Country Day at Cannon School - Overall Standouts

On a night when most of the state of North Carolina was not playing football due to the implications of Hurricane Helene, these two NCISAA football programs played on Homecoming Night at Cannon School in Concord, NC near Charlotte. The Country Day Buccaneers took control of this game in the first half, and maintained control throughout the rest of the game in a 37-17 victory, moving them to 4-3 on the season and ending a 3-game losing streak. We will highlight some standout players from this game on both sides in this article.    The standout freshman has been picking up a ton of recruiting attention and offers - with his latest offer coming from the University of Miami. Braylon has been making plays definitely ahead of his time, and he had the attention of the Cannon secondary all night long. Braylon did get free for an impressive over-the-shoulder catch for a big gain down the sideline in the 2nd half, which showed his speed and playmaking ability in the open field.     The Kennesaw State commit got to show off his dual-threat ability in this game, as he was able to escape from pressure from the Cannon defense consistently and make gains out of plays that would have otherwise been losses. When Khalel had time to throw in the pocket, I thought he did a good job of reading the field and making accurate throws at all levels of the defense. Khalel was also effective in some designed quarterback run plays to keep the defense off balance.   <a href="https://twitter.com/pepman704/status/1839905169602953282?t=eyPxsMR-l-3P4dUm3IDwRQ&s=19">https://twitter.com/pepman704/status/1839905169602953282?t=eyPxsMR-l-3P4dUm3IDwRQ&s=19</a>     I really thought Charlie was an impressive player - this was my first time seeing him live in person. Charlie did a good job in coming off the football and controlling his defender in the running game, fitting his hands well and driving him down field consistently. In pass protection, Charlie did a good job of sliding and mirroring the pass rush of defensive ends going against him and did not give up much pressure from his side of the offensive line.     Mac had an excellent game, with 2 interceptions, one of them being returned for a touchdown in the 2nd half, sealing the game. On his first interception, Mac made a great read and jumped an out route and stopped a Cannon drive in the red zone that was poised to give them an early lead in the football game. Mac has 7 interceptions already on the season. Take a look at the play here:   <a href="https://twitter.com/pepman704/status/1839904500737253525?t=3IIiMMTXRHoNsTMhQcQz4A&s=19">https://twitter.com/pepman704/status/1839904500737253525?t=3IIiMMTXRHoNsTMhQcQz4A&s=19</a>     TJ had the play of the game in my opinion, a 98-yard kickoff returned for a touchdown to open the 2nd half and five Country Day a 22-3 lead and essentially took any mystery out of who was going to win the game. TJ showed some good speed and excellent vision on the return, crossing the field and exploding down the sideline for the score. TJ also ran a couple of nice routes offensively as a wide receiver.   <a href="https://twitter.com/pepman704/status/1839903253498073463?t=R0a7PRIwx8h92kRS3xawVA&s=19">https://twitter.com/pepman704/status/1839903253498073463?t=R0a7PRIwx8h92kRS3xawVA&s=19</a>     The Country Day running back was very impressive with two touchdown runs and a touchdown catch from 40 yards out. The first run of the night that Sam had was a 60 yard touchdown run off of the right side where Sam was able to get in and out of the hole quickly into open space where he outran the Cannon defense. Sam is a strong player who shows good speed in the open field.   <a href="https://twitter.com/pepman704/status/1839905776011288660?t=PfpEe12mEMjcyxmSTiWfCQ&s=19">https://twitter.com/pepman704/status/1839905776011288660?t=PfpEe12mEMjcyxmSTiWfCQ&s=19</a>     I think Cannon really tried to get Anthony the ball in key situations when they needed a big play. Anthony did come down with a couple of nice catches, but it was obvious that Country Day knew that he was their #1 target in the passing game. I think Cannon did a good job later in the game of using Anthony to open up some other players in the passing game, resulting in their 14 points in the 2nd half. Anthony looked good and physically imposing, and it was evident he was a Division 1 level football player for sure.     The junior prospect was able to make some nice throws when given time to do so in the Cannon offense. I thought Country Day did a good job in bringing pressure at the right times to disrupt Michael's reads and timing. Michael did have a beautiful touchdown throw on a post route in the 2nd half which showed off his ability to read the field and good arm talent when given time to dissect the defense overall.     Kenan had a nice touchdown catch in the 2nd half from about 30 yards out which helped give Cannon a fighting chance in trying to comeback in the game. I also thought Kenan made some good catches in the middle of the field to keep the chains moving on Cannon drives. Kenan was an All-Conference player last season, and he is trending that way once again this year. He projects as a slot receiver on the next level.

On a night when most of the state of North Carolina was not playing football due to the implications of Hurricane Helene, these two NCISAA football programs played on Homecoming Night at Cannon School in Concord, NC near Charlotte. The Country Day Buccaneers took control of this game in the first half, and maintained control throughout the rest of the game in a 37-17 victory, moving them to 4-3 on the season and ending a 3-game losing streak. We will highlight some standout players from this game on both sides in this article.