COMMENTS (4)

Chargers hit the road again

Defense key in tonight's playoff tilt

By John Swartz
The Daily Reflector

Thursday, December 04, 2008
LITTLEFIELD — 

When scanning up and down the Ayden-Grifton football results, those offensive numbers sure stand out.

It’s easy to pay attention to scores that have added up to 522 total points this season, which is good enough for 17th-best in the state in all classifications.

In fact, the same can be said for the Chargers’ opponent in tonight’s Class 1-AA East final. East Bladen has put up 529 points this season, good enough for 14th.

For all the offense from the Eagles and Chargers this year, the two squads’ defenses have been stuffing people all season.

After tonight’s 7:30 kickoff, what’s expected to be an offensive shootout could very well turn into a battle of two stalwart defenses.

A-G coach Paul Cornwell said after Thursday’s practice that the Charger defense has been responsible for many of the offense’s easy touchdowns. Or at least the ease of those touchdowns.

“That’s probably going to be the biggest thing all year,” Cornwell said. “What people don’t understand, they don’t understand how important forcing turnovers and field position and things like that are.

“Our defense has done that all year. We’ve come up up with big turnovers and we’ve done a good job in the return game, so we’ve had good field position a lot of the time. When you’ve got a short field to work with on half your drives, it certainly makes a big difference when you’re trying to call plays. That all leads into the offensive numbers we’ve been able to put up so far.”

As Ayden-Grifton and East Bladen play tonight for a shot at next week’s state championship, the Chargers’ defense knows just how big a stage this is.

“I feel like on defense, when we’re ready to play, we’re ready to bring it,” A-G defensive lineman Martice Bright said. “We keep teams from scoring over 20. Basically, we’ve been getting stops when it really matters the most. When we need to bring the intensity up, it comes out.

“If there’s no defense, then there’s no football team. Period.”

On paper, the two defenses are about as even as the two offenses. The Chargers are giving up 14.1 points per contest, while the Eagles allow 14.4.

“They’re good,” Cornwell said. “(Lenon) Fisher’s teams are always well-coached and among the best in the East. They look like every East Bladen team I’ve ever seen — fast and strong and athletic.”

As East Bladen is the home team, Ayden-Grifton is going about everything it can to minimize that advantage. Already once this postseason, the Chargers have won on the road.

In the second round, A-G traveled down to Camden and knocked off the higher-seeded Bruins, 46-19.

“Although I was not all that fired up about having to go to Camden, I think it helped us in the long run,” Cornwell said. “I think it helped us get a good routine. Our schedule will be exactly like it was when we went to Camden. The players kind of know what to expect, and it helps us to be in more of a comfort zone.”

As far as the game plan is concerned, the Chargers spend time on Thursday walking through plays — plays the players know well, especially at this time of year.

“The Xs and Os take care of themselves,” Cornwell said. “It’s about being physical, getting out and staying on people. If the backs run hard and the line blocks hard, we feel like we can execute against anybody. It’s just a matter of how hard we’re going to play and how physical we’re going to be.”

Contact John Swartz at jswartz@coxnc.com or (252) 329-9592.