Prep football: Weddington, Indy battle to scrimmage tie; Sun Valley stops Ardrey Kell
Andy Capone and D.J. McFadden agreed on what fans should take away from their teams’ 14-14 deadlock Friday night in a scrimmage of two state football powerhouses — not too much.
“A little good, a little bad,” said Capone of his defending 4A state champion Weddington Wildcats.
“It was a good outing, but you can’t read a whole lot from it,” added McFadden, whose Independence team is expected to be a state power this fall.
This much is a matter of record. In the second game of the Independence Jamboree — moved from the Patriots’ wet field to Rocky River High’s turf surface — Weddington bolted to a 14-0 lead, but the Patriots battled back and scored the tying touchdown with 4:35 left in the contest.
The rest is the stuff that preseason debates and predictions are made of.
Weddington’s two scores came from its starting offense. But McFadden was experimenting with a couple of younger players early in the scrimmage. Independence’s two scores came against a Warrior defense with an ample number of reserves.
“We didn’t really want to show a lot,” Capone said of his team’s rather conservative offense. “The first two drives were pretty clean, and we executed pretty well. But we had a little dropoff at the end.”
Senior quarterback Walker Powell looked sharp in leading the two touchdown drives, which included a scoring pass. Several Warriors players had excellent defensive games, including senior linebacker Connor Flynn, who had three sacks.
Weddington has a lot of talented players, the makings of a solid ground game, and an excellent defense — well, the first unit, at least.
Independence is very fast and appears to have a solid secondary. Quarterback Jared Street, a transfer from West Cabarrus, had a shaky start but seemed to find his way as the scrimmage progressed.
“He really settled in after that start,” McFadden said. “He made some good throws. And I found that we can run the ball, too. Overall, it was a good test for us — especially considering our schedule.
Independence opens next Friday at perennial S.C. power Gaffney, then hosts 8A state championship contender Hough on Aug. 29 and private school power Charlotte Christian a week later.
Weddington opens next Friday against Mooresville, expected to be a 7A power this season.
Sun Valley stops Ardrey Kell in scrimmage
In the first scrimmage Friday, Sun Valley quarterback Noah Lineberry threw a pair of touchdown passes in the Spartans’ 13-0 victory over Ardrey Kell. His second score was a 34-yard toss on the final play of the scrimmage.
Ardrey Kell had trouble moving the football, although the Knights finally put together a long drive in the closing minutes before being stopped on downs inside the Sun Valley 5.
Country Day rolls in Georgia opener
Two big plays, one on special teams and one on defense, helped Charlotte Country Day win its season-opener in Georgia Friday.
The Bucs beat Savannah Country Day 28-10.
Country Day was the only N.C. team to officially start its season Friday. Most teams begin next week.
Country Day, which edged Savannah 22-21 last season, didn’t have as much trouble this year.
After Sam Jacobsen ran around right end to give his team a 14-7 lead late in the first quarter, the Bucs got a long punt return for a score from five-star recruit Braylon Clark, which helped Country Day take a 21-10 halftime lead.
And with 4:45 left in the third quarter, Bucs’ senior free safety Max Summerville scored on a long return after a turnover, pushing the lead to 28-10 for a Country Day team hunting its first winning season since 2019.
This story was originally published August 15, 2025 at 10:53 PM.
