What We Saw: Piedmont’s Run Game Critical In Win Over Fort Mill
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Fort Mill hosted Piedmont out of Union County, N.C. on Friday night and this game turned out to be a barn burner. In the end, the Panthers were able to hold off the Yellow Jackets on a final fourth down…
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Continue ReadingFort Mill hosted Piedmont out of Union County, N.C. on Friday night and this game turned out to be a barn burner. In the end, the Panthers were able to hold off the Yellow Jackets on a final fourth down play in the closing seconds to win 34-28.
Let’s get into the notes and standouts from the contest:
Fort Mill
- Junior L/S Gannon Burt (@GannonBurt) – Burt is listed as a long snapper, but we heard his name several times in the press box getting involved in tackles in the inside running game.
- Senior OT/DL Marcus Boston Brinkley Marcus Boston Brinkley 6'3" | 280 lbs | OL Fort Mill | 2022 State SC (@bostonbrinkley) – Brinkley had a critical sack to knock Piedmont out of field goal range in the first quarter.
- We’re pretty sure that Senior DE Miller Shouse Miller Shouse 6'1" | 235 lbs | DL Fort Mill | 2022 State SC (@ShouseMiller) or Boston Brinkley were involved on a strip sack fumble that was recovered by Brady Gault for a momentum changing touchdown to cut Piedmont’s lead to 20-13 at the half.
“Anytime you win the turnover battle, you’ve got a chance, you know? You’ve got a chance. (A) big fourth down for the offense over here scoring in the end zone, defense stepped up big at the end of the game and got us the ball back. I’m proud of their effort. It’s never been a question of their effort. It’s just execution.” – Fort Mill coach Rob McNeely on the two turnovers
- Senior WR/CB J.J. Ogwal (@jj_ogwal) – Ogwal showed his versatility on Friday night. He made a great catch on a skinny post for a first down in the first quarter where he looked the ball in his hands and beat the one-on-one coverage. He also came up quickly on a short pass, defeating a block to minimize the gain.
- Senior RB Michael Threatt (@MichaelThreatt6) did a solid job of catching the ball out of the backfield and ran hard on the inside run game. He had a critical fourth down conversion on the final drive of the game.
Piedmont (Union County, N.C.)
- Senior RB Evan Sawyer (@EvanSawyer2022) and Junior RB Layton Duke (@duke_layton) – The plan for the Panthers was to utilize the run game heavily against the Yellow Jackets and it worked well with this duo in the backfield. Both were hard to bring down and they used the outside zone running plays. The thing that stood out to us was how physical they were and how they embraced contact.
- Senior QB Chase Feismire – Feismire was extremely effective on the zone read game throughout the contest. He faked us out several times on the keeper. Once he gets in between the tackles, look out because he’s quicker than people may give him credit for. He showed off his arm strength on a scoring drive right before the half, finding voids in the coverage.
Additional notes for both teams
- Kickers and punters never get any love so we had to highlight that Fort Mill senior punter Joe Schepler (@JoeSchepler) had a nice tackle on a kickoff in the third quarter.
- Fort Mill senior WR Andrew Thompson scored the Yellow Jackets’ first touchdown of 2021 in the second quarter as he connected with quarterback Kyle Neibech (@kneibch_11) on a rollout to his right as Neibech bought time.
- Fort Mill senior LB Stephen Ocampo (@stephenhuizar) was a name we heard several times throughout the night on defense.
- We noticed one time where Piedmont senior OLB Matt Teofrio came up quickly in the hole to stop the outside run and had good leverage.
- Piedmont’s Evan Sawyer was also involved on defense and came down from his safety spot and made one hard hit where he timed his jump perfectly.