Leesville Road football
Leesville Road's Cody Pyper (25) drags down WF-R's Darren Kirby, who raced 74 yards on the second half's opening kickoff Friday night. The return triggered the Cougars' 20-3 victory.
Cougars overcome deficit,
thwart Pride's upset bid
Darren Kirby's 74-yard kickoff return to start the second half Friday was exactly what the Leesville Road football team couldn't allow Wake Forest-Rolesville to do, explained Pride coach David Green.
The play flipped the field and, more importantly, ignited a previously dormant Cougar offense, which was held scoreless in the first half.
Four plays after Kirby's return, teammate Trea Jones barreled into the end zone from 10 yards out, propelling the Cougars to 20 unanswered points and a 20-3 victory.
With the win, the Cougars concluded a perfect 11-0 regular season — and with Fayetteville Jack Britt's loss to Terry Sanford — WF-R will likely receive the 4-AA East Region's No. 1 seed when the postseason brackets are finalized later this weekend.
While the Pride didn't help itself fumbling away a third-quarter punt return or garnering just one second-half first down —thanks to a WF-R pass interference call — Green traced the game's turning point to Kirby's kickoff.
"You want to hold them down on that side of the field, [and] you hope you are playing with a short field the rest of the night," he explained after the game, standing just a few feet from where Kirby's run came to an end. "Instead they run the ball all the way down here, [and] get a touchdown out of it."
"And then we ended up playing on a long field the rest of the game."
To see highlights from Friday night's game, click on our video.
Following the Jones' TD, the Pride struggled to compile anything resembling a drive, punting after three plays. And after a Leesville defensive stand, the Pride fumbled away the Cougars' resulting punt.
Taking over at the Pride's 21-yard line after the turnover, WF-R capitalized the field position as James Harris burst 19 yards down to the 1-yard line and QB Dan Tomchik snuck into the end zone.
While the defense played solidly all night, Green explained the same couldn't be said for Leesville's special teams' unit.
"We played great defense. We played hard. We got after it," he said. "But we made a couple mistakes on special teams that got us beat. What we did tonight can beat a lot of teams. But you don't beat state-championship caliber teams.
You don't make those mistakes. We have to clean those up."
To make the matters worse, the Pride lost QB Logan Bible to a shoulder injury following Tomchik's TD, and Austin Berrios was forced behind center. Coincidentally, Bible was standing in for regular starter Josh Stanley, who has been out injured for the last three weeks.
"Bible got hurt. He played quarterback — he got hurt. That's kind of what happens," Green said with a shrug and a halfhearted smile.
(Stanley — on crutches Friday night — is unlikely to return for a few weeks, Green added. Asked who might play in their playoff opener, the coach responded "We'll see who's well. Somebody will play. We have played four [QBs] this season, and we'll play one of them.")
Trailing by two scores with just over a quarter remaining, the Pride put Berrios in a precarious position.
A better runner than thrower, Berrios was forced to throw anyway.
"We're down two scores, so we can't do the things that he necessarily does the best," Green said. "We're asking him to throw the football. And he does OK throwing, but it's not his strength."
After Leesville Road High School's student section was honored by HighSchoolOT.com Friday night, the Pride's mascot and Bobby Iannuzzelli (the one not in a costume) celebrated with a chestbump.
The Pride's next three possessions ended in punts, and the Pride's final drive in the closing minute ended when Leesville QB Andrew Wolfe was intercepted by Kirby.
Despite the offense's struggles, the Pride's defenders continued to come up big, halting a fourth-and-1 play at the Leesville 16-yard line with nine minutes remaining. Though the Cougars tacked on a late touchdown with 1:47 remaining as Harris raced in from one yard out. WF-R missed the extra point, making the score 20-3.
Unfortunately for the Pride, the defeat overshadows an excellent first half in which Leesville jumped out early, taking its opening drive 14 plays, leading to Chris Hawthorne's 44-yard field goal. It was just the third time all season the Cougars allowed a score in the first quarter.
Bible rushed five times for 35 yards on the opening series, and Dylan Edwards added four rushes for 20.
"We did a real good job of running the football that first drive," Green said. "We didn't do as good a job after that. Part of it was they made some adjustments. Part of it was we didn't do as good a job."
The Pride then forced a WF-R fumble three plays later, recovering the ball at the Cougar 23-yard line. But Leesville failed to capitalize, losing 11 yards on the possession and forcing a punt.
In the second quarter, Leesville senior Thurston Cox intercepted a Tomchik pass, squashing a WF-R drive which started at the Pride 40-yard line.
The first half proved to be a defensive battle for the most part as neither team amassed more than 85 yards of total offense.
In the loss, Bible completed three of four passes for 10 yards, adding 40 yards on the ground on 12 rushes. Berrios connected on one of four attempts for 13 yards.
WF-R's running duo of Harris and Jones finished with 86 and 57 yards, respectively.
Tomchik threw for 82 yards on eight of 16 completions. Fabian Seabrooks hauled in a game-high six passes for 70 yards.
Penalties, especially facemask penalties, hurt Leesville as the Pride were flagged for miscues eight times Friday.
Despite the Pride's errors, Green remained confident his squad can regroup for the postseason.
"They'll be ready," he said. "I thought they were ready tonight."
But the Cougars took the Pride's first-half punch, and managed to stay perfect.
