In their third Thursday night game of the season, the Reidsville Rams defeated the West Stokes Wildcats, 42-7, for the second time this season. It didn’t look too much different from their 49-8 win over the Wildcats about a month ago, as the one seed piled on the offense and limited their opponents to just one touchdown.
Twice in the first quarter, West Stokes managed to get into Reidsville territory, only to turn it over on downs. Due to a thirty-nine yard touchdown pass to Que’Shyne “Flip” Flippen and a successful two-point conversion, Reidsville finished off the first quarter with an 8-0 lead.
Aidan Mansfield rushed in a touchdown to extend the lead to two touchdowns, but their extra point attempt missed. West Stokes pushed the ball downfield, all the way into the red zone. Obviously, when you’re playing Reidsville, you can’t be satisfied with three points, especially in a playoff game. Therefore, they used all four downs, only to come up short on the five yard line. Reidsville slowly moved the ball downfield, before Jariel Cobb capped it off with a rushing touchdown. For time number four of the game, West Stokes got into Reidsville’s territory and turned it over on downs, this time at the thirty yard line. At the half, the twenty-two time state champions held a lead of twenty-two.
West Stokes, not giving up, tried and failed an onside kick. Al Lee and Johnniyus Sharpe quickly connected for a touchdown to extend the shutout to 29-0. West Stokes eventually punted again, and Kendre Harrison then got in on some of the action with a touchdown. Jariel Cobb would score soon after, giving Reidsville their third touchdown of the half just four minutes in! Nate Akers of the Wildcats finally got his team on the board with a rushing touchdown, but by then, the damage was done. The 7-42 deficit was too much to overcome in the fourth quarter, and the Rams would advance to the third round with the win.
Tomorrow night, all eyes in Reidsville will be on the game between Brevard and North Stanly. The winner of that game determines who the gold-and-blue will be seeing in the third round. Brevard, an eight seed, went 9-2 on the season and kicked off the playoffs with a 44-13 win over Trinity. North Stanly, a nine seed, has eight wins and three losses, defeating T.W. Andrews by just two points in the opening round.
Reidsville and Brevard did not face any common opponents, but the two common opponents between Reidsville and North Stanly suggest that the Rams should be cheering for the latter to take down Brevard. Reidsville defeated Western Alamance by eight at the beginning of the season, while North Stanly lost by eleven. Also, while North Stanly barely escaped T.W. Andrews by the skin of their teeth, Reidsville handily put them away, 55-7, in mid-October.
Either way, due to this Thursday night game, Rockingham’s last representative will get an extra day of rest for their game where they try to compete to become one of the last eight teams remaining in the tournament.