North Johnston Panthers Jamboree 8/15/08
August 15th, 2008 Posted in Uncategorized
The volunteers, staff and school attempted to stage a pre-season show for a large crowd tonight despite the fact that the Lord had drastically different plans for the evening. Heavy rains showed up about thirty minutes prior to kick off and they abated just long enough to get in half of the scheduled scrimmages. I’m tellin’ ya, for my money there is not a more beautiful and energy lifting site than a football field under the lights on a Friday or Saturday night.
First up for the Panthers tonight were the 3A Falcons of Charles B. Aycock. Clad in Carolina Blue and white, (which I must say really turns this reporters stomach) the Falcons were quickly served a heavy dose of #25 EJ Knight. On the first play from scrimmage, Knight took off around the right end and motored down field for about a 35 yard gain. However, one over zealous team mate erased the effort with a quick unsportsmanlike penalty. #36 Glenwood Watson saw some quality time in the backfield and produced well on a couple of nice runs as well. It took a while to regain the lost yardage from the first snap but again, Knight, hit the corner on the opposite side and mowed his way into the end zone from about 40 yards out.
The defense showed marked improvement over last Tuesdays effort against Tarboro by not letting the Falcons even sniff the goal line during their time in combat. #43 Wayne Johnson was showing great effort in a couple of saving tackles on run plays that looked to be headed for big gains. #70 Michael Creech still appears to be doing well and #55 Tyler Hayes continues to plug away on the D-Line. The first scrimmage ended with NJ the only team to score. Next up…3A Wilson Beddingfield.
The Bruins from Beddingfield arrived at NJ with an attempt to play the bad guy. Dressed in all black, they didn’t fail to impress. The Bruins had size on both their lines with speed to back’em up. On the Panthers first possession, their were a couple of short passing completions but the ball didn’t move very much. However, once Beddingfield went on offense, it didn’t take long to put points on the board. On their fourth snap, the tailback scampered around the right end and didn’t run out of bounds until he was within five yards of the end zone. On the next play, they finished the transaction rushing in on the right side.
On their second possession of the ball, NJ continued to have trouble with the size and speed of the Beddingfield line. Not much ground was made and to be honest, I was surprised not to see the backup QB Trevino, take a few turns under center. Taking the offense again, the Falcons started working on their passing game. The QB has a strong arm and can see the field quite well. He just missed on a few opportunities and completed a couple of quick passes over the heads of the line. Eventually they did connect on a 25 yard pass play into the left corner of the end zone. When the game ended Beddingfield has scored twice and the Panthers went to 1 and 1 for the night.
The next round for the NJ was scheduled to have been the 4-A Spartans from Sanderson High School in Raleigh. However, the lightning started to pick up and rain was threatening. All the teams were sent to their dressing areas for what we had hoped would be a short delay. No such luck. To be honest the Ref. signaled to clear the field at 7:50PM and I along with half the other teams in the event called it a night around 8:40 when a hot streak hit a little too close for comfort.
**Closing Notes**
There was indeed some improvement from both the offense and defense in tonights effort. To be completely truthful, there was a great deal of improvement. However, the areas of concern are still the same. Teams with speed around the corners are apt to eat us for lunch. The D-Line has to gel quickly to be ready for Union next week. I remember those guys from last year. We beat them pretty handily but they were BIG!
The DB’s as a whole are probably a little better in coverage than the squad from last season. The passing defense is decent and has a good chance to get solid by mid season. I don’t see us getting burned there as often as we did last year. It’ll still happen, but I don’t think the other team will look at us on tape and single someone out to pick on.
It’s for real next week people! Hope to see a huge first game crowd and some good weather. Lord if you’re listening…about 68 degrees and clear skies sounds like a plan to me……I’m just askin’.
