In Their Own Words - Voices of the PAC-6 - Southern Durham vs. ECH (10/28/2010)

It certainly wasn't pretty, but in the end, wins and losses determine conference supremacy and who goes to the dance and who stays home and on Friday night Southern Durham made enough plays to pull away for a 48-26 victory against East Chapel Hill after trailing 26-21 at the half [DFBFan's Pick - Southern 41, ECH 10].  With a a potential big match-up on the horizon against Northern Durham this week, the prospect of Southern Durham overlooking a hobbled Wildcat team was a strong possibility and going into the half, it appeared that the Wildcats were capitalizing on that potential weakness.  A few Southern miscues, some strong defensive play by the Wildcats and plays made on the offensive side of the ball equaled a strong showing for the first 24 minutes.  But, halftime corrections and an onslaught of fresh Southern players simply wore down the depleted Wildcats in the second half and the Spartans quickly pulled away to keep pace with Northern Durham and Hillside for the conference crown.

Southern had one of the top ranked defensive units in the PAC-6 entering the game, ranking third in yards per carry and yards per attempt, while standing strong at second in the conference in scoring defense.  But the Wildcats spread attack, as it has done in spurts throughout the year, provided some fireworks that even an extremely athletic Spartan squad couldn't extinguish in the first half.  The Wildcats racked up 147 yards on the ground and close to 200 through the air for the game, but the defense was able to limit the Wildcats to per carry and per attempt averages on par with what they had held previous teams to throughout the year.  Still, the Wildcats, even with a back-up quarterback at the helm, showed why members of the PAC-6 should take notice of Coach Renner and what he is bringing to the table at East.  Air-Renner maximizes what East has and with more numbers the product on the field can be that much more explosive in seasons to come.

Offensively, the Spartans pulverized the East defense - not unexpected, as the Wildcats have had trouble stopping any of their opponents this year.  Southern racked up over 600 yards of total offense including over 400 yards on the ground at a blistering 8.8 YPC average.  And if that wasn't enough they added another 232 yards through the air for 9.7 YPA.  The phenomenal numbers certainly can make you scratch your head a bit to think the game was as close as it was at halftime.

The win pushes Southern, with one game remaining against Northern Durham (5-4, 4-0), into a position where they have assured themselves a top three finish in the conference and depending on how they fair this week accompanied by next week's game pitting the Knights against the Hornets, could find themselves as conference champs and quite possibly could pull down the number one seed from the conference for playoff seeding purposes [Selection Saturday (2 Weeks) - PAC-6 Playoff Picture & More].  East finds itself in the unenviable position of strapping it up this week to face Hillside, another juggernaut in conference, with the knowledge that their season will conclude in two weeks whether they win out or not.  The following quotes are from the voices of the PAC-6 and were included in articles from the News and Observer and Herald Sun.  For more information on the game, follow the links provided at the end of the post.

Southern Durham head coach Adrian Jones spoke about his team's slow start to the game and how the looming game against Northern Durham this week played into the dynamics of their contest with the Wildcats.

"The definitely were [looking ahead]," he said. (Southern plays Northern this week)

"[We] came out flat," Southern coach Adrian Jones said. "And I talked to them right before the game and said, 'You can't take this team for granted.  They've got some smart coaches and decent athletes.  And we've got to come out and be ready to play every week."

After falling behind by five going into the intermission, Spartan quarterback Dorian Belcher spoke about the quick score after halftime and its impact on the game.

"That was really important," Southern quarterback Dorian Belcher said. "We talked about it at halftime.  We talked about how we needed to score and that would be a big part for us."

After the Wildcat offense had put up 26 points in the first half, Coach Jones explained how his defense, ranked in most statistical categories in the top three in conference, needed to begin to make plays for the Spartans to regain control of the contest.

"I knew defensively if we came out and made a couple stops, the offense was clicking," Jones said.  "We were moving the ball down the field.  Defense needed to made some plays.  And that's what they did, they made some plays."

Low numbers in comparison to most other programs in the PAC-6 accompanied by injuries throughout the year have hampered the Wildcats in physical games and Coach Jones expressed how his abundance of depth played a role in the Spartans dominating the second half of play.

"We are very deep at the skill positions, and that's good," Jones said. "We can wear teams out.  But we've just got to start off straight at the beginning."

Durham Herald-Sun (article by Daniel Price)
News and Observer (article by Bonitta Best)