Colts demolish Warriors in Round 1
Tough teams win games. That’s the simple motto that the Colts of Cape Fear live by, plastered in various places in their locker room. And on Friday, they showed how tough of a team they are.
The No. 16-seeded Colts (8-2) had their way with No. 17 Western Alamance Warriors in Friday’s NCHSAA football first-round playoff game, crushing them on their home field 33-12 with no problem.
Cape Fear came out the gate setting the tone on the defensive end, forcing an early three-and-out for the Warriors, leading to a 28-yard punt return by Rico McDonald, swaying the momentum completely to the Colts.
On Cape Fear’s first drive, sophomore quarterback Geronimo Sanchez showed extreme poise, finding his star receiver — Wake Forest commit Jeremiah Melvin — in the deep corner for an early touchdown to give the Colts the early lead. Sanchez and Melvin connected for another score, this time a 70yard bomb downfield after an interception by cornerback Damien Gary. to go up 13-0 in the first.
From then on, it was all about the Colts.
It was an all-around effort from both sides of the ball for Cape Fear, but the defense got it done for the Colts when it was needed the most.
In the second quarter, the Colts became a bit lackadaisical and gave up touchdowns on two consecutive drives involving a busted 35-yard pass on the first and pass interference on the second to Western Alamance, but still went into the half with a 16-12 lead after a 45-yard field goal from Francisco Rodriguez.
Linebacker Robert Moore and defensive tackle Desmond Harris were forces at the line of scrimmage for the Colts, both finishing the night with two sacks each.
“I just trusted what I saw in film,” Moore said. “I knew they wanted to push the ball to the inside and get to the outside by scrambling, so the best thing for me was to play my part and do my job.”
In the second half, Cape Fear did just about everything right, forcing three turnovers in the half (four total), two of them being converted into points, including a scoop-and-score fumble recovery by linebacker Landon Sargent and a game-sealing interception by Rico McDonald with just 2:23 left on the clock.
“We knew our defensive line had to set the tone, get some hurries, sacks, and some knockdowns,” Coach Jake Thomas said. “In the second half we decided to ramp it up and send some linebackers in as well, putting more pressure on their quarterback.”
Thomas highly believes that Cape Fear’s defensive line is as good as any that he’s seen or come across. They showed how dominant they’re capable of being in the playoff-opening win.
Next Friday, No. 16 Cape Fear travels to face the top-seeded Havelock Rams (11-0), putting them to a true test in the second round of the 3A playoffs.