LAURINBURG — The Scotland High football team is set to face Seventy-First this week in a rematch of last year’s NCHSAA 4A East Regional championship game.
Scotland won that game 28-0 after losing to the Falcons 21-6 in their regular-season Sandhills Athletic Conference matchup.
“We just played cleaner (in the playoff game),” Scotland coach Richard Bailey said. “We also had really figured out an identity of what we wanted to do. Also, Mandrell Johnson did a good job of running the ball in that second game. That really freed us up, being the other runner, just like Warren Bell had done the previous year.”
Johnson accounted for 120 of Scotland’s 380 rushing yards in the East Regional. Joseph McKoy tallied a team-high 155 yards rushing in that game.
But things have changed for both teams since then. Scotland graduated several leaders from last year’s team, including McKoy and top running back Syheam McQueen. The same can be said for the Falcons, who had a big void to fill after standout quarterback Kyler Davis graduated last year.
Scotland is cruising with a 7-0 record, while the Falcons (4-3) have struggled to win at times this year. The Falcons snapped their three-game losing streak with a 42-0 win against Lumberton last week.
Seventy-First will likely run the ball a lot on Friday night.
“They are still a counter-power team,” Bailey said. “The’re going to run the football. They’ve got some good skill guys. The quarterback is athletic — but he’s not Kyler Davis. They’ve got some good wideouts, but they don’t have a (star). The past two or three years, they’ve had one.
“This year they’ve got some good players, but not one that just jumps off the page at you.”
Junior Donovan Wright is Seventy First’s leading rusher. He’s picked up 603 yards and seven touchdowns on 110 carries. Senior running back Kore Prentice-Coles averaged just over 100 yards through the first five games of the season, but he’s been out of action recently.
Seventy-First senior quarterback Jamarious Simmons has thrown three touchdowns and two interceptions this season. He averages about 60 passing yards per game.
Scotland has fielded a stalwart defense for most of the season. Offensively, the Scots are still trying to do away with the unforced errors that have stalled numerous drives this year — botched snaps, dropped passes and missed blocking assignments are a few of them.
“It’s amazing, if you don’t get in your own way, how successful you can be,” Bailey said. “Last Friday against Hoke County, I give credit to Hoke County for doing a great job, but we got in our own way a lot. The more we get out of our own way, the better we are.
“It’s frustrating because you can’t put your finger on how to make it better, other than to just keep working at it,” Bailey said of the errors. “There’s only so many moves you can make. So we’ll keep trying to figure it out and hope it kind of rectifies itself.”
Bailey noted that Scotland’s defense did a good job of avoiding pass interference calls, personal fouls and some other penalties. Those calls were costly for the Scots in previous games.
Friday’s game will begin at 7:30 p.m., and it will be accompanied by Scotland’s homecoming festivities.
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