Friday High School Football Round Up; Laney Gets Big Win

“It was a New Hanover County game the way it’s supposed to be…that was good to see, wish we were on the other end.”

New Hanover Head Coach Kevin Motsinger hit the nail on the head. His team didn’t win, and the disappointment was written on his face from ear to ear. That being said, keeping things in perspective, this is high school football. In the big picture, the scoreboard isn’t all that important.

Friday night’s Laney versus New Hanover rivalry was played by a group of kids that will someday make good citizens, good community members… and maybe, yet less importantly, good football players.

Mike Rucker, former Carolina Panther, re-inforced this by appearing at Friday’s game to help raise awareness for Pop Warner football. He was a good NFL player for many years, but his dedication to helping youth leagues surpasses his accomplishments on the field.

As for Friday’s showdown between Laney and New Hanover, it came down to a late field goal by the Bucs, snapping a 7-7 tie late in the fourth quarter, as Laney won their biggest game in years.

The Bucs came in searching for their first win since the opening game of the season back on August 22, fresh off a tough loss to Jacksonville last week, as the Cardinals got their first win of the season.

Laney hopped on the scoreboard first with 2:13 remaining in the opening quarter. Quarterback Andy Olson hit Austin Mills in stride on a slant, bringing the Bucs all they way to the New Hanover 21 yard line and just two plays later, Olson found tight end Brandon Ellington open in the middle of the field for a nineteen yard touchdown.

On what was a rainy evening, the offenses struggled to find their groove, but just before the end of the third quarter, New Hanover evened the score. It was a drive that featured run after run, as the wet conditions weren’t helping out the passing game. Bruising back Jia Partee capped the drive as he broke free for a 31 yard touchdown run, knotting the score at seven.

The key play in the game for the Laney defense would come with 5:41 remaining in the game. New Hanover, faced with fourth down at the Buc 34, was in no-man’s land and had to go for it as they were out of field goal range and too close to pay dirt to punt. But the Buc defense stuffed the fourth down play and took over on downs.

Laney then started, The Drive.

After getting a much needed first down by Shaquan Bryant, the Bucs got some out of their own end and then some as Shakeem Bryant busted free for a huge run, all the way down to the New Hanover 25 yard line with 3:25 remaining. Laney kept inching closer to the goal line, and with 1:42 on the clock, they were set up with a first and goal at the four.

The Bucs couldn’t get in the endzone, but burned up more clock and New Hanover timeouts on downs one, two and three. Enter soccer star, gone place kicker Oliver Klockman. There was never any doubt about the 22 yard field goal as it split the uprights with :41 remaining.

New Hanover had too little time and no timeouts; the Cats were unable to strike for a last second miracle touchdown as they did last week against Ashley.

Friday’s game was one of those, you hate to see someone lose type of games. Not that the teams played their best game ever on offense, but there were no turnovers, minimal penalties, great defense, and most importantly, both teams played with the class of a champion.

Coach Motsinger was complimentary of the way that all the kids played… no smack talk, Cats helping Bucs up after big hits and Bucs helping Cats up. Coach was quite classy himself after the game saying, “Hats off to Coach Ditz, his staff, and his players.”

With the victory, Laney chalked up their first conference win of the season. The Bucs are playing more like a team with experience and the capability of winning the big games as the year progresses. Head Coach Greg Ditz said, “This is the first step of taking it to the next level… Our kids practice hard everyday, it’s our seniors getting these guys ready to play. Every Friday night, it’s going to be a battle in this league.”

The battles continue next week. Laney (2-4, 1-1) will be at home at they welcome a tough West Brunswick team and New Hanover (4-4, 2-1) will have their final home game of the season, as they host Jacksonville.

Coach Motsinger added, “We need to get ready to find out a way to beat Jacksonville… we then need to find a way to get healthy with the open week.” After the off-week, New Hanover finishes the season with back-to-back road games, at West Brunswick and at Hoggard.

West Brunswick 14 - Ashley 10

It was another tough defeat for Ashley as they were edged in another close ball game Friday night.

Charlie Brown put West Brunswick up 7-0 after a one yard touchdown run and the Trojans were right back in business after blocking an Ashley punt. Brown then scored the second of his two first half touchdowns to give the Trojans a 14-0 lead.

Ashley would try to mount a comeback but fell four points short as their record dips to 2-6 overall and 1-2 in conference play. With the win, West Brunswick moves to 4-3 and 2-1 after not winning a game last season.

Hoggard 35 - White Oak 10

Hoggard finally won a game that wasn’t a nail biter; according to Hoggard football guru / CFSR photographer Calvin McGowan, plain and simple... “They looked good.”

The now 5-1 Vikings have played a brutal schedule, and in their sixth game of the season, won their first game without the war of attrition factoring in.

By halftime, Hoggard had amassed a 28-10 lead and let their defense do the rest, as they Vikes cruised to the 25 point victory. Hoggard is the only unbeaten team left in the Mideastern Conference and will try to make it 3-0 next Friday when they host Ashley.

-- Jesse Jones, CAPE FEAR SPORTS REPORT