WADESBORO — Last Friday’s 38-15 demolishing West Stanly (1-8, 1-3) set up a battle for second place in the Rocky River Conference Friday as the Anson Bearcats wrap up the regular season against Forest Hills.
Following a shutout loss to RRC front-runner Monroe (8-0, 4-0) the previous week, the Bearcats’ offense rebounded with nearly 450 all-purpose yards.
“A win is a win, and we’ll take it. Going into next week, we’re going to have to fix a lot of the things we did wrong as far as having too many penalties – some unsportsmanlike penalties. We really pride ourselves in not hurting ourselves, and being the least penalized team in the conference. We did not do that tonight,” Anson coach Landon Allen said. “We’re going to get in next week. We’re going to work hard. We’re going to focus. We’re going to get out the film and figure out our mistakes and get a game plan ready for Forest Hills. It’s going to be a good game next week.”
As far as last Friday, the Bearcats kept it simple. With more than 300 from running back tandem Jazear Griffin and Kendrick Maye, who accounted for nearly two-thirds of the Bearcats offense last Friday with the pair rushing for 151 yards while also tallying two touchdowns each, if keeping it simple works – then why change things. The same tactic applied for the defense. After allowing a West Stanly TD on the opening drive, the defense settled in to hold the Colts scoreless until late in the second half after Coach Allen pulled his starters.
“When it gets going, we starting doing what we do. When everybody executes the way the know how to execute. You see what happens. At the start (on defense), we were a little too tight, but at halftime everybody loosened up, found our groove and did what he had to do,” Griffin said.
Along with tying Griffin for the team lead in rushing yards and touchdowns, Maye provided just enough fireworks to all but end last Friday’s game before halftime after quarterback Dock Hyatt found him open on the seem, which Maye proceeded to take another 30 yards until reaching the end zone. Maye ended the night with a team-leading 53 yards and the Bearcats only receiving TD, followed by catches from receiver Dequan McKever, 22 yards on a pair of catches from Griffin and a pair of 14-yard contributions from receivers Tasean Harris and Jayden Little. Hyatt ended the evening with a 77.7 quarterback rating after completing 10 of 15 passes for 133 yards and a touchdown.
“We got the blocks we needed. We got the play calls we needed. They were in the defense we prepared to pay for. It just worked out in how we were supposed to execute it,” Maye said.
With the win, the Bearcats put themselves about .500 with a 5-4 overall record and 3-1 in the RRC, which ties them for second with this Friday’s opponent in the Forest Hills Yellow Jackets. Forest Hills comes into Friday’s competition riding a three-game winning streak with blowout victories over the Colts (35-9), Piedmont (49-0) and most recently Parkwood (50-7). A victory Friday would not only secure second place in the RRC, it also secures at least one postseason game will take place in Wadesboro.
“Next week, if we get a victory, it’s going to be really exciting. We can make it far in the playoffs, and hopefully go to the championship,” Griffin said.