Stringer, facing an undefeated Resurrection Catholic team Friday night at home, stunned the Eagles right out of the gate with two quick touchdowns during the first five minutes of the contest. The Red Devils then went on to finish business in a 25-10 final, while also collecting a very important Region 4-1A victory.
Before Resurrection came to Stringer, the Eagles were 4-0 [one forfeit win over Sacred Heart] and had been quite dominant on the football field, defeating three opponents handily by a combined score of 87-13. That run ended in Stringer on the first night of cool weather football this season, and it was an important win for the Red Devils. Stringer now sits just behind region-frontrunner Lumberton, which easily knocked off head coach Morris Cascio's Red Devils squad earlier this season during a game where Stringer was short on players due to COVID-19.
“Resurrection is always strong in our region. They come out and do what they do by giving you multiple formations. We worked a lot on defense this week [during practice] with the kids, and they did a great job tonight,” said Cascio. “This was a big win and an important one.”
Stringer's Omarion Bridges popped the Eagles smack-dab in the mouth on the first offensive play of the contest. Bridges raced 59 yards past the Resurrection defense on a touchdown run that seemed to have set an early tone in the game. Several minutes later, after dominating defensive play by the Red Devils, Cascio's offensive squad went back to work after driving on the Eagles, and quarterback Jackson Parker eventually connected with Landon Ducksworth on a 7-yard touchdown strike that gave Stringer a 12-0 advantage with only five minutes elapsed from the game clock.
“We came out and told the guys to put something up on the board, and we were going to be the 'hammer' this week. I told them we were just going to drive; all we wanted to do was to just push people and run the football down their throat. I thought they [Resurrection] gave us that opportunity to move some people on their defensive line. We did, and it worked,” Cascio mentioned.
Stringer kept hammering down in the first quarter, which led to another touchdown score with only five seconds removed from the second-quarter clock. Running back Jeremiah Williams ripped off a 36-yard run that set up Jorian Sampson for a 3-yard touchdown gallop that gave the Red Devils an 18-0 advantage very early in the second quarter.
The Eagles finally got on the scoreboard late in the first half following a productive offensive series. Stringer was stout with a good defensive stand deep into the drive and forced a field goal attempt, but Resurrection's Will Clemens was straight through the middle of the posts and long on a 40-yard field goal with a minute left in the first half. A Stringer offensive blunder following the ensuing kickoff got the Eagles back into the game. With only seconds remaining in the first half, Resurrection's Terrence Packer picked up a Red Devils fumble and raced 50-yards for a touchdown to end the first half, 18-10, following the extra point.
The game was a defensive battle through most of the third quarter, but Resurrection moved the football deep into Stringer territory late in the quarter. The Red Devils defense dug deep and forced a 35-yard field goal attempt with 3:59 left in the third, but before a foot could hit the ball the overall tune of the game seemed to sing for Stringer. An errant Resurrection snap during the field goal attempt forced a pass that was picked off by Stringer's Omarion Bridges, which thwarted any Eagles points.
Later in the fourth quarter, a productive Stringer drive found Parker connecting with Nic Arender on a 9-yard touchdown pass that handed the Devils a 25-10 cushion, following the extra point, with 4:04 remaining in the game.
Resurrection, with a very visible potentially potent passing game, then started tossing the football around to try and get back into the contest late, but Stringer's Jorian Sampson ended any threat of a late-game comeback when he picked off a Riley Mathews pass deep in Red Devils' territory. Sampson, also more commonly known as 'JoJo', added to the hurt by returning the interception to Resurrection's 30-yard line, where Stringer began an offensive drive of simply milking the game clock. With 2:18 remaining the contest, the Red Devils earned a couple of first downs and walked off the field following a kneeling victory.
“It was huge. 'JoJo' was just playing his position, picked the ball off, and then returned it a long way,” Cascio said of Sampson's late-game interception, especially knowing Resurrection has the offensive tools to score quickly from any point on the field. “It set us up in a position to where we could run the clock out.”
Stringer placed itself in an excellent position for the win by taking it to the Eagles offensively in the first five minutes of the important region game Friday night. Then, the ballgame's offensive pace slowed some for the Red Devils as Resurrection settled in, but turnovers were in the mix for both teams, which played a big part in the game. Stringer claimed the turnover battle and made the most of those opportunities whether it came from scoring points or simply taking away the game clock from a good offensive Eagles team.
“You win the turnover game and good things are going to happen to you,” Cascio touted. “They would get to driving, and we would get an interception or a fumble recovery. We would go back to driving the football down their throat and maybe punt the ball, but we worked on the clock and that's what we needed.”
Stringer of Class 1A (3-2, 3-1) will host 2A Union (4-1) this coming Friday night. The Yellow Jackets are coming off a 35-12 win over Newton. Union's only loss this season has been to undefeated 4A Newton County in a 28-7 contest. In its other four games so far this season, the Yellow Jackets have averaged 45 points a game and have only given up an average 10 points per outing.
“It's a non-region ballgame, but it's an important ballgame. Union is a good team, and they have a brand new football coach, and we are going to see what we can do with them,” Cascio mentioned. “One of the main things, though, is to get through that game healthy and get back into region play.”
Stringer will have four more Region 4-1A games to close the regular season following the Union game.
