In Their Own Words - Voices of the PAC-6 - Hillside vs. Riverside (10/27/2010)

After three consecutive weeks of adequate, but certainly not dominating performances from start to finish, against Southern Durham, Person and Jordan, the Hornets appeared to move a bit closer to putting things together from the opening whistle to the end of the game against Riverside and moved into a tie for first place in conference with Northern Durham at 4-0 in PAC-6 play.  The Hornets dominated with a run first attitude on offense that set the tone for the game's outcome.  Aside from a miscue on the opening kickoff and the offense struggling on their first possession, the game was never in doubt and the Hornets cruised to a 43-0 victory [DFBFan's Pick - Hillside 53, Riverside 7].  The win moved Hillside to 9-0 overall with two games remaining against East Chapel Hill and Northern Durham, while the loss moved Riverside to 1-8 overall and 1-3 in conference with games against Roxboro Person and Jordan remaining.

Going into the game, the Hornets had dominated in almost every aspect statistically, but found themselves in close games in each of their last three games heading into the half, due to numerous issues.  Although they pulled away in both the Person and Jordan games in the second half, it was clear that against better competition the slow starts might wreak havoc on the Hornets, especially once playoff season hits and one-and-done is the name of the game.  This was one of the few issues the Hornets appeared to have in their closet [PAC-6 Breakdown (Week 5) - Hornets visit Pirates - Arrggh, Pirates Can Still Make Noise] and although they tripped a bit to start the game against the Pirates they responded quickly and went into the half up 23-0.

The script for the Pirates played out the same as in previous games with them finding themselves down by a large margin at the half - a margin simply too large to overcome.  Slow starts are something that Coach Spell has mentioned in the past [In Their Own Words - Voices of the PAC-6 - Northern Durham vs. Riverside (10/13/2010)] and effort has been put forward to change the tide, but against a powerful and motivated Hornet squad the Pirates simply couldn't find any footing in the first half.

The Hornets focused on the ground game against the Pirates, racking up over 300 yards rushing at a robust 7.5 YPC average, while the Pirates were balanced with 120 yards on the ground and 125 through the air.  Unfortunately for Riverside they could only muster 3.8 YPC and 4.3 YPA.  The Pirates used at least their fourth quarterback of the year and there is no doubt that injuries have played a significant role in the Pirate offense struggling to find consistency in their spread oriented attack that they have been so used to over the years.

The loss eliminates the Pirates from playoff contention, while the win keeps Hillside in control of their own destiny for both the PAC-6 championship and a possible top seed in the playoffs [Selection Saturday (2 Weeks) - PAC-6 Playoff Picture & More].  The following quote is from the voices of the PAC-6 and were included in an article from the News and Observer.  For more information on the game, follow the link provided at the end of the post.

The Hornets committed a turnover on the opening kickoff and then struggled to open their first offensive possession and Hillside head coach Antonio King commented on these issues and how the team responded from that point forward.

"Once again, we started slow," King said. "But we got in here and did what we had to do to get the victory."

News and Observer (article by Terry Hill)