Leesville Road football
PHOTO BY ROB ORAZI
Leesville Road QB Josh Stanley fights through a tackle as an Enloe defender pulls on his jersey during Friday's Cap-7 Conference opener. The Pride recorded a 34-7 win over the Eagles.
Edwards, Pride upend Enloe
When the head coach is hoarse by the end of his pre-game pep talk, it must be the start of conference play. And Leesville Road head coach David Green fired up his troops with a speech that increased in volume and passion with each sentence.
“I’m sick and tired of hearing about what Wake Forest puts on their wall," shouted Green, referring to Wake Forest-Rolesville’s recent conference championship banners. "It’s ours this year. We aren’t sharing."
Feeding off its coach’s energy, the Pride jumped out to a 28-7 halftime lead at Enloe, and cruised to 34-7 victory.
And not to be overlooked, the Pride defense didn’t give up a point for the third consecutive game. Despite 88 yards rushing from David Highsmith, the Eagles’ only score came on an interception returned for a touchdown.
The Pride's defense got started early as defensive back Logan Bible intercepted Enloe QB Phillip Jordan in the first quarter, returning the ball to the Enloe 24-yard line. And Pride QB Josh Stanley wasted no time capitalizing on the turnover. On first down, the junior connected with tight end Brandon Pittman running wide open across the middle for the first score of the game.
But the PAT failed, making it 6-0, Pride.
Led by safety Ryan Mangum — who was all over the field in the first quarter — the Leesville Road defense made it difficult for Enloe’s rushing attack to get on track. When Enloe did tried to pass, Jordan usually had a defender breathing down his neck.
Leesville Road got the ball back following an Enloe punt, and the running back trio of Mangum, Dylan Edwards and Nate Whittington traded carries, driving the ball to the Enloe 35-yard line.
Facing third and long from the Enloe 35-yard line, Stanley found Thurston Cox open over the middle, but the senior receiver couldn’t reel in the throw. Green opted to go for it on fourth down, and this time Stanley successfully hit Cox, who raced in a 35-yard touchdown.
The Pride made it 14-0 as Stanley rolled right and hit Pittman in the corner of end zone for the 2-point conversion.
Stanley didn’t throw much in the game, but when he did, he made it count. He was 3 for 6 in the first quarter, for 59 yards and two touchdowns.
When asked about the decision to throw the ball early, Green explained, “We saw something we thought would be good early, and it was. As we got into the game we might have tried to throw a bit too much, and got a way from running the football.”
Midway through the first half, Enloe put a couple of drives together behind running backs Highsmith and Qwen Yarborough. A screen pass from Jordan to Yarborough went for 33 yards, moving Enloe to the Leesville Road 25-yard line. But the Pride forced a fumble and Cody Pyper recovered, ending the threat.
Three plays later, Leesville Road gave the ball back as Yarborough picked off Stanley and broke several tackles on his way to the end zone. With the PAT, Enloe trailed be seven, 14-7.
PHOTO BY ROB ORAZI
Leesville Road linebacker/running back Dylan Edwards (42) awaits the snap Friday night.
Later in the quarter, Pittman recovered a blocked punt near the Enloe 10-yard line. From there, Edwards essentially took over the game.
On second and goal at the 6-yard line, Edwards ran right into an Enloe defensive lineman. But the senior kept his legs churning and muscled the ball across the goal line for a touchdown. Chris Hawthorne added the extra point, pulling the Pride 21-7.
“Dylan Edwards had a good night," Green said. "He runs hard, runs tough. That’s what we do best, run the football. We got back to it, and I thought we did a pretty good job.”
On Enloe’s ensuing drive, Bible came up with his second INT and brought it back to the Enloe 33-yard line.
Edwards then broke off runs of 10- and 14-yards to give the Pride first and goal on the 1-yard line. Leesville again called Edwards’ number, and he plunged in for the touchdown with 39 seconds left in the half. Edwards finished the night with more 120 yards rushing and two TDs.
“We knew they had a good defensive line, and a lot of our offensive linemen were out," Edwards explained. "Doug Theret had to come in, and he did a real good job.”
Edwards also singled out Bryan Ball and Kyle Gonzalez for making key blocks which led to big plays.
During Leesville Road’s second possession of the second half, Edwards recorded a 33-yard run, then added a 10-yard scamper. When Edwards went out for a breather, Stanley kept it himself on an option play and scored from 17 yards out. Another mishandled snap on the PAT left the score at 34-7.
After the Pride's third-quarter score, both teams had difficulty sustaining drives, and the score remained unchanged.
Following the game, Green warned his squad to remain level-headed heading into remainder of its league schedule.
"We’d like to be conference champions, and you’ve got to be ready to play in this conference," he said. "If you’re not ready to play, somebody else is going to put it (the conference championship banner) up on their wall.”
Leesville Road hosts Broughton — which defeated Millbrook to open the conference schedule — Friday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m.
"Broughton and Leesville — it’s always a battle,” Green said.
