Battle of the undefeated: Scotland, Pinecrest, both 7-0, to clash for top spot in SAC

LAURINBURG — It’s been seven years since the Scotland Fighting Scots and the Pinecrest Patriots have met against each other on the gridiron without a blemish on their records. In that contest in 2016, the Scots were victorious 20-13. But the last five meetings have been taken by the Patriots.

Friday night, in a matchup of unbeaten teams, Scotland will look to break their losing streak to Pinecrest at Pate Stadium.

“We’ve got to find a way to close out the game,” Scotland head coach Richard Bailey said. “We’ve kind of shot ourselves in the foot in those games a lot of times. Pinecrest has also played from ahead in those games. We’ve gotten behind early and tried to make comebacks on them just to fall short. So, it’d be nice if we could play from the front. I don’t care if they (Pinecrest) have a thousand more students than we have; we want to beat them. We want to get that monkey off our back.”

A victory for the Scots would be more than just an ordinary one. With Scotland and Pinecrest each at 7-0 and tied for first place in the Sandhills Athletic Conference at 3-0, Scotland would take hold of the conference’s top spot with a win.

“I definitely think we understand the importance of it because we’ve been talking about it,” Bailey said. “Last year, we won the 3A portion of the conference. But we want to win a conference championship. We don’t want some little asterisk 3A (title); that’s nice and everything, but that’s not what we’re in this for. This is going to go a long way towards that. Now, we’ve still got two very tough games after this one. But obviously, this is the one that will have a big impact on who wins the conference.”

Prevailing over Pinecrest would provide a boost for Scotland’s RPI ranking, as well. The Scots are currently at No. 6 in the 3A East RPI standings, with Eastern Alamance, Northern Nash, Seventy-First and Havelock all above them and Jacksonville at No. 1.

“Beating a quality undefeated team that’s a ranked 4A team will do nothing but help us in seeding,” Bailey said. “If we can somehow win out (by) beating good quality opponents down the stretch, it could move us up to where we’re a top-3 seed. The higher we are, the more home games we have, the more we’re playing at Pate Stadium in front of a home crowd. That’s great financially. And it’s great for the atmosphere of the games and the kids being hyped up.”

Pinecrest — the fifth-ranked team in the 4A East RPI standings — has wins over Knightdale, Overhills, Middle Creek, New Hanover, Richmond, Southern Lee and Lee County. The Patriots are averaging 35.14 points against their opponents and will bring in an offense filled with weapons, likely being the most toilsome challenge for the Scotland defense this year.

An advantage for Scotland’s defense, though, is that they’ve had plenty of practice against an offense like Pinecrest’s because the Patriots run a similar offense to the Scots.

“It’s almost like we went to the same clinics and did the same talks,” Bailey said. “And they played behind us a little bit, meaning they played teams we have played, and I literally can see things we did that they’ve adopted and did as well. Don’t get me wrong, I do the same things. If I see a team run something successful, then I’m going to copy it And trust me, I’ve seen Pinecrest do some things that I’m saying, Hey, down the road, we’re going to run those ourselves. But it is eerie how similar we are in how we do things.”

Both teams have had stellar play from their running backs, with Zymire Spencer leading the way for Pinecrest and Zay Jones doing so for Scotland. Spencer has rushed for 843 yards on 119 carries and 15 total touchdowns (one receiving) this season.

The Patriots and Scots also have passing numbers that are nearly the same; Pinecrest has 1,031 passing yards, while Scotland has 901.

“Their passing yards are very similar to (ours),” Bailey said. “They’ve thrown it a little bit more, but actual yardage is very similar.”

A considerable difference, however, is that the Patriots have had issues with turning the ball over — particularly with interceptions.

Pinecrest quarterback Mason Konen has passed for 745 yards this year with five TDs, seven interceptions, and lost a fumble, and QB Cody Hansen, who has also played a significant amount, has thrown for 274 yards, three TDs, one interception, and has also lost a fumble. With Scotland forcing four turnovers to their last opponent, Union Pines, that bodes well for them.

Something else the Scots will seek to replicate against Pinecrest from that game will be shutting down a tall receiver. Against Union Pines, Scotland held the 6-foot-3 Haynes Tobias to one catch for 18 yards. With Pinecrest’s leading receiver being Elijah Melton at 6-foot-5, Bailey will use his receivers in the secondary — as he did against Union Pines — to try and match up with Melton’s size.

“Definitely going to try to get our taller guys matched up on him,” Bailey said. “We’ll probably follow him around with (Quatavius Everette) or (Dajuan Gibson); even Josh Adams is a little bit taller than Nishuan Jones. When we can, we’ll try to find ways to double-cover him. The problem is, then, you can’t stop the run because you have to have enough people in the box because they’re going to run the football. They’re designed to run the football, too. And so, we’re going to have to make sure we commit enough people to that while finding opportunities to either play our bigger DBs or double cover the Melton kid when we can.”

Melton has caught 28 passes for 435 yards and four TDs, while Ricardo Mercado is the Patriots’ second most-productive receiver, with 12 receptions for 230 yards.

With Pinecrest being a near-mirror image of Scotland on offense, they also share some of the same qualities on defense, according to Bailey.

“They’re a little bit more of a 3-4, and we’re more of that 3-3 stack-type stuff,” Bailey said. “But even on that side of the ball, there are some similarities. So, that makes it a little weird.”

Linebacker Jadin Baptist — the 2022 SAC Defensive Player of the Year — leads the Pinecrest defense with 56 tackles (24 solo) and has recorded seven tackles for loss. LB Jaylin Morgan, who also plays RB, has a team-best 10 tackles for loss, six sacks, three forced fumbles, and defensive back William Miller has four of the Patriots’ 12 interceptions on the year.

Friday’s game is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m.