Get your own Free Home PageDuane Taylor threw three touchdown passes and J.J. Thompson ran for 141 yards on just eight carries to lead Smith past Kernersville Glenn 34-14 Friday night at Manzi Stadium.
The victory left Smith (4-0, 7-2) undefeated in four games in the Piedmont Triad 3-A and gave the Golden Eagles their first playoff berth since 1988. That year the Eagles lost at West Forsyth 14-0 in the first round of the 4-A playoffs.
Taylor finished with 130 yards on 6-of-12 passing to lead Smith to its fifth straight win. He had one interception. The senior signal caller now has 3,123 yards in his career. He is the only BLS quarterback ever to reach the 3,000-yard mark.
"Duane makes all the reads," Smith coach Tony McKee said. "He's at the point now that we don't tell him which receiver to throw to. He reads the defense and finds the open receiver."
WPET's Andy Durham, who called the game on AM 950 Friday night, selected Taylor as the player of the game.
Senior wideout Brandon Free caught two passes for a total of 52 yards. Both catches produced Smith TDs.
"Man, Brandon was wide open on both of those plays," Taylor said with a smile. "Those were easy reads."
The first Free touchdown came just before halftime. With the game tied 14-14, Thompson made perhaps the game's biggest defensive play. After Glenn had rallied from a 14-0 deficit with two quick scores -- one following a surprising onside kick -- Thompson recovered a fumbled pitch by Bobcat quarterback Samad Razzak. That set up Taylor's 42-yard touchdown pass to Free with just 10 seconds left in the half.
Free's run was a thing of athletic grace and brawn. First, the senior wideout had to adjust to the flight of the ball and come back up the soggy sideline to catch Taylor's aerial. Then he outran two defenders before picking up interference at the Bobcat 10-yard line. Finally, he simply dragged three Bobcats into the end zone.
It was the play that turned the game.
"That play before halftime took what little wind we brought with us out of our sails," Glenn coach Dick Kemp said.
"Our defender just kind of got lost out there and lost his man, it was as simple as that. All (Taylor) did was throw the ball way up in the air as far as he could throw it, and our guy couldn't make the play."
Taylor put the game away with a pair of touchdown passes in the second half. First, he hit Free for a 10-yard score on a slant pattern. Then, the senior quarterback found JoJo McLaughlin for a 16-yarder in the back of the end zone. That was McLaughlin's first TD reception as a varsity player.
Thompson, a sophomore fullback, got the Golden Eagles (4-0, 7-2) going with a 39-yard touchdown less than two minutes into the game. He also had a 61-yard dive that set up an eight-yard touchdown rush by Dasharn Russell that gave BLS its early 14-0 edge.
Senior linebacker P.J. Southerland led the defense with 20 tackles. The Eagles limited the Bobcats (3-1, 4-4) to 134 yards. Brandon Summers was also a force on defense. Summers had 10 tackles from his defensive end position.
Smith's defense dominated the second half. It held Glenn to minus-5 yards rushing in the final 24 minutes and Razzak had one five-yard completion. The Bobcats had just one first down in the second half.
Both teams played without key personnel. Glenn tailback Angelo Evans, who already has 1,000 yards on the season, was scratched due to a hyper-extended knee suffered in the Western game the previous week. Smith linebacker Shamaree Brown only played on special teams. It's believed Brown has a small stress fracture in his leg. His playing status is week-to-week. Unfortunately, he was tackled when a bad snap occurred on a PAT kick. That wasn't exactly what McKee had in mind when he limited his top tackler's action.
Wesley Tyler moved from his outside backer spot to take over for Brown. Tyler had a season-high nine tackles. Meanwhile, Montis Lash took over Tyler's outside spot and finished with six tackles. Thompson, whom McKee prefers to only use on offense, played some line and some linebacker. He had five tackles, a sack and that fumble recovery. Eric Wooten contributed five tackles and an interception, while Trey Clayton had six tackles.
Smith, which avenged a 22-0 loss at Glenn last year, plays at Southwest Guilford next Friday night. The Cowboys lost to Carver 62-0 Friday night.
Carver is also 4-0 in the conference. The Yellowjackets, the defending state 3-A champions, come to Manzi in two weeks in what is looking more and more like a showdown for the Piedmont Triad title and the league's top playoff berth.
Meanwhile, Parkland moved within a game of Glenn for the league's third playoff berth. The Mustangs got four touchdowns and 223 yards on 20 carries from Brandon Isaiah to beat Dudley 28-21 Friday night. Isaiah now has 1,700 rushing yards for the season. Glenn hosts Carver (4-0, 7-2) next week. Parkland has the week off.
After Friday night's game, the entire Smith team and cheerleaders had to hustle over to Phillips Avenue to WFMY-TV to be on the "Friday Football Fever" show.
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