Scots get tough test with Southern Durham to open 2023 season

LAURINBURG — There are no more 7 on 7s. The scrimmages have come and gone. Week 1 of the North Carolina high school football season is here.

For head coach Richard Bailey and the Fighting Scots, they’ll be challenged with hosting a loaded Southern Durham Spartans team in their 2023 season opener Friday.

But, to Bailey, Southern Durham will just be a continuity of the competition they’ll have to play and have played against recently.

“Between scrimmaging Havelock and now playing Southern Durham and then Terry Sanford next week, we’re talking about three of the elite teams in 3A in the east that we’re going to play or scrimmage here in the first three weeks of, sort of, the playing season,” Bailey said.

Southern Durham added several transfers throughout the offseason, which include offensive lineman Mason Purcell, defensive back Tre Mittman, and defensive lineman K.J. Liles from Hillside, and DL Isaiah Campbell, a highly touted class of 2025 recruit, from Greene Central.

Bailey said he “didn’t realize they were probably going to be this good” when he initially scheduled Southern Durham for this year.

“They’re a talented football team,” Bailey said about Southern Durham. “They always have really good athletes, but they didn’t need any help, and apparently this summer they got help. But, they’re very talented, very athletic. It’ll be a great challenge, and we’ll figure out exactly where we’re at, and that could be good, could be bad, we’ll see.”

Along with some new faces, the Spartans return some familiar ones too with starting quarterback Jordan McClure, who passed for 3,403 yards and 20 touchdowns through the air last year, and receivers Amir Hall and Justin Baskerville, who each topped 800 yards last season, back on offense.

On defense, the Spartans bring back linebackers Tyler Richmond, who had 42 total tackles (24 solo), 10 tackles for loss, and five sacks last year, and Kristopher Watson, who recorded 152 total tackles (74 solo), 26 tackles for loss, five forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries, three sacks, and two interceptions in 2022.

For the Scots to come out with a win against the Spartans, Bailey believes his offense will have to help his defense.

“We’re going to have to grind it out and figure out how to play good defense by playing great offense,” Bailey said. “I always feel good about our offense against about anybody that we play. You’ve got to find ways to move the ball on the ground and sort of keep their offense off the field as much as possible, which is easier said than done because they do have elite players. You have to try to take advantage of the things they give you.”

Scotland QB Ji’San McPhatter will be starting in his first-ever game against Southern Durham after operating as the team’s backup for the last two seasons.

To get the nerves out of McPhatter, Bailey wants the offense to be simple early on.

“I think you get him some easy throws early, get his confidence (up),” Bailey said. “And against a quality opponent, I’m sure there’ll be some jitterbugs going on. But Ji’San has really impressed me with his preparation and what he’s done at practice. And, really, outside of one or two throws in the scrimmages where he’d probably like to have them back, he’s made a lot of good throws, and so we’re going to keep building on those. But I do think what you’ve got to do is establish a running game, allow him to get in the rhythm, make some easy throws, some screens, some RPOs (run-pass options), just things that he does really well, and then open it up as he feels a little bit more confident.”

Friday night’s game between the Scots and the Spartans will be a rematch from the first round of the 2021 state playoffs when Scotland defeated Southern Durham 35-13.