THE COUGARS’ POSTSEASON TEAMS
A look at Alexander Central’s state football playoff teams since the early 1980s through last season (TAYLORSVILLE TIMES PHOTO):
Year Head coach Final record
1981 Glenn Wilson 4-7
1982 Glenn Wilson 6-5
1983 Glenn Wilson 11-1
1992 Gene Price 6-5
1999 Monte Sherrill 6-6
2003 Chris Deal 4-8
2004 Chris Deal 7-6
2005 Chris Deal 7-5
2006 Chris Deal 9-4
2007 Tom Harper 4-8
2009 Tom Harper 11-2
2010 Tom Harper 9-3
2011 Tom Harper 6-6
2012 Nick Bazzle 5-7
2013 Nick Bazzle 5-7
2016 Butch Carter 7-5
SOURCE: HobbsDailyReport.com research/files.
HobbsDailyReport.com
HUDSON – Alexander Central High collected its fourth varsity football title since 1982 on Friday night, steamrolling South Caldwell 57-14 on the road to win the Northwestern 3A-4A crown.
The Cougars (10-1, 6-1) rebounded from their only loss, against Hickory last week, to beat the Spartans (1-10, 1-6) and finish a game ahead of Watauga in the conference race.
Both Alexander Central and South Caldwell advance to the state playoffs, the Cougars as the league’s top-seeded 3A team and the Spartans as the conference’s top 4A seed.
ALEX CENTRAL 57
S. CALDWELL 14
South Caldwell and McDowell, the only 4A teams in the league, tied at 1-6 in the conference and the Spartans gained the postseason bid via their regular-season victory over the Titans.
On Friday night, the Cougars outgained the Spartans 524-188 and jumped to a 28-14 lead by halftime.
Running back Bryson Godfrey had 15 carries for 171 yards and scored two rushing TDs and running back Devon Weiss added a rushing TD on 13 carries for 113 yards to spark Alexander Central.
Weiss had the game’s opening score, a 1-yard run about four minutes after kickoff, to give the Cougars and early lead.
South Caldwell score twice in about three minutes, with Austin Raynor catching TD throws of 9 and 19 yards from Jason Martin and Jesse Connor, respectively, to give the Spartans a 14-7 led.
Godfrey’s 10-yard TD run and Christian Romero’s PAT tied it at 14, and the Cougars then scored the game’s final 43 points.
The go-ahead score came on an 8-yard run by Tevin Clark. He had two more rushing TDs that came after quarterback Gunnar Anderson ran 2 yards for a TD, and that had the Cougars ahead 43-14 with eight minutes, 53 seconds left in the third quarter.
Godfrey scored about two minutes later with the final TD, a 14-yard run by Steven Montgomery, coming with 11 ½ minutes to play.
Alexander Central finished with 505 rushing yards on 56 carries and never punted.
Montgomery led the Cougars on defense with eight tackles and Jamison Benfield added six.
Harley Sullivan, whose 59 yards rushing on eight carries led South Caldwell, also sparked the Spartans’ defensively with nine tackles. Dustin Herman’s eight tackles for the Spartans include 2 ½ for lost yardage.
The win was the 121st for Cougars head coach Butch Carter, who is 17-6 in Taylorsville since taking the job there after first retiring as head coach at South Caldwell.
With the postseason ahead – the first games are next Friday – the Cougars can give their head coach at birthday present in advance, as Carter turns 47 on Nov. 11.
Alexander Central won for the 11th time in its last 13 games in Hudson.