As Mount Tabor gathered for its post-game meeting with Coach Laymarr Marshall, almost all of the talk was about Reynolds.
And that was fitting because the Spartans, at times, played as if they had Reynolds on the brain while beating Western Guilford 14-7 in a first-round game of the Class 4-A football playoffs last night.
But after the last hard hit was dealt near midfield, ending Western's final drive, the Spartans were free and ready to speak and think about Reynolds, because that's who they will play in a second-round game Friday at Deaton-Thompson Stadium.
Reynolds (12-0) beat Mount Tabor 28-21 five weeks ago in Central Piedmont 4-A play.
Brad Morton, Mount Tabor's junior quarterback who threw two touchdown passes last night, said he was looking forward to playing Reynolds again.
"Definitely," Morton said. "I think we kind of blew it late last game, and I think we can take it to them. We have a good chance of winning."
Marshall smiled and in a roundabout way said that style points don't matter this time of the season.
"It was sloppy, but we will take every win this time of year," he said. "We couldn't be happier to move on, and next week's game speaks for itself."
Morton was intercepted twice and D.J. McCain lost a fumble inside the Western Guilford 5 in the first half, when the Spartans also committed 83 of their 98 penalty yards.
But Mount Tabor's aggressive defense helped give the offense patience, and Morton kept a third-quarter play alive with his feet long enough to find Hunter Sommerville on a 23-yard touchdown pass, which put the Spartans ahead 14-0.
That was more than enough for the defense, which limited Western to 6 rushing yards on 16 carries and gave quarterback Josh Thompson little time to get off his passes. Thompson completed 14 of 41 passes for 234 yards, but his one touchdown pass, early in the fourth quarter, had a little luck to it.
He launched a deep pass down the left sideline, and safety Matt McConnell of Mount Tabor came over from the middle and deflected it. But the ball landed in the hands of Jabri Ridenhour, who ran the final 20 yards of the 43-yard play.
That was the one offensive moment for Western, which didn't start moving the ball until it was too late.
The first-half mistakes -- plus failing to get 2 yards on fourth down from the Western 6 early in the second half -- kept Mount Tabor (9-3) from putting the game away.
But Morton said he didn't think his team took a step backward.
"They are very disciplined; they have a good defense," Morton said of Western.
"We just made too many penalties and mistakes. We got a lot of things going, but those things can kill our offense.
"A win is a win, and we will take it any way. We just need to get ready for next week and take care of the mistakes."
McCain rushed 29 times for 108 yards, and Morton gained 81 yards on nine carries, but most of the details were pointless in the aftermath. All thoughts were on Reynolds.
"I thought our first game with Reynolds was a great high-school football game, and we came up a little short," Marshall said.
"They made a couple of big plays, they had a pick-six, Jake Gainey returned a kick back, and we will probably think twice about doing that again.
"We felt that the good things we did in the Reynolds game gave us some momentum going into the rest of the conference season.
"We are a different team than we were five weeks ago, and I am sure they are, too."
Western Guilford finished the season 5-7.
mlinker@wsjournal.com | 727-7324
W. Guilford 0 0 0 7 -- 7
Mount Tabor 0 7 7 0 -- 14
MT -- Ashford 29 pass from Morton (Furr kick)
MT -- Sommerville 23 pass from Morton (Furr kick)
WG -- Ridenhour 43 pass from Thompson (Johnson kick)
Records – Mount Tabor 9-3, Western Guilford 5-7
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement