HobbsDailyReport.com
AN OPPORTUNITY AHEAD
After going 9-4 in head coach Derrick Minor’s second season at Fred T. Foard, the Tigers will have an opportunity next year to have back-to-back winning records for only the third time in school history (2018 will be the 60th season of Foard varsity football).
The other Foard teams that had consecutive winning seasons (3 of them each):
Years Records
1965-67 5-4-1, 4-3-2, 6-3
1981-83 9-2, 10-2-1, 8-2-1
SOURCE: HobbsDailyReport.com research/files.
MOUNT PLEASANT – Fred T. Foard High’s best football team in more than 30 years played its final game on Friday night, falling shy of tying a school record for single-season wins and becoming the school’s first team to reach the third round of the state playoffs.
Fourth-seeded Mount Pleasant grabbed an early lead and turned 12th-seeded and visiting Foard 28-14 in the second round of the state 2AA playoffs.
No. 4 MT. PLEASANT 28
No. 12 FRED T. FOARD 14
In a battle of Tigers, Mount Pleasant (11-2) prevailed and earned another home game next Friday in the third round. No. 8 Shelby (11-2), which has won four straight state titles, beat No. 1 South Point 33-23 in Belmont to advance to face Mount Pleasant (7:30 p.m. kickoff).
Foard finished its second season under head coach Derrick Minor at 9-4, matching its 1981 and 2008 teams in wins. A victory would have tied the Tigers for most single-season victories with their 1982 team that went 10-2 and won the West 2A Division II title under head coach Dick Foster.
On Friday night, Mount Pleasant rode a big game by its quarterback, Chance Daquila, and its defense to victory.
Daquila threw for 159 yards and three touchdowns — leading an offense that gained 343 yards to Foard’s 180 — and the Mount Pleasant defense limited Foard to 180 yards (97 rushing and 83 passing) and intercepted Foard quarterback Jack Colosimo three times.
Foard mounted a late rally, getting a 4-yard touchdown run by running back Tate Beaver (14 carries for 45 yards) after trailing 26-0, and Colosimo threw a fourth-quarter TD pass to Corey Siemer.
FOARD BY THE DECADES
A look at Fred T. Foard High’s varsity football records (unofficial) by decades:
1950s (1959) 1-7
1960s (1960-69) 37-52-8
1970s (1970-79) 14-86-0
1980s (1980-89) 40-55-1
1990s (1990-99) 50-60-0
2000s (2000-09) 44-78-0
2010s (2010-17) 24-65
TOTALS 210-403-9 (.338)
SOURCE: HobbsDailyReport.com research/files.
Mount Pleasant added a safety to make it 28-14 and eliminate Foard, now 3-13 all-time amd 2-10 on the road in postseason games.
When it was over, Minor gathered his players and told them to remember how far they had come in one season. A year ago, Foard went 3-8, and it was 19-68 since last posting a winning record (2008).
“I just reminded them what we’ve accomplished,” Minor said in a postgame radio interview with WNNC 101.3 FM. “It goes beyond Xs and Os. This team is not going to be forgotten. People will talk about this team forever.”
Foard’s season included come back wins and — just the week before — a 16-0 victory at Maiden in the opening round of the state playoffs. That was the Tigers’ first postseason win since 1982 and just their third in school history. They beat Franklin and Southwest Guilford in the Division II playoffs in 1982.
Until it went into Maiden and beat the Blue Devils for postseason win No. 3, Foard had fallen in the first round 11 straight times since beating Franklin in 1982.
Mount Pleasant outgained Foard 189-61 in the first half on Friday night and created an uphill climb for the Tigers.
Daqulia’s first two scoring passes helped Mount Pleasant build a 14-0 lead, and his 2-yard scoring run with five minutes, 47 seconds left in the opening half extended the lead to 19-0.
Gage Redmond (six tackles) and Bailey Drye (five tackles) led a Mount Pleasant defense that hounded Colosimo (5-of-13, 83 yards). Warren McClure intercepted Colosimo twice and Hayden Radford had the other interception for Mount Pleasant.
Daquila ended up completing eight of 15 passes, hitting Landon Parker five times for 109 yards, and Landon Honeycutt lead Mount Pleasant’s running game with nine carries for 93 yards.
Beaver led Foard defensively with 12 tackles, including two sacks, and Jackson Hyatt added 12 tackles.
Foard had 15 seniors on this year’s varsity roster and expects to return two key offensive threats, as Colosimo is a junior and Siemer is a sophomore.
The Tigers’ junior varsity went 1-9 overall this season and 1-5 in the Northwestern Foothills 2A, with the only win coming in the final game, 16-7 over West Iredell.
Foard has not had back-to-back winning seasons since 1982-83 (see graphic above).