-- I’m not sure there’s a better 4-3 team in the state than Ardrey Kell. In the past three weeks, the Knights have beaten one top 10 team (Independence) and had a lead on another (Butler) with two minutes to play.
No. 2 Butler rallied for a 43-40 win Thursday with a pretty last-ditch drive that fans will talk about for awhile, but Ardey Kell scored the most points on Butler in three years and nearly pulled off the year’s biggest upset.
And Ardrey Kell’s no fluke. Defensive end Romeo Okwara, I’ve been saying for weeks, is the area’s best defensive player. Quarterback Jonah Duggan gets 100 yards rushing nearly every week and tailback Quay Gilmore is a big play guy. This is not a team you want to play in the first round of the playoffs. The Knights are physical and tested. They’re also not afraid of anybody.
-- May not be a better 3-5 team in the area than West Meck. Coach Jeff Caldwell’s team lost to No. 12 Berry 21-19 Sept. 30 and nearly upset No. 11 Olympic Thursday before losing 20-19. With two winnable conference games with East Gaston (3-5) and Garinger (0-8) left on the schedule, the Hawks could get into position for a decent playoff seed.
-- After seeing Butler a few times, I kind of felt the two-time reigning state champions were kind of sleep walking through the regular-season and waiting for the playoffs. I’ve seen the same type of pattern from Mecklenburg County’s previous two dominant teams, Tom Knotts-led squads at West Charlotte and Independence.
-- I think you can cue the “Star Wars” Death Star music now, though. I think the Bulldogs woke up on the final drive of the Ardrey Kell game. It was amazing to see how precise a team could be, when they needed to be, after looking a little lackadaisical for the first 46 minutes of the game.
-- In four conference games, Mallard Creek has allowed 23 points. The Mavericks have shut out two of their past three opponents. They’ve not been tested at all since beating Butler 28-20 on Aug. 19. Will it matter in November? This is the state’s most talented team and the Mavericks are stocked for the next three years. But they’ll need to find ways to stay focused for the rest of the regular season, and probably the first two weeks of the playoffs, too.
-- Second-year Hough is second place in the I-Meck, tied with Mooresville. How? Defense. Hough’s allowed 68 points in its conference games. That is well behind Mallard Creek (23 allowed) but 15 fewer than anybody else.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Was Butler sleepwalking? Thoughts on A. Kell, West Meck, Mallard Creek and Hough
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13 comments:
Just curios why you never talk about Olympic even though they are 7-1, and that single loss was to Butler. Sure seems to be a lot of hating o Olympic from you Langston.
Hough seems like a very dangerous team for Mallard Creek as Hough has nothing to lose in the season Finally. On another note there seems to be more parody in Football than ever before as Ardrey Kell, Berry, and the likes are making waves. Congrats to all these teams. Time for some new blood.
I usually don't feel the need to correct people's misspellings on posts, but if I were Anon, 1:26 I'd want someone to let me know that the word he's looking for is "parity" not "parody". Because parody has such a totally different meaning than his intended usage, I did actually lol, as they say.
Second place Hough hasn't played the top two teams in the conference... They have Mooresville this week and Mallard Creek coming up. Dont anticipate them hanging around.
I think Butler's oline did a good job aginst Romeo Okwara. If I'm not mistaken, I could be wrong, but, I think he got only 1 sack & 1tackle.
Anon - 2:31, since you are in the correcting mood, you should have also corrected Anon 1:26's use of "finally". It should be finale, as in the last game of the year.
Hough upset MC. MC coaches and players are sick and tired of teams thinking there going to Waltz in, and beat them and a upset.Because of last years game against Vance. Hough will get one of there worst beat downs of the season when they play MC.
I will talk about Olympic for you.
A very avg team. They look like a pop warner Football team when they played Butler. There defense returned 9 starters. Butler put 70 points on a bunch of seniors on defense. Get ready for next year. You will go home early in the playoffs.
Love someone making excuses for Butler, if and when they meet Mallard Creek, MC will destroy Butler this time. Saw W meck play 2 weeks ago, they do a good job with what they have, same for Olympic, neither have 400 kids trying out for football
If Olympic is just "average", I think that makes every public school team in Meck County "average" other than Butler & MC.
Ask Weddington how "average" Olympic is. Here's two scores from September:
Weddington 31, Ardrey Kell 26
Olympic 38, Weddington 6
If a team gets blown out, the way I have been seeing those recent "basketball Scores", then its a coaching issue because all you have to do is run the ball, slow the game down, and kill the clock.
Olympic is Average. Please Stop.
No way someone puts 70 points on you.
You call your team above average. Give me a break. Butler is good. There not that good. Olympic's defense has more holes in it, than a target at a shooting range..
You will find out how average you are, during the first round of the playoffs. One and done.
The DE from AK spent most of the night getting pancaked by Butler #60.
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