HS Football Roundup: Vance coach surprised to be among 5 Meck regional final teams

Friday night, Mecklenburg County teams flexed their high school football muscle in the western half of North Carolina’s playoffs.

▪ In 3A, Charlotte Catholic looked as dominant as any team in the Carolinas, beating Weddington – the 2016 N.C 3AA champion – 42-7. The Cougars didn’t allow Weddington as much as a first down until the last play of the first half.

▪ In 4AA, Mallard Creek’s powerful defense held Greensboro Page to its lowest point total of the season. The Mavericks won 9-5 and held Page 28 points below its average. On the other side of the bracket, Hough routed Myers Park 39-17 to make the regional round for the first time in school history.

▪ And in 4A, Harding’s Cinderella story continued, as the Rams pummeled East Forsyth 36-7 to reach its first regional championship game since 1987.

But at Vance, Cougars coach Aaron Brand led his team back to the regional round for the third time in four years. And even he seemed a little surprised by that fact after Friday’s 49-21 win over Hickory Ridge.

“I guess everybody expected those other four schools to be there,” Brand said. “Harding has the No. 1 (2019) player in the country (running back Quavaris Crouch). Mallard Creek is Mallard Creek, and Charlotte Catholic is dropping down with 4A people to play 3A ball. Hough has 3,000 students. But over here, little ol’ Vance with 1,600 students, we just keep finding a way.”

Friday night, Brand won his 40th game at Vance in four seasons and he’s led the Cougars to 11 wins in 14 games in 2017. Since the school opened in 1997, Vance has had four seasons with 10 or more wins.

Three have come under Brand.

Doing it this season, he said, was especially satisfying. Vance was blown out 42-19 by West Mecklenburg in a high profile season-opener, and Brand wondered if his team could make the playoffs. Then, just three weeks ago, Hough beat the Cougars 47-14, the type of loss no coach wants just before the playoffs.

But little ol’ Vance, as the coach said, just keeps finding a way.

“If you had told me at the beginning of the year with that performance at Memorial Stadium, that we’d sitting here at this spot, we would’ve taken it,” Brand said. “In a heartbeat. This is not our best team by any means, but we’ve got a few players who just refuse to let us get into too bad a situation.”

Brand said those guys include QB Nigel Summerville, who accounted for three touchdowns and threw for 177 yards Friday, and running backs M.J. Williams and Kaden Clark. Williams ran 25 times for 194 yards. Clark had 18 carries for 107 yards

Brand, who is 49-19 in his coaching career – he was 9-4 at West Charlotte in 2008 – said he got a big coaching boost this week from Dutch Fork (S.C.) head coach Tom Knotts. Brand coached under Knotts at Independence, when Knotts built a national power. The two talked every day but Thursday, with Knotts – who led Dutch Fork to a state championship game Friday night – helping him devise a game plan.

“He kept saying (these playoff games) are easy, ‘They’re easy!’” Brand said. “He said, ‘This is what you’ve got to do! Well, it helped tremendously. He drew some things up for me and drew it up in our terminology so it became second nature. He was talking fast and I could still feel it. And he doesn’t talk to anybody. But I shaped my game plan all week with coach Knotts, and I’m not afraid to tell you that.”

Observations

▪ This Mallard Creek team, though unbeaten, seems a little more vulnerable than the four teams Mavericks coach Mike Palmieri has marched to the N.C. 4AA Western Regional finals before. There seem to be many more close calls and not as much dominant talent. Last week, the Mavericks had to hold on to beat North Mecklenburg. This week, they needed an incredible defensive performance, and a fourth quarter rally, to beat Greensboro Page 9-5. But from afar, this team seems closer than some of Palmieri’s previous teams, even some of the more dominant ones. And what they lack in some areas, they seem to make up in collective, competitive heart.

▪ When Charlotte Catholic was reassigned to the 3A division, dropping down from 4A, and assigned to a conference of Union County schools, I kind of suspected the Cougars might be dominant. I’m not sure I thought that they would dominate this much. The Cougars have allowed 21 points in three playoff games and won by a combined 106 points.

Friday, as they were walloping the reigning 3AA state champions from Weddington, my Twitter feed filled up with people upset about Catholic’s 3A assignment and the age-old question about why a private, non-boarding parochial school is in the N.C. High School Athletic Association. Catholic follows the rules given to it by the NCHSAA. Back in September, I wrote a story that tried to addressed the issues surrounding Catholic’s participation (click here) and the secret, if anything behind its success (click here).

The Cougars’ talent pool appears as deep as ever and this is relatively young team. Its best days, in this current run, look like they are ahead.

▪ With so many dominant stars in North Carolina this season, I think one guy who’s being overlooked is Sun Valley QB Sam Howell.

Howell has had as much to do with his team’s success as any player in the state. Friday, he led No. 12 seed Sun Valley to a 27-20 upset of No. 1 seeded Winston-Salem Mount Tabor on the road. Howell competed 16-of-26 passes for 180 yards and three touchdowns. He ran for 72 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries. Sun Valley will play for its first NCHSAA state championship berth next week.

Elevator

↓Zamir White, Scotland County: Senior running back tore his ACL in last week’s 63-26 win over Fayetteville 71st in the second round of the N.C. 4A playoffs. White, a Georgia recruit, ends his senior season with 148 carries for 2,085 yards and 34 rushing touchdowns. He had 7,168 career yards and 119 rushing TDs. He is a candidate for the US Army national player of the year.

↑Warren Bell, Scotland County: Playing without White, Bell had 296 yards rushing plus 66 passing and had seven total touchdowns in the first half of a 74-34 win over South Central in the third round.

↑Safeties: Rare to see safeties in football. Hough got two in the first half Friday at Myers Park. Lenoir Hibriten got one against Franklin and Greensboro Page also got one at Mallard Creek.

↑Hough: Defeated Myers Park 39-17 on the road Friday under first-year coach Matthew Jenkins. Hough is in the regional final for the first time and will visit Mallard Creek.

↑Concord Robinson defense: Stuffed Kings Mountain on a potential 2-point conversion to win 47-46 in overtime.

↑Rock Hill South Pointe: Beat Greer 67-20 to win its 19th straight playoff game and advance to next week’s state championship game against Hartsville. Clemson recruit Derion Kendrick, a national player of the year candidate, had more than 400 yards total offense and seven total touchdowns.

↑Xavier Brooks, Shelby: A 1-yard run in the fourth quarter lifted Shelby to a 7-0 win over Mount Pleasant. Shelby’s one win away from playing for a fifth straight state title.

Friday’s Featured Video: Hough routs Myers Park to make regionals

Friday’s #BIG5 Performers

Quavaris Crouch, Harding: 334 yards on 21 carries in a 36-7 win against East Forsyth. Crouch also had a sack. It was the 14th best single-game rushing performance in Mecklenburg County history.

Knowledge Gainey, Mallard Creek: Caught a 57-yard game-winning fourth-quarter touchdown pass from Jadyn Washington in a 9-5 come-from-behind win over Greensboro Page.

Sam Howell, Sun Valley: Led his team to an upset of Winston-Salem Mount Tabor. Howell threw for 180 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 72 yards and another score.

Jarrett Nagy, Nolan Groulx, Hough: Nagy had 25 carries for 167 yards and three touchdowns in a 39-17 win over Myers Park. Groulx caught nine passes for 121 yards and a score.

Chase Orrock, Que Reid, Concord Robinson: Orrock had 196 yards passing and four touchdowns in a 47-46 overtime win over Kings Mountain. Reid had 149 yards rushing and a score.

Links to more content

Hough stymies Myers Park to advance to record regional

Catholic cruises past Weddington in 4A playoffs

Mallard Creek edges Page in low scoring affair

Harding, Crouch, rolls to semifinals

Vance runs over Hickory Ridge into the semifinals

This story was originally published November 25, 2017 at 1:15 AM with the headline "HS Football Roundup: Vance coach surprised to be among 5 Meck regional final teams."