West Charlotte at Mallard Creek - Defensive Standouts

At a sold-out Mavericks Stadium, fans and teams waited out a 45-minute delay to the start of this game due to lightning in the area. After a scoreless first quarter, West Charlotte found some big plays offensively and rode them to a 32-9 victory and a statement victory against a Mallard Creek team that has beaten some strong programs in their pre-conference schedule. We had some standout performances on both sides defensively. Let's take a look at them here.    Michael was active all game in the middle of the Lions' defense, and he was a big reason why Mallard Creek did not run the ball as well as they had been in their victories over some good teams in the non-conference portion of their schedule. Michael also picked up a critical interception near the end of the first half, which ended a drive where Mallard Creek was in the red zone and could have scored points to make it closer before halftime.     I have seen Kayden up close at offseason camps, and when he is rushing the passer, he has an elite first step. Kayden showed that off against a talented offensive line on at least one occasion, where he just blew past the tackle with electric speed and ended up with a sack on the play. There were other plays where his speed forced the quarterback to scramble and make tough plays under pressure.     The Lions' secondary, outside of one play, I thought, played a very good game. Ramaj had a standout play defensively where he was able to defeat an attempted block and blew up a bubble screen pass for a loss with a big tackle. Ramaj's coverage kept a lot of Mallard Creek receivers from stepping up and making plays to keep the chains moving.     Antoine, or Sam as he goes by to most people, was another reason why Mallard Creek did not find much success running up the middle of the defense, as his penetration and presence kept his linebackers free to roam and make plays all over the field. Sam did have a nice tackle for loss, though, where he was in the backfield as soon as a handoff occurred, and he was able to make a nice play for the Lions defense.     Elijah played his usual impressive game, where he was all over the field making tackles for his defense. It seemed like Mallard Creek paid a lot of attention to, rightfully so, in pass protection, so most of Elijah's impact came in setting the edge and not allowing the Mavericks to get to the outside for big yardage in their offense. The Penn State commit showed he has an all-around defensive game in this one.     I thought Askia played pretty well, especially when Mallard Creek was finding some momentum in the 2nd and early third quarters. Askia had a couple of tackles for loss in this game and a sack, showing his overall speed and athleticism from the 2nd level of the defense. Askia has some good film out there, and I like his prospects of playing college football in the future.     Deuce probably played as well as I can remember seeing him in person. From the middle of the Mallard Creek defense, he had a couple of big tackles that got some momentum going for his team, especially in the scoreless first quarter. I liked the speed and passion he played with overall, and they will need that in bouncing back from a tough loss.     Coming into this game, I didn't know a lot about Matthew, but I came away impressed with his ability on the edge. I thought he did a good job of rushing from the edge and also setting it in the running game. He had a nice play where he had a big tackle for loss when the Mavericks were still close in the game. His physical frame will have college coaches interested as well, from a recruiting perspective.

At a sold-out Mavericks Stadium, fans and teams waited out a 45-minute delay to the start of this game due to lightning in the area. After a scoreless first quarter, West Charlotte found some big plays offensively and rode them to a 32-9 victory and a statement victory against a Mallard Creek team that has beaten some strong programs in their pre-conference schedule. We had some standout performances on both sides defensively. Let's take a look at them here.