North Johnston falls to 4-A West Johnston
September 1st, 2007 Posted in High School FootballBy Greg Baker:
Tonight’s game between the North Johnston Panthers and the West Johnston Wildcats left a lot to be desired if you were sitting in the stands on the visitor’s side of the ball field. Other than the fact that the weather was absolutely perfect, there just were not many things to be impressed by. The team appeared to be too business like and calm during warm ups. While waiting in the opposing end zone for the home team to walk up from the field house it was clear that something just wasn’t quite right. You couldn’t put your finger on it but you knew an ingredient was missing from the recipe needed to spell success when the night was through.
Driving up from the northern end of Johnston County and entering the parking lot at West Johnston, was a lesson in the grand ol’ game of the haves and have nots. West Johnston, referred to by many as the Castle on the Hill, is a love hate scenario for the majority of high schools in this district. We beg and plead for just a fraction of the facilities etc. these folks would consider run of the mill. Yet we have been told time and time again by school system big shots that the money just isn’t available. It’s all about the zip code folks. You can trust me on that one.
As game time neared the West Johnston marching band began making its way to the stands. I kid you not, there were over 190 members of that group and I honestly believe that they got a louder applause than the football team did when the finally took the field.
North Johnston won the coin flip and elected to go on offense to begin the game. The first quarter saw both teams really grinding it out on the defensive side of the ball. Neither offense could muster a sustained drive without picking up an inopportune penalty. Remember that last word, because this night would see more penalties than a ten cent millionaire writing worthless checks. After several decent drives by both teams were nullified by yellow flags flying through the air, the end of the first quarter would show no score for either squad.
In the second quarter, poor judgment and some pressure from the West Johnston defensive line began taking a toll. North Johnston quarterback Cliff Holloman was getting no time in the pocket to do anything with the ball and this led to a grand total of four sacks by half time. Add to that a ball that was suddenly becoming slippery to just the guys from North Johnston and it was beginning to look like a nightmare on rails. The second quarter saw West Johnston quarterback Mike Adams make some amazing athletic moves by both avoiding obvious sack situations, and placing some well timed passes out in the flat for scores to his number one wide receiver #14 Erin Richardson. The first score of the game was a 90 yard TD pass from Adams to Richardson, with Adams running for his life from pursuers. Between West Johnston’s talented tight end #87, Richardson, and #9 Ed Harrington, Adams had an arsenal of pass receivers that were more than capable of getting the job done. I went into this game expecting to see a team that was 0-2 in its first two games and came away wondering just how good the two teams that beat them earlier in the season must be. At the end of the first half, the score was 14-0 in favor of the home standing West Johnston Wildcats.
West Johnston would open the second half with possession of the ball. On the kickoff, the deep man for West Johnston caught the ball on the twenty yard line and was immediately run over by #10 Travis Pope. The first play from the line of scrimmage would see #70 Michael Creech and #2 Jacob Lewis stuff a rush well behind the line. It looked like maybe North Johnston had come out of halftime with better focus and a more determined will to make things happen. Yet it was not to be. On the same play #99 Emmuel Lewis was flagged for a personal foul and summarily ejected from the game. Before it was all said and done, the Panthers would see two of their defensive specialist removed from the competition, and the little yellow hankies continued to rain down. This series of downs took a whopping amount of time off the clock, and West Johnston’s quarterback Adams was making a habit of getting out of sure sacks to move his team further down the field. On a 4th and long opportunity, Wildcat’s kicker Chris Richards was given a shot at a 45-yard field goal and nailed it right up the middle. On West Johnston’s next possession, Adams would direct his team toward the goal line, and cap the series off with a 2-yard QB sneak into the end zone to extend the West Johnston lead to 24-0.
At the beginning of the final quarter of play, sensing the time slipping through their fingers, North Johnston showed signs of the heart beating under those road white uniforms. The smell of a possible shutout was in the air and the time to save face and honor had arrived. After receiving a punt on their own 13-yard line, and gaining extra yards from a tacked on personal foul, the football was placed in play on the NJ 27 yard line. Holloman took the snap from senior center Spencer Hardison, rolled to his right. and unleashed a 73-yard strike to #5 Pierre Dickerson for a touchdown. Not compelled to simply add the extra point, Coach Nelson decided to go for two and EJ Knight, who had been dealing with leg cramps all night, hammered his way into the end zone. The shutout just couldn’t be allowed to happen!
The game would end with a final score of 24-8 in favor of 4-A West Johnston over the 1-A Panthers from North Johnston. EJ Knight, who up until tonight had pretty much had is way with opposing defenses, would finish with 11 rushes for a total of 33 yards. The North Johnston Wildcat defense recorded 5 sacks overall and forced three turnovers including one interception. North played good defense for the evening but simply got burned by penalties and a couple of big plays. #70 Michael Creech and #2 Jacob Lewis played inspiringly on the defensive line for North Johnston and will need to go back to Kenly to begin preparing for Hobbton coming into town next Friday, as North Johnston will play their first home game of the year.
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