First place in the SFC-American Blue championship was ripe to be had – and High Point spent the first 5-6 minutes of its showdown with Newton looking like it wanted no part of it Friday night.
And Newton? The Braves were all in – and overwhelmed the Wildcats in the early going.
High Point went three-and-out. Then things got a little worse for the Wildcats, who spent the next five minutes getting pushed around by Newton, which drove downfield and scored with very little resistance.
Was this the way to start out a big divisional battle for High Point?
No way – but that is why coaches coach and players adapt.
And it is how division championships are created.
Those changes High Point made are why the Wildcats came away with a 35-33 victory and are in the driver’s seat for the division crown.
Once the Wildcats made the necessary adjustments, they showed what they can do – plenty.
Coach Bill Percey’s team moved around some bodies on ‘D’ and came away with the win in a battle between arguably the American Blue’s two best teams.
High Point improved to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the league, with wins over the second-, third- and fourth-place teams (Newton, Kittatinny, and Hackettstown).
In other words, it’s only a matter of time before High Point wins the league.
But if the Wildcats didn’t make some countermoves on the 100-yard chess board, they might be spending this week pondering the what-ifs.
The defense had to change after that first drive or a long night was in store.
“We knew they’d run heavy buck sweep, trap and belly,” Percey said. “Typical Wing T. (High Point defensive coordinator) Will Nahan adjusted. We switched it up. We put an extra linebacker in (Landon Sorenson) to see if we could slow them down. We went back and forth with that. Not all the time. We mixed it up.”
The Wildcats wound up bending but not breaking all night, allowing Newton 319 yards rushing (Nick Kurilko was 14 for 144 with four TDs).
“We didn’t do too much differently,” two-way standout Jerron Martress said. “The defense locked in and we got it done. We didn’t give up after the first drive. We just had to get the feel for them.
“We changed the look a little. They run the ball so having an extra guy at linebacker helped a lot.”
“All week, the coaches told us to condense the gaps as much as we can,” lineman Hayden Hines said, referring to linemen such as Zach Longcor, Rioghnan Wood, Ruben Rivera, Kaleb DeFalco, and A.J. Sampson. “There is no room for mess ups against the Wing T. I think our D-Line did a good job.”
High Point’s O-Line, which has been coming on every week, had its best performance as three different Wildcats rushed for over 90 yards behind the blocks of linemen Hines, Brandon Kent, Conner Hemmer, DeFalco, and Alex Conway.
“Our O-Line wasn’t getting the push we needed for the running backs to hit the gaps,” Hines said. “They were making tackles in the backfield. I think we weren’t blocking as well as we should have. Then we got into the rhythm we got into and once we get going, it is tough to stop us, especially the way we go. The no huddle tires the defense out.”
“The line was phenomenal,” Percey said, crediting offensive coordinator Brian Bird with the work he put in with the offense.. “We have been waiting for this and they are starting to gel.”
How powerful was the line? Well, High Point passed just twice all night and the stellar Martress (23 for 173 yards, 2 TDs) and backfield mates Brendon Lehman (12 for 93, 1 TD) and Sampson (13 for 90, 2 TDs) still ran the ball brilliantly.
When a defense knows a team will be running the ball and the offense still piles up yardage, that means the O-Line is doing the job.
Said Martress, “As the season goes on, they build up that chemistry.”
The team lost starting QB Joe Elko in Week 1. Backup Jerry Empirio has filled in well, but Percey wanted a run-pass option in the backfield, so Martress operated out of the Wildcat for much of the Newton game.
Martress – All-Big State Sports last year and arguably the best runner in school history – loves the Wildcat, of course.
“He has the ball in his hands,” Percey said with a laugh.
“I love that formation,” Hines said. “Jerron is a really good running back and we knew that Newton’s second and third levels are really good at reading passes (Newton had 2 INTs in last year’s 36-32 win at High Point) last year.
“Our coaches make good decisions and that was one of them. Jerron is a double threat to throw and run. He always finds a gap and breaks tackles, so it is beneficial for us.”
Slow start aside, the Wildcats O-Line was at peak efficiency once they got rolling.
“These guys go straight ahead and they’re doing the best they can to open holes,” Percey said. “(Friday night) was their best night.”
All week long, High Point’s line prepared for what Newton brings – different looks, a stacked box and blitzes coming from all over the place.
“It was our gameplan,” Martress said. “We practiced against it all week. Wildcat formation, doing a lot of options and keeps. But the main thing is, props to the line, always.”
“The biggest thing was that we were having trouble picking up blitzing linebackers, so we worked all week to stay hip-to-hip and keep our eyes up,” Percey said. “Newton linebackers were jumping all over the place and we did a nice job with the double teams.”
Percey wasn’t in the least bit tempted to abandon the run in favor of the pass. Once the O-Line figured things out, he was proven correct.
“We are a heavy run team, we can throw it, but if it’s broke don’t fix it,” he said. “Teams will load the box and we know that, but we have done a good job with that. Most of the gaps have been taken care of. Newton’s linebackers are very good and it’s tricky at times against them because you never know where they are coming from.”
The win left High Point at 5-0, evolving memories of last year’s squad, which got out to a 4-0 start before losing to Newton in Week 5. The two wound up sharing the league title. Later on, the Wildcats dispatched Becton in the first round of the playoffs before losing to Glen Rock in the second round.
The team appears ready to make some postseason noise once again.
“I think we are better than last year, mentally,” Hines said. “We want it a lot more this year. We want to push ourselves more.”
But Percey will squash any state playoff talk. High Point is in a loaded North Group 2 field
(Shabazz, Bernards, Westwood, Hanover Park, etc). All that matters to Percey is the game at Vernon on Friday night.
“We like to keep the goals one week at a time,” he said. “We cannot look ahead. There are too many good teams ahead of us.”
