Scotland’s Quatavius Everette (4) runs after making a catch during Friday night’s game against Pinecrest at Pate Stadium in Laurinburg.
File photo
SANFORD — A deflated and puzzled look sat on Scotland head coach Richard Bailey’s face Friday night after Pinecrest mounted a second-half comeback to defeat the Fighting Scots 27-17.
It was just the first loss for Scotland (7-1, 3-1 Sandhills Athletic Conference), but it couldn’t have come in a more crucial game as it decided who sits in the driver’s seat of the SAC in first place.
“Everybody’s disappointed that we lost,” Bailey said. “It’s one of those things where everybody wants to play the blame game. Everybody wants to blame everybody, blame the coaches, blame this, that, and the other. At the end of the day, all of us could have done better Friday night. It’s a team game, and we’ve got to get everybody back in the boat and row in the same direction.”
Now, with that one behind them, Bailey and the Scots are preparing for another matchup with SAC and playoff seeding implications, as they’ll have the opportunity to clinch the 3A No. 1 seed in the SAC with a win against the Lee County Yellow Jackets Friday night. The game was supposed to be a home contest for Lee County but will be played at Southern Lee High School due to issues with Lee County’s stadium.
“You’ve got to turn the page,” Bailey said. “We still have a lot to play for. We’re going to be playing basically for the 3A championship in our league. A chance to be the number-one seed out of our conference in the playoffs; make sure we get a couple of home games if we can win. Got to flip the switch, though. It’s got to happen.”
The Lee County Yellow Jackets (4-4, 1-3 SAC) are coming off a 34-13 loss against Richmond on Friday. While the result was lopsided, the Yellow Jackets were without arguably their best player in star running back Bradley Brown Jr., who was injured in their previous week’s game against Pinecrest.
On the season, Brown Jr. has rushed for 1,002 yards and 11 touchdowns and caught 15 passes for 112 yards and two scores.
Nothing official has been made regarding Brown Jr.’s status for the remainder of the year, but Bailey doesn’t believe he’ll be available against Scotland.
“(It) is unfortunate because he’s a great player,” Bailey said. “And you don’t want anybody to ever be hurt.”
If Brown Jr. doesn’t play, RB Isaiah Peoples will likely see more carries against the Scots as he did last Friday; Peoples had nine carries for 37 yards against Richmond and has 176 yards and a TD on 33 rushing attempts, along with six receptions for 26 yards this season.
But even if Peoples is the primary option in the backfield, Bailey expects Lee County to pass the ball more than usual.
“Without BJ (Brown Jr.), they’ll probably throw the ball even more,” Bailey said. “They’re an air-raid team. (In) their running game, they get big splits on the offensive line, sort of like Baylor (University) used to do back in the day. And they really try to spread you out and make you defend the entire field.”
Leading Lee County’s passing attack is first-year starting quarterback Jack Martin, who’s passed for 1,187 yards and nine total TDs (seven passing) with seven interceptions. Martin’s favorite weapon to throw the ball to is a wide receiver with almost half his yardage in Jayden Hill, who has 524 yards and two TDs on 42 catches.
WR Raymond Knotts, a transfer from Richmond Senior High, has the second-most grabs for Lee County with 17 and has 151 receiving yards, while WR Kamaree Butler has the second-most receiving yards with 165 and two TDs on 11 receptions.
“As long as we can match up physically against wide receivers, we’ve been pretty successful,” Bailey said. “We had a little bit of trouble Friday night with (Pinecrest’s) 6-foot-4, 6-foot-5 guys. But we’re definitely going to spend a lot more time working on our pass defense this week.”
Linebacker Isaiah McKendall has 52 tackles to lead the Yellow Jackets defense, with six of them being tackles for loss, and has also intercepted two passes; defensive lineman Prince Lamison has 27 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, and three sacks; and defensive back Anthony Battle has a team-high three interceptions.
The defender that could give Scotland’s offensive line the most grueling time, though, is DL Ronnie Hooker, who has 41 tackles and leads Lee County with 20 tackles for loss and 10 sacks.
Bailey said his O-line will have to play much better than they did against Pinecrest.
“We’ve just got to get back on the same page,” Bailey said. “We did not have as good of a game up-front Friday night with our offensive line. We could have also done better in pass protection. But a lot of that had to do with Pinecrest. They were moving. They were slanting. It’s a lot harder to hit a bunch of moving targets.”
Another part of the offense Bailey hopes to return to dominating fashion is RB Zay Jones. While Jones had 32 rushes for 159 yards and two TDs against Pinecrest, he was held to under 30 yards in the second half and was nursing an injury that had him out of the game momentarily.
Baley said the issue is a lingering one that could limit him against Lee County.
“He’s had a groin issue that goes all the way back to track season last year,” Bailey said. And we’re really not sure exactly what it stemmed from and how he’s (continuing) to reaggravate it. We basically rehab him all week during practice (and) try to get him ready. We’re hoping we can get him back healthy this week. If not, obviously that kind of puts a wrinkle in our offense and the things that we need to do. So, we’ll evaluate that and see where we’re at as the week goes on.”
Kickoff for Friday’s game is at 7:30 p.m.
Reach Brandon Hodge at 910-506-3171 or by email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @BrandonHSports.