Rams breeze through opening round

The quagmire of a field at Community Stadium provided a fast track for Reidsville’s surge into another post-season Friday night.
On turf that looked more like quicksand than a football grid, the Rams rolled up 450 yards in total offense and left Wilson Beddingfield stuck in the mud during a 58-7 domination in the opening round of the state 2-AA playoffs.
“We weren’t going to worry about the field,” RHS coach Doug Robertson said after Rams ran their winning streaks to 12 this season and 44 over three. “If we got out here and saw the field was dictating things, we’d change. But we just played our offense and played our defense and I think we ended up playing well doing that.”
A storm dumped non-stop rain across the state for three days leading up to the playoff openers and numerous games were postponed to Saturday. In one of the others that was played, Bunn defeated Richlands 21-19, setting up a Bunn-Reidsville match up in the second round Friday at Community Stadium.
While Beddingfield, which ended its season at 6-6, couldn’t get anything going on offense, the conditions didn’t bother Reidsville.
Senior quarterback Tyrell Houghton, who ran for 204 yards on just six carries and passed for another 108, had a field day. He ran for three touchdowns and passed for two just two weeks after being sidelined with a sprained ankle.
“We had the offense clicking,” Houghton said. “Everybody was on the same page. We worked hard this whole week in preparation and the coaches got us right.”
Two of Houghton’s scoring runs came from 94 and 61 yards. He turned the corners on keepers and left the Bruins in the would-be dust.
“I’m glad I didn’t slip,” Houghton said. “Thanks to the O.L. (offensive line). They said run outside and I listen to them. I trust their blocking.”
Beddingfield coach Tyrone Johnson said the RHS line was impressive.
“They did exactly what we thought, but they blocked better than we thought,“ he said. “I knew they had the skill people to take it to the house, but I didn’t realize the line was that good.”
Junior Josh Wagner and seniors Jamie Jackson, Danye Gorrell, Bryron Johnson, Gabriel Hildebrand and tight end Mike Allen opened the way for Houghton and senior halfback E.J. Foster, who gained 98 yards on eight carries, pushing him over the 1,000-yard mark for the season. He now has 1,017 yards on just 120 attempts (8.5 per carry). He found the end zone twice, upping his season total to 23.
“I love my line,” Foster said. “They work hard every day. They’re stepping up and putting their heart into it. They’re looking like our line from last year.”
Reidsville’s defense shared the spotlight.
The Bruins had only 37 yards of offense and two first downs in the first half as Reidsville put the clamps on senior quarterback Lance Price, who entered the game with more than 6,000 career passing yards. Powerful running back Monteith Lucas also found a slow go in the first half.
“I knew they were good and athletic, but their defense is so underestimated,“ Bruins coach Johnson said. “That defense is good. They’re fast and they’ll knock your butt out. They’ll hit you.“
Steve Williams led the Rams with 13 tackles and Dashawn Crews, Deron Barnett, Bryron Johnson, Mike Lee, Ryan Broadnax, Kenzel Doe and Foster also had at least five.
One of the huge defensive plays came with Reidsville up 6-0 midway through the first quarter and the Bruins in Reidsville territory thanks to a Price-to-Terry Davis pass for 22 yards. Barnett’s blind-side sack of Price sent the ball flying and Marcus Paschal recovered at midfield.
The Rams, who scored on their first seven possessions, needed only four plays to reach the end zone. Houghton hit Steve Williams with a 31-yard pass and two plays letter he threw a 9-yard strike to Doe for the TD.
Christian Williams took a pass from Lavert Butchee for the two-point conversion and a 14-0 lead.
The Rams added two more touchdowns in the first quarter – a 1-yard Houghton run and a Houghton pass for 15 yards to Lyshod Graves.
Houghton’s 61-yard run began the second quarter and Foster’s 1-yard plunge followed by Houghton 2-point run, put the Rams up 44-0 at the half.
The Bruins put together a long drive in the third quarter, marching from their own 29 to the Reidsville six in 14 plays.
Reidsville needed only one snap to take the ball back in the other direction as Houghton ran around the right side of the line after a play-action fake and sped away for a 94-yard TD.
Beddingfield averted the shutout with less than a minute to go, taking over after a Reidsville fumble at the 13.
Lucas, who ended with 117 yards on 25 carries, scored on the next play.
“We were prepared and had a great week of practice,” Robertson said, noting that two of the practices were forced inside the gym by the weather. “I felt real good going in that we had a good game plan and the guys really executed.”

RAM NOTES
• Reidsville’s winning streak is now third best in state history, trailing only Charlotte Independence, which won 109 straight from 2000-2007, and Ayden, which won 45 in a row from 1964 to 1968.
• Friday’s win was the 50th by the Rams in their playoff history as they now stand 50-17 with 24 appearances in 41 years. Reidsville hasn’t missed the post-season since 1999.
• Lyshod Graves didn’t return a kick for a touchdown Friday night, but he almost did. He was marked down just outside the goal line after a 33-yard punt return in the first quarter and was pulled down at the 6-yard-line after a 65-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter. He has four punt return TDs and three kickoff return TDs this season and is averaging 23.9 on punt runbacks and 45.9 and kickoff returns.
• The Rams didn’t punt against Beddingfield, marking the sixth time this year they didn’t punt in a game. Punter Steve Williams has 10 punts on the season (34.0 average).
• Reidsville reached the 50-point mark for the fourth straight game and the eighth time in 12 games. The Rams are now averaging 50.3 per game, the second highest mark in the state behind Monroe’s 51.9. Monroe, 12-0, won its opener in the 1-AA playoffs, 48-17 over Cherryville.
• Members in Reidsville’s Mid-State 2-A Conference went 1-1 in playoff openers Friday night – as Eastern Randolph surprised Providence Grove 16-0. Providence Grove won the regular season match 35-34. Two other Mid-State teams had their games postponed: Cummings will travel to Kill Devil Hills First Flight and Jordan Matthews will play host to Northwest Halifax.

Next up for Reidsville; Bunn

From staff report
Bunn, which survived the first round of the State 2-AA playoffs with a 21-19 victory over Richlands, will bring a four-game winning streak to Reidsville Friday.
The sixth-seeded Wildcats finished second to Roanoke Rapids in the Northern Carolina Conference and are 9-3 on the season. Their last loss came on Oct. 16 at Roanoke Rapids, 24-14. They bounced back to beat Franklinton 20-6, Warren County 34-8 and Louisburg 7-6 to wrap up the regular season.
Bunn opened the season back-to-back heartbreaking losses – 39-38 to C.B. Aycock and 24-22 to Southern Nash. Then came a five-game winning streak before the loss to Roanoke Rapids. Wins were 56-8 over Granville Central, 41-16 over Oxford Webb, 19-13 over Nash Central, 48-21 over North Johnston and 28-6 over Northwest Halifax.
On the year, the Wildcats are averaging 29.0 points per game and allowing 15.8.
Quarterback Montrel Cooke directs the Bunn offense and is a capable passer and runner.  He ran for 9- and 1-yard TDs in the playoff opener while completing 8 of 12 passes for 92 yards. Versatile Richard Dunston (5-10, 170) is the Wildcats’ go-to running back. He is close to 1,000 yards rushing on the season.
Bunn is coached by Chris Miller, who is in his first year after replacing long-time mentor David Howle.
Reidsville and Bunn have met once previously. In the regional finals in 2005, the Rams turned back Bunn 34-3 before losing in the state finals the following week to Shelby.
Bunn finished 10-3 that season and has gone 12-1, 10-5, 12-2, 9-3 and 10-3 since.