Randolph Telephone Game of the Week: ER at Reidsville

Posted on October on 25, 2012 @ 17:14:00 by Fred Burgess
Eastern Randolph High School

If someone had told me four weeks ago the Eastern Randolph Wildcats would be playing for the Mid-State 2A conference championship on the last game of the season, I would not have believed them.

I had just watched the Wildcats lose three games in a row to Asheboro, Southern Alamance, and Jordan Matthews. Plus I had watched them defeat a Providence Grove team who had out played them. My thoughts were this team may not get another win all season long.

Their offense was almost non-existant. Their defense had different people starting every week, and was not looking very strong.

A month later this does not look like the same team. Their offense is averaging 34 points a game. They are scoring on the ground as well as through the air. The defense still has new people starting each week because of injuries, but their tackling has improved over the past three weeks. The pads are popping a little more and there is less arm tackling.

I tip my hat to the Wildcat coaching staff. Whatever they did to turn this team around certainly worked. Offensive coordinator, Brad Wilkie, has called some very good games of late and kept defenses off balance.

Offensive line coaches Zeb Todd and Mark Heilig are some kind of miracle workers with the offensive line. The Wildcat offensive line is by far the smallest in the county. Some of these offensive linemen would be defensive backs and receivers on other teams because of their size. The coaches have the linemen believing in themselves and giving maximum effort to create a little running room for Paris Martin and "Boo" Williams.

Defensively, coaches Seth Baxter, Danny Martin, and Ross Houston have put players in many different positions and implemented some new defensive schemes to stop the opposing team.

All the hard work over the past three weeks has the Wildcats in position to win the Mid-State 2A Championship. This will be no simple task because they will have to go on the road and defeat Reidsville.

The Rams are undefeated in conference play and are the fastest team the Wildcats will have seen all season. Reidsville has the reputation as being a team who has speed everywhere, but they are more than just that. This Reidsville team is well coached and has some players who are hard hitters.

I believe the key to this game will be the offensive line play of the Wildcats. Reidsville's defensive line is fast and they shoot gaps and cause problems in the backfield with their penetration. If Eastern Randolph is to win this game the offensive line will have to play their best game of the year. They will have to move quickly off the ball to disrupt Reidsville's penetration or there will be no time for Paris Martin or Sam Whitley to operate.

This has potential to be a great game. It is the only game in the county where a local team is playing for a conference championship. That is why it is the Randolph Telephone Game of the Week.

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