CARTER AND CONSISTENCY
Butch Carter has been one of the area’s most consistent winners in high school football. A look at his last 10 seasons:
Year School Record
2009 S. Caldwell 3-8
2010 S. Caldwell 9-3*
2011 S. Caldwell 11-2*
2012 S. Caldwell 12-1*
2013 S. Caldwell 5-7*
2014 S. Caldwell 9-3*
2015 S. Caldwell 11-3*
2016 Alex Central 7-5*
2017 Alex Central 10-2*
2018 Alex Central 8-2
TOTALS 85-36
*–state playoff team
SOURCE: HobbsDailyReport.com research and files
HobbsDailyReport.com
TAYLORSVILLE – Alexander Central High — sparked by a defense that crushed visiting South Caldwell’s running game and by a three-score game by Tevin Clark – rolled past the Spartans 56-22 on Friday night in Northwestern 3A-4A football.
The Cougars (8-2, 4-2) checked the Spartans (3-8, 2-5) on 31 rushing yards on 25 attempts and outgained them 411-242 to hold third place in the league behind Watauga and Freedom.
Clark ran 16 times for 113 yards and scored on runs of 10, 4 and 3 yards while Nick McNeely (five tackles) and Colston Yount and Maretrion Howell (four tackles each) led the Alexander Central defense.
The Cougars ran for 338 yards on 45 carries, and they completed all three of their passes (two by Easton Rhoney, one by Yount).
Alexander Central led 21-0 after one quarter and 35-8 at the half.
A.J. Miller’s 15-yard TD run help the Cougars lead early, and Clark’s first two scores came in the opening quarter as well.
When Rhoney (nine carries for 77 yards) ran 2 yards for a TD with 5 ½ minutes left in the first half, the Cougars were up 28-0. A 50-yard TD run by Steven Montgomery (four carries for 74 yards) helped extend that edge to 35-0.
Avery Raynor had a 5-yard TD run and threw a 74-yard scoring pass to Spencer Piercy in the final 61 seconds for South Caldwell.
Isaiah Kirby led the Spartans’ running game with 28 yards on four carries while Raynor completed six of 11 passes for 14 yards. Piercy had three catches for 89 yards.
Brayton Taylor led South Caldwell defensively, registering 7 tackles (1 ½ for lost yardage) while Nathan Lapka and Malakei Sumner each added five tackles.
Alexander Central had 14 penalties for 120 yards and went 7-for-7 in the red zone.
The Cougars made 10 tackles for lost yardage (minus 41) – two each by Rhyeem Craig, Isaac Chapman and Lucas Walker – and Chapman had two sacks and Craig, Jordan Brown and Garrett Martin each had one.
Craig and Jamison Benfield recovered fumbles for Alexander Central and Isaiah Bruce had an interception.
Alexander Central has a makeup conference game to complete its regular season, facing Hickory on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Taylorsville.
The Cougars are one game up on Hickory in the conference standings.
Notes
South Caldwell — in its second season under head coach Marc Kirkpatrick — will not make the state 4A playoffs even if Freedom beats McDowell on Monday night in Morganton and the Spartans and Titans tie at 2-5 in the league; McDowell won the head-to-head game and gets the league’s only 4A playoff bid … Alexander Central head coach Butch Carter, beating his old school on Friday, now has 129 career wins (129-88, 17 years) and his Cougars teams are 25-9 in three seasons… The Cougars’ win streak over the Spartans is three; South Caldwell had won five straight previously in the series, all under Carter… South Caldwell will miss the postseason for only the third time in 15 seasons (also missed 2009, 2016).