Some Charlotte high school football teams are playing 3 games in 8 days. Is it safe?
Saturday night, unbeaten Ardrey Kell played at Olympic High School in an important SoMECK 7 conference meeting.
Both teams were unbeaten and trying to win to pull into a first-place tie with Providence (4-0). This year, the conference will only get two automatic playoff bids.
The game went into overtime and high school rules call for each team to get the ball at the opponents’ 10 yard line with four downs to score. You play until you have a winner.
In the second overtime, Olympic scored to take a 28-21 lead, and Ardrey Kell scored quickly. Knights coach Greg Jachym made a decision, at least in part because his team was playing its third game in eight days, to try a 2-point conversion.
If it worked, the Knights would get a huge win.
It didn’t work.
Many times, coaches on the road will go for 2 at some point, but not many are thinking — in addition — that, “I may need to do this to not burn my players out.”
Welcome to high school football in a COVID world.
“It was tough,” Jachym said of managing his team’s schedule. “I don’t think I’ve had that before, with that many games in that short amount of time. Our kids were excited, though. They had been off for so long, they were just happy to be playing, and I think we did the best job we could managing it.”
The N.C. High School Athletic Association moved the start of high school football from August to February because of the pandemic and cut four weeks off the regular-season. So, this season, teams get seven games instead of 11. If games are postponed due to contract tracing, like what happened with Ardrey Kell, you can quickly get into a logjam.
And no wants to cancel a game when you only have seven.
“It really affected the way we practice,” Jachym said. “We played West Meck last Friday (March 12) and gave them the weekend off. Monday practice was a walk through and our soccer coach came in and did some yoga stuff with them. Then we played Harding (Tuesday) and it was a really physical game. Second quarter, we had the ball one offensive play. They were running the ball and pounding us, and then you’ve got to turn around and get ready for (Saturday) and Olympic is a big team. They’re physical and they run the ball a lot. It was a lot of football in eight days, for sure.”
Ardrey Kell isn’t the only team dealing with these types of scheduling issues.
West Cabarrus, a first-year school, played AL Brown Friday. It will play Concord Tuesday, Northwest Cabarrus Saturday and Central Cabarrus the following Thursday.
If you’re counting at home, that’s four games in 14 days.
Harding, also, just played three games in eight days. The Rams played JM Robinson March 12, Ardrey Kell Tuesday and South Mecklenburg Saturday.
“Dude, after a game, kids are physically beat up,” South Mecklenburg coach Joe Evans said, “and you try to get to the next day of practice, that day after a game; and I don’t want to say it’s a waste, but we do a little conditioning and install to get them out of there. People think we just roll out the ball and play, but that’s far from the truth. We have install meetings on Zoom and all kinds of stuff. It’s hard when the schedule gets backed up like that.”
Saturday night, Ardrey Kell lost star receiver Brooks Stankavage to a knee injury in the second quarter. Jachym said he’ll be checked by doctors Monday.
South Meck’s Evans said injuries in this type of multi-game scenario are always a concern, for several reasons.
“Kids get banged up,” he said, “and you have one or two days to prepare and he’s worried about the injury and you’re trying to get him mentally and physically ready at the same time for the next game.
“That’s a lot for a high school kid.”
The Weekend Rewind
Observer’s high school football coverage from Friday and Saturday (click links for more)
Controversial call, Jacob Newman, play big role in Myers Park’s win at Hickory Ridge
Game of the year so far? Olympic fends off Ardrey Kell in OT
Friday’s rewind: stars, recaps of area games
Prep football players of the week
High School overtime, is it time for a change?
AL Brown coach Mike Newsome has led his team to a 4-0 start, one of the best in his 10 years in Kannapolis. Two of those wins came in overtime. And he likes the way it’s done now: the four downs and 10 yards thing.
“I like it,” he said, “because it’s different than everybody else. I do like what colleges do, giving you the ball at the 25 yard line with a chance to get a first down. But 10 yards is hard to get in high school. It throws all four downs into play.”
Newsome, a two-time state champion at 4AA Butler, also argues that moving the ball back to the 25 would take the kicking game out of play for a lot of high school teams.
Jachym, the Ardrey Kell coach, is on the other side.
“When we were walking to midfield” after regulation play ended Saturday at Olympic, Jachym said, “I asked the ref, ‘It’s from the 25, right?’ And he said, ‘Yep.’ Then I said, ‘Wait that’s college.’ And the ref said, ‘I ref college, too, so I got confused.’ I haven’t had too many overtime games, but I think the 25 would be better.”
Evans thinks the 10 yard line is too close and wouldn’t be opposed to playing a regular quarter, similar to how the NFL does it. Ultimately, though, he thinks high schools should just back the ball up.
“You should have to start at the 25,” he said, “and be able to get two first downs and play. I think the 10 yard line is a little short-sighted.”
Roll Call
A look at top performers in the area that were not covered this weekend:
▪ Butler High’s Parish Metzer threw for 128 yards and three touchdowns in a win over rival Independence. Teammate Davion Nelson ran 15 times for 179 yards and a score.
▪ Crest QB TJ Ruff led his team to a 32-9 win over Hunter Huss Saturday. The Charleston Southern recruit threw for 131 yards and two scores. He ran for 163 yards and two scores.
▪ Northwest Cabarrus freshman QB Alex Walker was 14-of-19 for 171 yards and three touchdowns in a 41-21 win over Concord. Northwest coach Eric Morman, a former coach at North Mecklenburg, got his first win at his new school.
▪ Rocky River QB Khalil Archie completed 10-of-18 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns in a 40-3 win over East Mecklenburg.
▪ Shelby High beat Cleveland County rival Burns 20-18, stuffing a potential game-tying two-point conversion. Shelby QB Gabe Huitt was sacked six times, but completed 20-of-30 passes for 260 yards and two touchdowns. Burns QB Cam’ron Sweezy threw for 218 yards.
▪ South Meck tight end Bryson Nesbit, a North Carolina recruit, had two touchdown catches in a win over Harding. Jake Brennan ran for more than 125 yards. South Meck, which gave second-year coach Joe Evans his first win at the school, had more than 200 yards rushing.
▪ West Lincoln’s Curtis Goins had eight tackles, three assists and a sack in a 21-0 win over Lincolnton. Teammate Grayson Barkley ran 18 times for 138 yards.
Big Games on tap
Butler (3-1) at Hickory Ridge (3-1): the Charlotte-area game of the week is huge for both teams. The winner will likely get the Southwestern 4A’s second automatic bid (behind Myers Park). The loser will have to hope for a wild-card berth.
No. 1 Vance (4-0) at Lake Norman (3-1): Lake Norman beat arch rival Mooresville last week and brings a lot of momentum into this home game with the 4AA state champs. It really needs a win to keep its playoff hopes alive. Vance has outscored four teams 194-21.
Kings Mountain (3-0) at Shelby (4-0): Kings Mountain plays 0-3 North Gaston at home Tuesday before playing its Cleveland County rival Saturday night in a game featuring two bona-fide state title contenders: Shelby in 2A and Kings Mountain in 3A.
This story was originally published March 22, 2021 at 6:30 AM.
