Hough rolls into the Elite Eight with convincing win over Mallard Creek

The No. 1 Hough High Huskies ran out to a big lead over conference rival Mallard Creek in a third round N.C. High School Athletic Association 4A playoff game Friday, then held on for a 31-17 win.

Hough will host East Forsyth in a state quarterfinal next week. East Forsyth has not allowed a point in the playoffs.

On Friday, Hough and Mallard Creek got off to slow starts

Huskies coach Matt Jenkins’ message was simple.

“We just had to keep playing,” Jenkins said. “Mallard Creek is a good team. They have been playing well. They got better towards the end of the year than they were earlier in the year.”

Keep playing they did as they would come out and score 31 unanswered points in the second and third quarters. Running back JT Smith ran hard all game long. His hard-nosed running contributed to sustaining long drives for the Huskies.

“It started with the guys up front,” Smith said. “They kept pounding it up front and giving us a push and helped me get that run and that is all to the O-line.”

On top of the offensive spark the Huskies found, their defense matched the intensity with five sacks in the game. Defensive lineman Branden Palmer was able to secure an interception off of a tipped pass and follow his blocks into the end zone.

The fourth quarter would be all Mallard Creek, but in the end its efforts were not enough to come all the way back from down 31-3 after three quarters.

“Defensively we played fantastic football like they usually do,” Jenkins said. “Our kids play really hard on defense.”

Heading into the next round of the playoffs Hough’s mentality will not change. “Win and advance,” Jenkins said.

“We are just going to play Hough football,” Smith said. “Our offense is going to do what they have to do. We have the best defense in the state, and they will hold it down. So we will feed off their energy and go put some points on the board.”

THREE WHO MATTERED

JT Smith, Hough: Smith was the workhorse on the Hough offense. While he did not have many explosive runs, his short gains of 4 and 5 yards were enough to wear the Mallard Creek defense down. He got in the end zone once on a hard 15-yard run where he drew contact just 1 yard past the line of scrimmage.

Tad Hudson, Hough: The junior quarterback got off to a rough start throwing an interception in the first quarter, but he got back on track with a 51-yard touchdown pass, as well as a 61-yard touchdown pass.

Markell Quick, Hough: The wideout lived up to his last name in this game. His acceleration after the catch was next level and he got downhill for a 61-yard score after catching a short 5-yard hitch route.

WORTH MENTIONING

▪ In their earlier matchup with the Mavericks, the Huskies scored exactly 31 points. Interesting coincidence for sure.

▪ Mallard Creek was called for a pass interference call in the second quarter on third-and-long, which led to a Huskies’ first down and eventual score.

▪ Mallard Creek scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter after getting three consecutive stops on defense.

WHAT’S NEXT

This is the end of the road for the Mallard Creek Mavericks, while the No. 1 seeded Hough Huskies will move on to face the 13th-seeded East Forsyth Eagles in the Elite Eight of the playoffs.

SCORING SUMMARY

Hough 0 17 14 0 — 31

Mallard Creek 3 0 0 14 — 17

MC: Charlotte Stavis 32-yard FG

H: Nolan Hauser 43-yard FG

H: JT Smith 15 run (Hauser kick)

H: Sequan Osborne 51 pass from Tad Hudson (Hauser kick)

H: Markell Quick 61 pass from Hudson (Hauser kick)

H: Branden Palmer 20-yard interception return (Hauser kick)

MC: Jakhi Patton 5 rush (Patton conversion)

MC: Darren Hamilton 21 pass from Brayden Hines (kick missed)