WS Chronicle

Only three of the Forsyth County junior varsity football teams were in action last week.  The marquee game of the week was between the Parkland Mustangs and the R.J. Reynolds Demons.  After a hard fought game that went down to the final possession, the Demons escaped with a 28-22 victory.

Early on, the game looked to be a runaway due to Reynolds building an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter.  VJ Wilkins began the comeback effort for the Mustangs followed by a touchdown catch by Markelle Lloyd to tie the game at 14 going into the half.

“I told the kids I was happy that we jumped out on them pretty fast but give Parkland credit, they kept grinding the ball and they came back, said Pat Crowley, Reynolds head coach.  “I told them at halftime that it was a dogfight and these are kids that know each other, played against each other and played with each other so I thought it was a good win for this football team.”

Matt Tamer, Parkland head coach, says he was proud of his team’s effort Thursday night.  Despite some mental lapses in the first quarter, they played well for the remainder of the game.

“In the first quarter, our offense wasn’t rolling and our defense gave up two big plays and we were down 14 to nothing but tied it up going into halftime,” he said.  “They made some big plays, we made some big plays, so overall I am very happy but I also know we have to go back to work on Monday.”

Coming out of the half, Reynolds’ third quarter was a mirror image of the first. Running back Rashawn Snipes took a hand off and scampered all the way to the end zone to take a 22-14 lead.  Following a short Parkland drive, Duke Ferree scored again for the Demons, giving them a 28-14 lead after the failed conversion.

The running game for Reynolds was clicking at that point in the game.  The Demons gashed the Mustangs with misdirection runs up the gut of the defense.

“We don’t have many plays installed yet and we are trying to learn the ones we have and do them well,” said Crowley.  “We don’t have a lot of passes in and early on we had some issues with who we were blocking on bubble screens and quick passes outside, so that kind of shut us down, so we had to run the ball.  We want to be able to run the ball on whoever we play.”

Heading into the game, the Parkland staff was under the impression that the Demons would use a lot of outside running plays, according to Tamer.  Instead, the Demons kept most of their runs between the tackles, which threw off the game plan somewhat. 

“We just had to make the adjustments at halftime and they still got two or three big runs on us in the second half, but it happens and we will come back and fix it for next week,” Tamer says.

The Mustangs were driving late in the third quarter when quarterback Terry Leak hurled up a pass that was surely to be intercepted, but instead the ball was tipped to JaQuan Kelly, who ran it in for the score, bringing the Mustangs to within six at 28-22. 

The fourth quarter was filled with turnovers and wasted opportunities by both teams.  As the Demons tried to run out the clock, they fumbled, giving Parkland one last chance.  The Reynolds defense held strong, giving them the victory.

“The thing I can take away from this game is that we have heart and I have always been told that’s the one thing you can’t coach,” said Tamer.  “I am very proud of that and I know Monday we will come out and work on being more ball aware on defense.”