A fourth-down stand by Dudley helped preserve a 21-17 victory over Page in a Homecoming game that helped it gain an upper hand in the Metro 6A/7A Conference.
“Gutting it out and getting the win,” Panthers coach Steven Davis said. “Those guys got it deep down into our territory late and they made a big drive going down the field and our guys, we were bending but we didn’t break, so a nice gut check for the team.”
The game lasted over three hours after already having been pushed back 30 minutes due to lightning. The Panthers (3-3, 2-0) were up by the final score when Page (3-2, 0-1) took possession at its own 12-yard line and had five first downs as it reached first-and-goal from the Dudley 9-yard-line.
From there, Dudley stuffed two Page rushes. After an delay of game penalty on Page, the Dudley defense forced two incomplete passes to seal the game and get its ninth straight win in the series.
On fourth-and-goal from the 15 and with 20 seconds left to play, Page sophomore quarterback Zamari Williamson had time but didn’t have a receiver open and his overthrown pass hit the goal post.
“We thought they were going to try to go to No. 1 (Kasai Poindexter. That’s their guy,” Davis said. “We just made sure that we had two guys on him, one underneath and one over the top and we just figured if we could get a little pressure on him, eventually he was going to throw it. We wanted him to run because we dropped eight (in coverage) and rushed three, then just rally to the ball and make the tackle if he had done that, but he threw it and it hit the goal post and that’s it.”
The top three takeaways from the game.
Support for injured Page player
Play stopped with 10:10 left in the fourth quarter after Page junior outside linebacker Chrishaun Weaver went down with an injury. Weaver was tended to by athletic training staff and within 10 minutes, an emergency vehicle and personnel had arrived at the stadium. Weaver was then put on a stretcher.
During the injury break that lasted about 20 minutes, players from both teams took knees in support. The Dudley public address announcer encouraged fans to cheer for Weaver as he was being taken off the field.
“He is in good spirits,” said Page coach Caylon Hann shortly after the game. “He was heading to the hospital and I’m ready to get on the phone here to see the status of him, a possible concussion and hoping there is no serious neck injury involved. They took proper precaution to make sure that nothing further was messed up.”
Dudley capitalized when it needed to
The Panthers were 2-for-2 when it reached the red zone, but didn’t score on its next three possessions prior to its 3-yard go-ahead touchdown run by quarterback Brayden Jeffries with 9:02 remaining.
In its misses, Dudley began those drives at the Page 37 after an interception by Jah-zear Watson, the Page 27 after a long squib kickoff return by Flo Kizumina and the Page 17 after an interception by Vermont Carmack. In those drives, Dudley failed on fourth down plays each time, with lost fumbles in two of the three situations.
But after the disappointments, Dudley capitalized after getting the ball at its 48 after receiving a short kickoff. On the drive, which began after the lengthy injury break, Dudley ran four run plays on the way to the end zone, with Michael Boone Jr. carrying on the first three plays to the 3, before Jeffries’ touchdown run to the left side.
Davis said “I pray that that young man is doing good” in reference to Weaver but thinks that his players benefitted from getting the rest and looked fresh on the scoring drive. The offensive line, averaging 276 poundscomprised of Kyron Conyers, Tymere Powell, Eric Gant, Marques Baskins and Azhir Waddell made big holes for Boone, who got first downs on each of his three carries and finished the game with 23 carries for 107 yards.
“They had some holes for him,” Davis said. “And we thought we could do that. When we were prepping this week, we looked at some things we thought we could get done and those guys came and really opened up some holes. He had no choice but to get good yards.”
Dudley gains path to conference title
The game appeared to be a setup to determine which team could jockey for a top two spot in the Metro 6A/7A race with favorite Grimsley, which won 66-6 over Western Guilford.
While Davis wants to take a week-by-week approach, Page appeared to be Dudley’s toughest conference competition prior to its meeting with Grimsley on Oct. 24, the Panthers’ regular season finale.
Dudley, which lost its first three games, has now won three straight, including conference games against Ragsdale and Page, with Smith, Western, Southwest Guilford and Grimsley remaining on the league schedule.
Davis said early-season tests prepared his team for Friday’s tight game.
“I think the biggest thing they realized is that when we don’t turn the ball over, we are pretty good,” the coach said. “We worked on eliminating the turnovers. Even though we had some tonight—it’s pretty much one person—but we realized if we don’t turn it over, we can rock with the best of them.”
Bryant.roche@greensboro.com
@BRocheSports
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Bryant Roche
High School Sports Reporter
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