Wakefield football
After getting the Wolverines off to a good start last week — posting a 31-7 win over Green Hope — junior QB Patrick Johnstone (12) should continue his development against Holly Springs Friday.
Wolverines look to halt Holly Springs
Last year's Wakefield and Holly Springs football match-up featured one of the most jaw-dropping, wouldn't-have-believed-it-if-I-didn't-see-it-with-my-own-two-eyes plays in Wolverines' history.
Facing a 4th-and-32, down 21-20, with less than two minutes remaining, Wakefield's Mychal Jones pulled in a screen pass from Drew Wilkinson and zig-zagged his way 73 yards to the end zone. He seemingly dashed past every Golden Hawk defender while making his improbable dash.
52 weeks later, the play is still worth talking about.
But Wakefield head coach J.D. Dinwiddie said Tuesday he hopes the Wolverines can secure a victory without the theatrics Friday night.
"To be honest, I hope it's not as exciting as it was last year," he said.
Similar to its 2008 match-up, both squads enter the contest heading in opposite directions.
The Wolverines — who knocked off Green Hope 31-7 Friday — are again 1-0, while Holly Springs fell to Southeast Raleigh 41-17, and are seeking its first win of the season.
The Golden Hawks were battered by the Bulldogs for 274 rushing yards last week, which might be a good sign for Wakefield, which wasn't pleased with its ground game in week one.
"I expected us to be a little better in our running game last week," Dinwiddie said. "But we recognized our problems on film, and we're in the process of fixing those issues. Once we get them worked out, I think we could be a lot more effective on the ground."
The coach explained it wasn't so much of his offensive line not making holes, but his running backs weren't recognizing where to go quickly enough.
"We were getting a decent push sometimes, but sometimes we didn't see our cuts," Dinwiddie added. "We run a zone scheme, and our success is predicated on seeing your hole, making your cut and being where you need to be."
The Wakefield coach has great confidence that sophomore back Courtney Crews —with another week of preparation — will be ready to break out Friday. Crews rushed for 62 yards on 24 carries and a touchdown Friday. Denzel Brown rushed eight times for 16 yards.
With another game under his belt Wakefield junior QB Patrick Johnstone looks to build on last week's solid effort. Johnstone completed 9 of 17 passes for 143 yards, with two TDs and one INT against the Falcons.
"For his first varsity start, I'm not going to say he is a finished product and he was outstanding, but I thought he did a decent job," Dinwiddie said. "He made some mistakes, but he did what we asked him to do. And we tried to keep it conservative. And sort of let him feel his way out."
Johnstone executed good decision-making, choosing the right time to go for the big play, the coach added.
The coaching staff wants the first-year varsity QB to focus on lessening his workload by getting the Wolverines' playmakers the ball.
"We have the athletes, we just have to get the ball to them a little more frequently," Dinwiddie said." That is something we will be able to do as the season progresses. But if we don't have our quarterback right, it doesn't matter how many good athletes we have out there. That's why we're focusing in on the quarterback and trying to make him as successful as he can be."
Against the Falcons, wide receiver Trip Foreman finished with four catches, 79 yards and a touchdown. David Gibson added 56 yards on two catches and a score.
Where Foreman made his biggest splash Friday night, however, was on special teams, returning three punts for 96 total yards and a score.
Wakefield's Terrance Scott and Tye Smith did a commendable job returning kickoffs as well, both amassing returns of 30 yards or more. Jones returned one punt for 35 yards.
"I thought the biggest difference between us and Green Hope was special teams," Dinwiddie said. "That allowed us to get good field position, and that was a big part of Friday night's game."
Dinwiddie believes Holly Springs' offense will run a triple-option look, similar to what they ran last year. But the Golden Hawks should expect a difficult time moving the ball.
Wakefield limited Green Hope to less than 30 total yards on the ground a week ago.
Holly Springs' leading rusher last week was J.J. Graves — No. 33 — who amassed 23 yards on 10 carries. K.J. Herndon — No. 3 —ran for 12 yards.
Seniors Moises Ramirez and Matt Yovanovich led the team defensively Friday, recording seven and six tackles, respectively.
Fortunately for the Wolverines, they got through Week 1 with no serious injuries and should be near full strength Friday.
Kickoff is schedule for 7:30 p.m.
Off topic: Wakefield traded in its maroon helmets this season, choosing white headgear instead. Dinwiddie explained the switch wasn't made for any specific reason, he just preferred white.
"I have always like white helmets, back to when I played," he said.
While Dinwiddie said the change in headgear doesn't have any positives or negatives, current Franklinton head coach Clark Harrell also switched to a white helmet last fall, stating it was easier to see where his players were looking when reviewing game film. Not that it has any correlation here, but figured it was worth mentioning.
