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Friday Rewind: Close Call! Vance avoids first-round upset, still searching for answers

Vance High School football coach Glenwood Ferebee is a little frustrated with the way his team is playing right now.

Actually, he’s more than a little frustrated.

The Cougars, the reigning N.C. 4AA state champions, have developed this habit, according to their coach, where they arrive at the football field and generally expect the other team to just roll over because they wear orange — or something like that.

“It’s just the same way every week,” Ferebee said after Friday’s 44-28 win over Ardrey Kell in the first round of the playoffs. “We have to get hit in the mouth to play hard.”

Well, Ardrey Kell nearly hit Vance hard enough Friday to end the Cougars’ season.

The Knights pulled out all the stops. They ran onside kicks (plural). They ran pooch kicks. They ran fake punts, basically emptying their playbook in a genuine effort to shock all of North Carolina and upset the champs.

Ardrey Kell got more than 300 yards passing from junior quarterback Jack Curtis and more than 200 total yards of offense in a brilliant performance from senior receiver Brevin Caldwell. When Curtis threw back-to-back passes to Nathan Francis to open the second half, Ardrey Kell had quickly covered 85 yards and was leading 28-16.

And that leads us back to Ferebee’s narrative about his team.

“We weren’t playing hard and when we got down and finally did, the game started to turn our way,” Ferebee said. “Sometimes, I think our kids think teams will lay down, and the last couple of weeks, teams didn’t lay down. We expected Hough to lay down (in last week’s I-MECK championship game) and they ended up beating us.

“It’s confusing sometimes, man.”

He’s right, of course. It’s hard to explain how a team can play 2 1/2 quarters looking nothing like the group that has won a state championship and reached another in the past two seasons, and then, all of a sudden, Vance hits a switch and becomes Vance again.

Down 12, Vance started flying around. Vance started making plays. The speed, the size, the power — all of it — showed up at once.

The Cougars scored 28 consecutive points and took the suspense out of the night.

And there were plenty of heroes: quarterback Austin Grier threw for more than 200 yards and two touchdowns. Sophomore tailback Daylan “Hollywood” Smothers had more than 150 yards rushing and a score. Jeremiah Smith had a 59-yard punt return to set up a score and a fourth quarter interception; and the Vance offensive and defensive lines — which had been getting pushed around — all of sudden began to dominate the game.

“They love playing with their backs against the wall,” Ferebee said, “and they love to have that chip on their shoulder. We came into the (2019 playoffs) with the 10th seed and we were state champs. We were on the road every week and we were underdogs. Now they’re trying to find that motivation right now by playing behind.”

But Ferebee knows that getting behind and trying to flip switches is a recipe for an early exit, and not that deep playoff run he’d envisioned. All season, he’s said out loud that the only thing that can stop Vance is Vance.

So if the Cougars go to Hough next week and start the game the way they did Friday, well, we’ll let coach tell you.

“Man, we can’t play from behind against Hough,” he said. “No, no, no.

“We can’t do that against them.”

Or it’ll be a one-punch knockout.

Quick Links

Friday’s scores, how the Sweet 16 fared, next week’s schedule

Vance needs big rally to stop Ardrey Kell on the road

Converted TE helps Providence stage a huge rally to beat Hickory Ridge

Charlotte Catholic rallies past Crest, remembers coach Oddo

Remote learning Panther Creek QB leads Catamounts past Olympic

PHOTOS: Crest at Catholic

PHOTOS: Vance at Ardrey Kell

PHOTOS: Olympic at Panther Creek

Observations

Ardrey Kell’s Brevin Caldwell looked like a Power 5-level special talent Friday. He ran past defensive backs and constantly got open against what may be the state’s best defense, regardless of class. He was dangerous on special teams returns, to the point where Vance might have been better served to kick the ball out of bounds rather than let him touch it.

Ardrey Kell QB Jack Curtis, a junior, has a bright future. Knowing that running the ball is tough against Vance, the Knights pretty much abandoned it. Curtis threw more than 50 passes, standing in against a massive pass rush and delivered quickly and usually accurately. With him back, Ardrey Kell looks like a state-title contender in the fall.

Vance has 29 seniors but some incredible young talent. Smothers, a sophomore, is as good a running back as I’ve seen in North Carolina this year. Receiver Kevin Concepcion sometimes morphed into a running back and ran like a starter. He’s also a very good route runner. To think those two are just sophomores is plain scary. And Vance is stocked with more young talent like those two.

Ardrey Kell coach Greg Jachym’s game plan was brilliant: He took chances and ran an up-tempo offense. Vance appeared tired, especially early, and seemed to be guessing. The Cougars almost looked like a heavyweight boxer who hadn’t trained enough for the fight. Ferebee’s right, though, some of it had to do with complacency, but some of it had to do with a Knights team that proved it can go toe to toe with one of America’s best high school football teams.

Friday’s #BIG5 Top Performers

Jack Baldwin, Pine Lake Prep: In a 33-27 win over Mount Airy, Baldwin caught six passes for a school-record 235 yards and two touchdowns. He had a 2-point PAT reception and a school-record 88-yard scoring catch. QB Vic Garrido was 8-for-17 for 305 yards with three passing and one rushing TD.

Jaron Coleman, Richmond Senior: 24 carries, 237 yards, two touchdowns in a 51-27 win over Middle Creek.

Lucas Lenhoff, Myers Park: completed 14-of-18 passes for 327 yards and seven touchdowns — yes, half of his completions were touchdowns — in a 63-22 win over Northwest Guilford. Lenhoff, a junior, tied Drake Maye’s school record for touchdown passes in a single game.

Paul Neel, Akil Williams, Charlotte Catholic: 24 carries, 184 yards, four touchdowns for Neel, and 17 carries, 132 yards for Williams in a 28-21 win over Crest. Crest QB Timothy Ruff threw for 68 yards and a score and ran 19 times for 150 yards.

Davion Nelson, Butler: Ran for three touchdowns in a 42-7 win over Glenn. Donovan Woods returned a fumble on a kickoff for a score after the Bulldogs’ opening touchdown of the game.

Around the Area

Richmond Senior beat Middle Creek 51-27, but Middle Creek QB Chad Kearns had a night. Kearns completed 24-of-49 passes for 406 yards and four touchdowns. Richmond QB Kellan Hood completed 9-of-13 passes for 133 yards and three scores.

In Myers Park’s win over Northwest Guilford, Tayvon Frost rushed 10 times for 69 yards and a score; receivers Ayden Burkey (4 catches, 129 yards, 3 TDs) and Camarion Thornton (4-138, 2 TDs) had big nights. On defense, Omari Philyaw had three tackles, a sack and an interception; Tysun Austin had six tackles; and Jimmy Simpson had two tackles, one for a loss, plus a sack and a forced fumble.

Mount Tabor’s Brian McIntyre and Lance Patterson had huge nights in a 36-7 win over Alexander Central. McIntyre ran seven times for 102 yards, averaging 14 per attempt. Patterson averaged 24 yards per carry (3 for 71). Mount Tabor hosts two-time 3AA state champ Weddington next week.

Mount Pleasant’s Ryan Tyson threw a touchdown pass to Hank Allen with 26 seconds left and then hit Allen with the game-winning 2-point conversion in a 21-20 win over West Lincoln. Tyson threw for 173 yards and ran for 25.