Get your own Free Home PageHIGH POINT -- Smith used its season-opening loss at Northeast Guilford as a springboard to a 25-7 victory over the Red Raiders of High Point Andrews last Friday night at Simeon Stadium.
Smith made no secret of its strategy, which was to strike hard and as early as possible. Fullback J.J. Thompson rushed 77 yards downfield for a touchdown on Smith’s first offensive play with 9:34 left in the first period.
“The coaches told us that you gotta come in on the first play and you gotta hit them hard,” Thompson said. “That’s all I did. I ran through the hole full speed, broke a few tackles and made it in for our team.”
The BLS defense contained the Red Raiders throughout the first quarter, which ended in an interception by linebacker P.J. Southerland.
Southerland’s interception made way for Smith’s offensive rapidity once more as Duane Taylor found Thompson for a 39-yard TD reception on the initial play of the second quarter to make the score 13-0.
The BLS defense stifled the Red Raiders for most of the night with the exception of a 29-yard, second-period march which ended in a four-yard rushing touchdown by tailback Brian Gainey. That made the score 13-7.
The difference between the defense that BLS played against Andrews as opposed to that it played against Northeast in a 35-6 loss was knowledge of assignments.
“We just had to play assignment football,” Southerland said. “Coach said that that was the key to winning.”
A large portion of the defensive succcess could also be attributed to the performance of the defensive line.
“The defensive line got into their interior line and we just made the tackles and that enabled us to come away with this 25-7 victory,” explained defensive tackle Randy Crawford.
The second half opened with neither team in clear control and the game grew temporarily dim when Thompson went down with cramps in the third period. He finished the game with 113 yards on eight carries and with one sack on defense.
Mike Able then entered the game and catalyzed the BLS offense, thus giving the team the final thrust which put the game out of reach. With less than five minutes left in the third quarter, Smith put together a 58-yard march downfield with Able accounting for 30 of those yards. The drive ended with a one-yard TD run by Able, making the score 19-7. By this time it was clear that the night belonged to the rush.
“We’d been working on our running game so much during the week, so I guess all the practice and all of the conditioning paid off,” Able said.
Able’s efforts did not cease in the fourth quarter when he found daylight and punished Andrews once more for a 49-yard TD rush with 4:59 remaining in the game. Able finished the night with 111 yards on 14 carries with all of his carries coming in the second half.
Smith ran the ball 40 times for 225 yards which reflected the outstanding play of the offensive line.
“Our line got smart,” remarked Able. “They cleared the holes, so I had to capitalize off of it. I think the first game was getting all the kinks out, getting our lineman right, and our assignments, but the line blocked excellent tonight.”
After the loss to Northeast the previous Friday night, Smith came into its second game extremely solemn.
"We were hungry,” Thompson said. “After last week we had a whole week of hard practices. We were hungry because we have to get our respect back.”
According to linebacker Shamaree Brown, every team on the schedule must be approached like a powerhouse.
“Next game we have to go in the same way we came into this game,” Brown said. “We can’t take Southeast for granted because we killed them last year. We have to treat them just like we treated Andrews — like a powerhouse.”
Smith’s next contest is against the Falcons of Southeast and practice will be as intense as ever.
“Next we’re going to work harder, lift some weights and run some more so we can get victory number two,” said BLS assistant coach Anthony Izzard.
This coming Friday marks Smith’s first appearance at home and the Eagles want some of their best football to be on display.
“We’re going to be hungry,” Thompson said. “It’s the same approach. Southeast is the first home game and we want to show our fans what we’re about.”
© 1999 bls@oocities.com
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