Two Cents from the Franklin Mint
with Jon Franklin
Let me first by stating that I’m not a fan of moral victories.
But if you’re the Cedar Ridge Red Wolves, there were many small victories that took place in Thursday night’s narrow, 10-8 loss to the Eastern Guilford Wildcats.
In last week’s 40-12 home opening loss to Southeast Guilford, the Red Wolves totally took themselves out of the game with five turnovers (three lost fumbles and two interceptions) and a plethora of silly, yet devastating false start and offside penalties. In regards to the turnovers, four out of five scoring plays for Southeast Guilford came directly after a Cedar Ridge miscue.
This wasn’t the case against Eastern Guilford.
The Cedar Ridge defense was the driving force for keeping the game close. The quality quartet of defensive linemen Braxton Mergenthal, Braeden Thompson, Robert Capistran, and Zack Holmes made solid plays in keeping the Eastern offense in check. With the timely blitzing of linebacker Isiah McCambry, Eastern had many runs thwarted.
The second quarter saw this line put together a spectacular goal line stand following a long Eastern drive that brought the ball to the one-yard line. After two penalties that put the ball inside the one, Mergenthal and Thompson tag-teamed to drop an Eastern ball carrier back to the three to turn the ball over on downs.
This was a definite improvement from last week when the Red Wolves just seem to couldn’t get off the field and let their offense put points on the board.
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The special teams unit was also on point as the Red Wolves blocked a punt in the first quarter and came within inches of another block in the second.
The charging Red Wolves’ special teams stayed in the mind of the Eastern punter as he bobbled the snap from his own one-yard line, forcing him to scramble. The punter picked up the ball at the last second and was forced out of the back of the end zone, resulting in a safety, giving Cedar Ridge an 8-7 lead.
McCambry, Kiersten Barnes, and Desi Raspberry were solid in the return game averaging well over 20 yards per return. Following Eastern’s go-ahead 22-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, Raspberry returned the ensuing kickoff 40 yards to the Eastern 45-yard line to set up a potential game-winning drive.
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The Cedar Ridge offense had flashes of brilliance. While successful against Southeast Guilford, starting quarterback Elijah Whitaker had a tough time in the run game. His abilities on the draw and option plays were stymied by the Eastern defense. Backup Will Berger came out firing in the second quarter, connecting on a huge 50-yard pass to McCambry. He also was brought in last minute of the game trying to recreate what he started before halftime before throwing an interception at the Eastern 15-yard line that sealed the win.
But enter McCambry and Nick Nolan. Both “Thunder & Lightning” were instrumental in Cedar Ridge winning the time of possession battle via the rushing attack. Unlike the Southeast Guilford game where every other play was a pass or penalty, the pace of play was considerably faster. Both McCambry and Nolan
Barnes, McCambry, Raspberry were also helpful in receiving. Despite a couple of dropped passes near the end zone, the receiving corps made improving strides.
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The Takeaways:
Penalties and Turnovers continued to plague the Red Wolves.
Despite winning the battle in penalty yardage (Eastern – 68 yards, Cedar Ridge – 35 yards), the Red Wolves were still hit hard by the simplest of penalties, false start & offside. These took place when either Cedar Ridge was driving in Eastern territory, or when the Wildcats faced short yardage at the line to gain. These penalties have got to be irking the lineman coaches, as these penalties you hope to avoid with muscle memory and learning the snap counts.
While Cedar Ridge only committed three turnovers (unlike the five in the Southeast Guilford game), they too happened at times when Cedar Ridge was threatening to score.
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All in all, an improvement. But much work is needed to be done should the Red Wolves want to attain a home victory September 6th against Rocky Mount Prep.