dudley looked to those two unsung RB’s, Tyler Moore and Lorenzo Southern Jr. to get them out of a deep hole, and needless to say, Moore and Southern Jr. were more than happy to oblige…In fact Dudley was able to get the ball from their own five-yard out to near mid-field, with Moore, Southern Jr. and QB Jahmier Slade carrying the load….And while those three were running, guess what else was running??? The Clock…It was running out and Dudley was on its way back to Greensboro with another Panthers’ victory…
I was not over in Winston-Salem back in the Spring, when Dudley fell to the Mount Tabor Spartans, but I was in Statesville, N.C. on Friday night, and I plan to be over in, or under “The Tarp” next Friday night, when the Dudley Panthers face the South Point Red Raiders, for that West 3-A Regional Title…I have seen Dudley play a lot of these key games over the years, and usually when I am there, the Dudley Panthers come out on top, and go home as the Winners….Seen it many times at Dudley HS, in “The Tarp”, seen it at Mocksville/Davie County, Charlotte/Charlotte Catholic, Oxford/Oxford Webb, Ramesur/Eastern Randolph, High Point/High Point Central, Nash County/Southern Nash, and in Raleigh/N.C. State, Chapel Hill/UNC, Winston-Salem/Wake Forest, and those are just a few of the key stops from over the years…
And this year might be that year too…From Friday night, in Statesville, it sure looked like it was one of those years…It was like the old Dudley Magic was playing out again….A very cold Friday night, on Thanksgiving Weekend, on the road….Sort of reminded me of that Friday night down in Ramseur, at Eastern Randolph about 15-20 years ago, when Dudley pulled out a huge win over the Eastern Randolph Wildcats to advance in the 3-AA playoffs…A cold Friday night, and high school football was the main event…It was the Main Event on this Friday night, November 26, 2021, in Statesville, but the Dudley Panthers came in and stole the show, just like they did down in Ramseur back in the day…..
(#6 Gerald Kennedy was one of the key Dudley stars on that big night down in Ramseur, back in that day/night.)
Like we were saying, a big night on Offense for Jahmier Slade(79-yard run to set up a TD/Two TD passes) and K.J. Morehead(two TD’s/ reception and run), and big nights on Defense for Steven Davis II(Interception and Fumble Recovery), and for Jhyheem Pittman(living in the Hounds backfield most of the night)…I am saying this just based upon what I have over the past couple of weeks, but Pittman is playing lights out defense, and the kind of defense that should make you an All-State player…
One other thing Dudley might be looking at, going into the South Point game, and we mentioned up top that cleaning up those penalties will be a key…Well the other thing might be the QB/RB exchange…A couple of times it looked like Slade thought the RB should have been getting the handoff, but the back went past and beyond the exchange area, so Slade took off and ran with the ball, and he somehow found a way to get positive yardage…Might be a thing the Panthers look at, come prep time on Monday…Dudley had a couple of plays where the exchange was particularly good, and that’s when Slade would put it in the running backs belly, leave it there a while, and then pull the ball back and he ran like a sprinter upfield…
A rundown of tonight’s/Friday night’s scoring…
Dudley:K.J. Morehead with a five-yard TD run for the Panthers…PAT kick fails after they can’t get the hold down, and with 8:40 left to play in the First Quarter, Dudley leads Statesville, 6-0…
End of First Quarter:Dudley 6, Statesville 0
Dudley:K.J. Morehead with a 74-yard pass reception from Jahmier Slade for the Dudley TD…Two-point conversion fails, and with 8:42 left to play in the Second Quarter, Dudley leads Statesville, 12-0…
Halftime:Dudley 12, Statesville 0
End of Third Quarter:Dudley 12, Statesville 0
Dudley: R.J./Rory Baker hauls in an 19-yard pass from Jahmier Slade, and with the two-point conversion pass from Slade to Nasir Newkirk, the Dudley lead has now swelled to 20-0, Panthers over the ‘Hounds, with 7:25 left in the Fourth Quarter…
Statesville: The Greyhounds find paydirt on a five-yard run by JZ Harrison-Conner and their PAT kick attempt by Sam Buckner is a low liner, that we think might have been partially blocked by the Panthers and any how, the kick fails and with 5:55 left to play in the contest, our score is now, Dudley 20, Statesville 6….
Final Score:Dudley 20, Statesville 6
To get more info and numbers on this game, CLICK HERE, for Joe Sirera, at the News and Record, and at HSXtra.com….We will try and grab some of these numbers for you tomorrow, when we hit our other computers at the Greensboro Public Library….
1A FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP REGIONAL FINALS PAIRINGS
EAST
#1 Tarboro (12-1) vs. #6 Pender (9-3)
WEST
#3 Mitchell (12-2) vs. #4 Robbinsville (10-3)
2A FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP REGIONAL FINALS PAIRINGS
EAST
#1 Princeton (13-0) vs. #10 Wallace-Rose Hill (12-2)
WEST
#1 Shelby (13-1) vs. #2 East Surry (13-0)
3A FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP REGIONAL FINALS PAIRINGS
EAST
#6 J.H. Rose (10-4) vs. #13 Jacksonville (11-2)
WEST
#3 Dudley (13-1) vs. #16 South Point (11-3)
4A FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP REGIONAL FINALS PAIRINGS
EAST
#6 Cardinal Gibbons (12-2) vs. #20 Rolesville (9-5)
WEST
#1 Hough (14-0) vs. #10 Julius Chambers (13-1)
1A FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP FOURTH ROUND PAIRINGS
EAST
#1 Tarboro (12-1) 27, #4 Northampton County (10-3) 3
#6 Pender (9-3) 34, #2 Northside-Pinetown (11-2) 28
WEST
#4 Robbinsville (10-3) 28, #9 Murphy (9-5) 14
#3 Mitchell (12-2) 21, #2 Mount Airy (13-1) 14
2A FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP FOURTH ROUND PAIRINGS
EAST
#1 Princeton (13-0) 45, #5 St. Pauls (11-1) 28
#10 Wallace-Rose Hill (12-2) 57, #3 Northeastern (12-1) 22
WEST
#1 Shelby (13-1) 31, #4 Reidsville (12-1) 14
#2 East Surry (13-0) 36, #3 Maiden (13-1) 35
3A FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP FOURTH ROUND PAIRINGS
EAST
#13 Jacksonville (11-2) 27, #1 Eastern Alamance (10-2) 21 (OT)
#6 J.H. Rose (10-4) 49, #23 Scotland County (8-5) 28
WEST
#16 South Point (11-3) 34, #4 Crest (10-3) 27 (OT)
#3 Dudley (13-1) 20, #2 Statesville (12-1) 6
4A FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP FOURTH ROUND PAIRINGS
EAST
#20 Rolesville (9-5) 47, #16 Leesville Road (10-3) 24
#6 Cardinal Gibbons (12-2) 42, #18 Panther Creek (10-4) 14
WEST
#1 Hough (14-0) 26, #13 East Forsyth (11-2) 14
#10 Julius Chambers (13-1) 45, #3 Weddington (12-2) 14
++++++++++from the South Point overtime win over Crest…South Point at Dudley next Friday night…++++++++++
**********from the CarolinaVarsity.com:
South Point coach, Adam Hodge said, “I’m just glad we won, we played well on both sides of the ball except for a few glitches and now we get to play one more week. That’s what playoff football is all about, survive and advance.”
South Point had 310 yards rushing on 51 carries. Fullback Tyson Riley had the most carries with 22 for 106 yards. Quarterback Elijah Phiffer went 3-5-1 in the passing attack for an addition 74 yards to push their total offensive output to 384 yards. South Point was penalized twice for ten yards, they moved the chains 19 times, and they lost two of three fumbles and had one interception for a total of three turnovers, all in the second half.
With the win the Red Raiders have a shot at the Western Championship and a right to play for the state title. Next week they will hit the road again and travel to Greensboro to face the Dudley Panthers who defeated Statesville by a score of 20-6.
The false starts ruined a lot of chances for Dudley to increased their lead. However, the defense did a great job stopping Statesville’s run offense and forcing their QB to run for his life most of the night. Nice large crowd from Dudley came down to Statesville. The only downer was some in the Statesville fan base. They came up to several Dudley fans, including Elders & Women as we left for the parking lot, talking junk. Even bumping up to some. Even when we were at the bus getting on, at least two came close saying Dudley was lucky and saying, Yall thought you were going to blow us out, etc! I never seen that before with the hostility from a other school like that. It was tense for sure leaving. Can’t wait til next went at the TARP for the right to head to the State Championship.
On a note that came to me overnight…#36, Austin Lloyd for Dudley on defense, is starting/beginning to remind me of Khalil Vance for Dudley on defense, from a few years back….
from Friday night and sounds like a good idea……….
ForsythCo said:
Live stream all types of messed up. Game won’t even go to LIVE action. It just restarts from the beginning everytime.
Sasha said:
Have you tried streaming
GreensboroSports Radio
Some of the numbers from Friday night’s game from Joe Sirera, at the News and Record and HSXtra.com:
Dudley — QB Jahmier Slade 7-of-13 passing, 137 yards, 2 TDs, INT, 10 carries, 155 yards; ATH R.J. Baker 2 catches, 93 yards, 2 TDs; DB Steven Davis II INT.
Statesville — QB Zamari Stevenson 19-of-31 passing 168 yards, INT, 15 carries, 37 yards; RB J.Z. Harrison-Connor 16 carries, 60 yards, TD, 10 catches, 51 yards.