Get your own Free Home PageThe Smith Golden Eagles were not just defeated by Northeast Guilford 35-6 in their season opener last Friday night. The Eagles saw the Rams run right by them all night long.
Northeast, behind its vaunted wishbone running attack, sprinted to a 21-0 halftime lead. The Rams (1-0) finished the first half with 194 yards of total offense, all of which came by way of the rush. Senior halfback Terrell Timmons victimized the BLS defense for 84 yards on 11 carries with three touchdowns in the first half, and he would finish the night with 106 yards.
Smith not only had to weather the offensive barrage of the Rams, but they also had to endure an offensive drought which lasted the entire first half.
According to Eagle senior wideout Brandon Free, Northeast never surprised BLS; instead, there was just a lack of execution.
“We didn’t execute our offense or cut down their offense,” Free said. “We practiced what they were going to do and they did it. We just didn’t stop ’em.”
Quarterback Duane Taylor never fell into a comfort zone as he was sacked five times on the night with three of those sacks coming in the initial half, thus reflecting the inadequate protection of Smith’s young offensive line.
“We just have to find a way to get him more time,” Free explained. “If we get him a lot more time, we can do a lot of things with this team both passing-wise and running-wise.”
The youth and inexperience of the offensive line contributed a great deal to the inconsistent play of the line.
"We have a lot of young lineman and they’ve never been on the varsity level,” Taylor said. “Half of our linemen didn’t even play last year.”
BLS (0-1) entered the second half re-energized and ready to reverse the gloomy first-half trend. The defense became the first to strike when linebacker P.J. Southerland recovered a fumble with 11:13 left in the third quarter. Then, four plays later, Taylor found Free for a 21-yard touchdown pass. Following a missed extra point, the score was 21-6. The defense soared yet again when they forced the Rams into a punting situation on their next possession.
“We just talked about getting our assignments down and that they weren’t any better than we were,” said linebacker Shamaree Brown, who had 17 tackles. “We just had to get out there and play physically with them just like we did against every other team we play.”
BLS was on its most promising drive of the game when Taylor found Free for a near TD reception, but Smith was penalized for clipping. The penalty deprived Smith of yardage that would have put it inside of the 10-yard line.
“That would have put us down one touchdown with ten minutes left; I think that would have made a big difference,” Free said.
The game was finally put out of reach when Ram defensive back Devon Chatman intercepted a passed tipped by Ed Jones and ran it back 59 yards for a TD.
Following the game, there was a common sentiment that the loss to Northeast was the wake-up call that the team needed.
“We thought that we were all high and mighty,” Taylor said. “This is what we needed to let everybody know that teams are coming for us this year. There won’t be anymore overlooking us.”
Smith plays High Point Andrews tonight.
“We have to come out and attack first, instead of getting down 21-0,” Free said. “We have to attack first. You can’t get down like that early in a game. It’s hard to overcome.”
Free finished with 136 yards on seven catches. Taylor was 7-of-21 for 167 yards.
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