2025 Keep Pounding High School Classic: Grimsley vs West Charlotte Presented by: Belk

Game 2 of the Keep Pounding Classic features two of the best teams in the state of NC as Greensboro's Grimsley travels down to the Queen City to take on West Charlotte. WFNZ's Kyle Bailey and Panthers LS JJ Jansen are on the call. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The following is a special presentation of Sports Radio ninety
two point seven w FNZ.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
This he's the twenty twenty five Keep Bounding High School
Classic presented by BELK, featuring the Huff Huskies against the
South Points Stallions and the Crimsly Whirlies against the West
Charlotte Lyons.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
High School Football on WFNZ is brought to you by
Victory Chevrolet.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Dou's Life of the Bank of America Stadium. Let's hit
to the press box where Kyle Bailey and GG Jensen
have a call of tonight's action.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
At Bank of America Stadium for Game two of the
twenty twenty five Keep Pounding Classic presented by BELK, And
this one has all the makings of a heavyweight showdown.
The spotlight turns to the Grimsley Worlies out of Greensboro,
the preseason number one in North Carolina's seven A ranks,
led by the nation's top quarterback recruit Fazon Brandon s

(01:00):
their way the pride of the Queens City, the West
Charlotte Lions, defending state champions in their own right, and
this year's preseason number one in the largest classification in
North Carolina. It's a clash of power programs, star players,
and championship pedigree. Under the bright lights in uptown Charlotte,
the key Pounding Classic rolls on, presented by bel Im

(01:22):
Kyle Bailey alongside JJ Jansen setting the stage. The atmosphere
inside the Bank right now is unbelievable and we are
just moments away from kickoff between West Charlotte and Grimsley.

Speaker 4 (01:33):
One an awesome night. We've kind of hit full darkness
here in Bank of America City and the lights are
on and for these boys, this is the thrill of
a lifetime. As the captains walk out to midfield, they're
gonna do the coin flip on the panther head right
there at the fifty yard line. What an unbelievable opportunity
for all these boys, especially these senior leaders on both teams.

(01:54):
And I'm super excited for this game to kick off.
We've talked about it, some contrasting styles, but two of
the very best teams in the state of North Carolina,
and they have such mutual respect for one another. I'm
really excited to see this game. We might have a shootout,
I'm not sure. We got two great quarterbacks and coaches
are ready to move the ball around the field.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
Absolutely captain's meeting at midfield. As JJ just said, we'll
get you the results of the coin toss here in
just a second. We got cameras and microphones huddling around midfield.
So I've got the binoculars up here in the press
box today. But even with these, I'm not sure if
I can make out exactly what's about to happen here,
though I will try. And this again is a heavyweight

(02:34):
showdown coming your way just moments from now.

Speaker 4 (02:37):
Huff held on to beat South Point in the early game.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
If you couldn't be with us for that one fourteen
to ten the final score. The huff Huskies led by
a couple of rushing touchdowns from their junior quarterback Ethan Royle.
They got the go ahead score in the fourth quarter,
and a late interception by Josevion Currents, the quarterback from
South Point, sealed the Stallion's fate. The Huskies one to
oh in week one, and South Point, of course falling

(03:03):
to OH and one and now the second game moments
away Grimsley in town from Greensboro underhead coach Darryl Brown,
the Worlies have become one of the premier powers in
North Carolina. Brown took over in twenty sixteen after building
Southern Guildford into a perennial contender, and has guided Grimsley
to multiple state championship appearances and two four A state

(03:24):
titles in the past five years, including last season's perfect
sixteen and oh run capped by a win over Rollsville
in the title game. As we talked about on the
other side, West Charlotte, led by Sam Grinder, it's not
just another it's not another Friday Night. It's a celebration
of a phoenix like resurgence for the West Charlotte Lions.

(03:44):
Before Sam Grinder arrived back in twenty twenty one, the
program had been mired in one of its toughest stretches
in decades, posting just thirty one wins against seventy seven
losses in the previous ten seasons.

Speaker 4 (03:56):
But what a turnaround it's been.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
After a rebuilding oh and eleven days, Grinder steadily turned
the program around, leading them to seven and five and
twenty twenty two, nine and four and twenty twenty three,
and culminating in a monumental thirteen and two run in
twenty twenty four that ended with a hard fought fourteen
to seven victory over Fayettevill seventy first for the NCCHSAA

(04:19):
three A state Championship, West Charlotte's first title since nineteen
ninety five.

Speaker 4 (04:23):
JJ, and we're.

Speaker 5 (04:24):
Getting ready to kick off here.

Speaker 4 (04:26):
Sam Grinder wins wins the toss to first, so he's
gonna put that balls in the hand of Grim's quarterback
Faison Brandon to get started. I think that's kind of interesting.
I would have think. I think I would rather have
the ball to start. I don't know if I want
to give my opponent, the number one player in the country,
the ball first crack. But we're gonna see it. We're
gonna hopefully have some fireworks here to get started early.

(04:47):
I to look down on the field right there, number
thirty eights.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
Brandon Raccoon, the sophomore kicker, will handle kickoff duties tonight.
We're told by Sam Grinder that and Angel who As
will also participate in some kicking duties tonight. Dante Nicholson
will talk about that when the time comes. He'll do
the punting tonight. And since we've got JJ to my right,
Arturro Gonzaleses will be the long Stafford Tile for the

(05:13):
West Charlotte Lions.

Speaker 5 (05:16):
Let's do it.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
Standing back at his own five yard line, Jaden Taylor,
but the kick is short fielded by Grimsley at the
twenty five yard line and returned out to the thirty one.
It's number five Kai in Battle receiving the kick, securing
the football and Faison Brandon and the Whorley's offense will
go to work first down and ten from their own
thirty one yard line.

Speaker 5 (05:39):
Brandon is the.

Speaker 4 (05:39):
Six four to two ten senior committed to Tennessee number
one quarterback recruiting the country, and what we're going to
see tonight is an interesting style. We got a big,
big offensive line, but you got the best quarterback in
the country, and they're ready to.

Speaker 5 (05:52):
Throw the ball all around the yard.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
They certainly are see wide receivers to the far side
of the formation. Man in motion to give is to
number two Micah Williams on first down, and Williams is
stuffed immediately by the Lions defensive front.

Speaker 4 (06:09):
You know, Damario Wilson, who's the tackle, made that tackle
right away. Sam Grinder went out of his way to
just start to go, hey, he's my.

Speaker 5 (06:16):
Two gap guy.

Speaker 4 (06:17):
He's gonna be in both gaps and first play quick
quick spot stop behind the line of scrimmage for two
yard losses. Michael Williams two yard loss.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
He backed up Mitchell Summers, one of the best running
backs in the state of North Carolina history at Grimsley
the last couple of years, and now it's Micah's turn
to take the primary snaps.

Speaker 4 (06:35):
In the backfield.

Speaker 3 (06:35):
There's Brandon wide receiver screen to the far side, caught
by Alex Cooper, who picks up a couple on second down.

Speaker 4 (06:44):
Much like the first game, we're kind of seeing both
teams feel out the defense, a quick run, a quick pass,
try to get their quarterback into the flow of the game.
That really plays in the hands of the defense because
everything's right in front of him.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
Third down in nine nine from the thirty two yard line,
Grimsly moving left to right on your radio dial, ball
spotted on the far side. Hash four wide receivers in
the formation, three cluster to the bottom of the formation,
one to the top.

Speaker 4 (07:13):
There's phase on pressure in his face.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
Tries to dump off a screen to Williams, but incomplete
and a three and out for the Whorlies on their
opening drive.

Speaker 4 (07:21):
Eliza little John kind of plays a linebacker, edge player,
one of the very best players on this West Charlotte defense.
And he got a lot of quick pressure there on
Fason and it's a really good start for West Charlotte.
So they take that. They win the toss, they defer,
give the ball the number one player in the country
and then three and out.

Speaker 5 (07:38):
So just the way they drew it up here.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
Early, Chase hull Mantle, we'll stand back at his own
eighteen yard line to punt the football. It'll be his
first attempt of the season. He'll handle the punting and
the kicking duties for Grimsley. There's a low spiral line
drive punt that sales out of bounds at about the

(08:01):
thirty two yard line. We'll see where they market the
thirty two. Indeed, so West Charlotte will start at its
own thirty two for the first time in twenty twenty
five jimur.

Speaker 4 (08:11):
And Nichols is gonna be the guy that's gonna be
running the show here. You know, Coach Grinder said, this
guy has elite processing skills. He gives about ten minutes
and all the different stuff that Nichols has done in
the offseason, not only to improve that area, but just
to demonstrate his ability to process. That always gives a
coach the feeling of it. I can put a lot
on his plate because I trust what his eyes and

(08:33):
what his brand are sort of telling him, and I'm
excited to see how they use him.

Speaker 5 (08:37):
Here in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
Wes Charlotte, moving right to left, Nichols sends a man
in motion, a little bit of a sweep action there
on first down. The handoff ghost to number twenty three
is just Seer Gray who picks up a couple.

Speaker 4 (08:51):
And just like we talked about in the first game,
helmet's already flying off. We've already had two on the ground.
I don't know what's going on in the equipment staff,
but all all the equipment managers that need to buckle
all these chin straps, they're already flying here.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
Early West Charlotte's offense, as we mentioned, led by Jamori
Nichols Sam Grinder, comes from a traditional wing T background.
We'll see a lot of misdirection in this offense. Some
outside zone buck sweet RPOs and they're looking for play

(09:26):
action down the field when the opportunity presents itself. Here's
second and eight to give up the middle. Emory McLain
with the carry, his first of the night, picks up two.
That'll bring up third down and six.

Speaker 4 (09:40):
More so than the other teams that we've seen here tonight,
this has been a very slow pace here to start
the game. Feels like coach Grinder wants to kind of
get in the flow of the game. Give Nichols good
opportunity to see the whole field and look, he's trying
to get the hands. Get the ball in the hands
of his receivers, Dante Nicholson, Jordan Moore, j D McDonald,
who is actually the putt returner. We're trying to figure

(10:02):
out ways to get the balled sideline. The sideline because
just as big as Grimsly is on the offensive line,
they are on the defensive line as well.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
Nine to twenty here in the opening quarter, third down
and five from their own thirty seven, it's Jimuri Nichols
and West Charlotte. Nichols flushed out of the pocket, moving
right to the short side, throws back across his body,
dangerous decision, skips off the turf incomplete number thirteen. McKay yon,
the defensive back, dove in and was hunting a turnover.
We couldn't get there in time.

Speaker 4 (10:30):
Couple quick three and outs there, and your guy Virginia
Tech commit.

Speaker 5 (10:33):
As of this morning.

Speaker 4 (10:34):
Andrew Rogers flushed out Nickols to the right side of
his screen towards the bench of Grimsley and kind of
forced an awkward throw, could have been worse, kind of
lands it at the feet of the defender and had
two three and outs here and we're off and running.

Speaker 3 (10:50):
Kyle Bailey, JJ Jansen here with you. The second game
of the Keep Pounding High School Classic underway, and each
offense with a three and out on its opening drive.
Alex Cooper standing at his own thirty four yard line
to receive the punt, had a short kick, a bit

(11:14):
of a shank, sales out of bounds and the far
side line judge continues to trot up the field until
he stops at the forty seven yard line, and so Faison,
Brandon and Grimsley will take over for the second time.

Speaker 4 (11:28):
Just shy of midfield. So we actually saw this in
the first game as well, both coaches kind of taking
their time, trying to get a feel for the game.
A couple of quick three and ounces again, same thing
that happened in the Huff South South Point game is
everyone's kind of getting the field, getting their feet wet.
What you're looking for here in this first what we say,

(11:48):
like the first ten of the first fifteen is both
sides are sort of feeling each other out, what formations work, Where.

Speaker 5 (11:55):
Are my mismatches?

Speaker 4 (11:57):
Faison Brandon as the number one player, A lot's ultimately
gonna be put on his shoulders. But early on, can
Darryl Brown find some easy throws for him? Find some
easy plays? Jesse Tripp, He's the play call he's the
quarterback coach. He's how much can I take off of
his plate early so that the playmaking skills come up late.

Speaker 5 (12:15):
We'll be curious to see.

Speaker 4 (12:16):
Kind of how they continue to fill each other out
in this kind of punch CounterPunch element that we've got
going on here, this big game between two defending state
champions face on.

Speaker 3 (12:27):
Brandon, as we've mentioned, number one rated quarterback in the country,
committed to Tennessee three seasons at Grimley, did not start
as a freshman, but played in every regular season game,
been the starter since his sophomore year, and comes in
boasting a twenty nine and one record as a starter.
Leadership is the first word that Darryl Brown used to

(12:47):
describe him, saying he's not a vocal guy, but he
leads by example. Says he's taken ownership of the offense,
and Brandon's experience allows for a lot of flexibility for
Daryl Brown a company because of Andon's experiences. Here on
first down, fires one out to the near side, falls
in complete looking for Hudson Cooper, brother of Alex and Brandon.

Speaker 4 (13:08):
Didn't get a ton on that football. A bit of
a dangerous play right there. It was very close to
a lateral to the west. Charlotte sideline actually thought it
was a lateral and they kind of scooped the ball
up and run. We're gonna get another look here on
our replay, and the ball does come forward just a
little bit. But a really really nice job on the
clothes out there against Hudson Cooper, the wide receiver.

Speaker 5 (13:28):
That play was done by Xavier Porter.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
Second down and ten now balls at the forty seven
yard line of the whorlies the brothers Cooper to the
near side. Brandon from the gun screen to Cooper, he's
got room to run.

Speaker 4 (13:43):
It's a foot race.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
Thirty twenty five twenty fifteen, ten to five to the
house touchdown Grimsley Worlies a big play to break open
the scoring here at Bank of America Stadium.

Speaker 5 (13:56):
Who and this is.

Speaker 4 (13:57):
Just a it's just a classic kind of wide receiver,
Unnald Screen. Hudson Cooper comes back through the middle, and
that big offensive line I talked about, Nick kashuber Uh,
Nick Schubara, Mike Miller, Neil Johnson come flying out, won
two three.

Speaker 5 (14:13):
Blocks in perfect order.

Speaker 4 (14:15):
Hudson Cooper comes through the middle, wide open, easy fifty
yard touchdown for Grimsley on the throw there by Brandon.

Speaker 3 (14:23):
How about that fifty three yards to the house, Alex
and Hudson Cooper. A couple of brothers catching footballs out
there for the Whorlies in that time. It's Hudson with
the big play to break open the scoring. Not just tonight,
but in the twenty twenty five campaign. Pat is good
seven to nothing, Grimsley with the lead here at Bank
of America Stadium. On Sports Radio ninety two to seven

(14:45):
wfn Z, you are listening to.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
The Keep Pounding High School Classic on Sports Radio ninety
two point seventyfn Z.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
Hudson Cooper on a tunnel screen takes it to the
from fifty three yards out, his first touchdown to the season.
Same for quarterback fase On Brandon and the Grimsley Worthies
out of Greensboro lead at seven to nothing here in
the keep Pounding Classic. But would you look at this?
More fireworks on the way on special teams. We got
a big return and right away dub c answering number

(15:18):
fourteen Davon Jones to the house. But will it stand?
A flag all the way back at the thirty three
yard line. Davion Jones, who Sam Grinder told us back
on Tuesday, might just be the best player on the
field with an immediate response, but a flag may erase

(15:38):
all of it.

Speaker 4 (15:39):
I think we're going to get a likely a holding
the flags back around the minus thirty three yard line,
and it looks like everyone's beginning to work their way back.
Holding is the call? Number thirteen?

Speaker 3 (15:58):
Trenton Ramser the senior, He's the culprit on that one.
Let's see if the replay gives us any indication as
to what actually happened and how egregious it was or wasn't.

Speaker 4 (16:13):
Here's the replay.

Speaker 3 (16:14):
Davion Jones found a lane squeezing through it. Great elusiveness
made a couple of defenders miss no look on that
replay as to the infraction in question, but either way,
it's coming.

Speaker 4 (16:26):
Back and that's a massive, massive play. What you end
up getting a lot of time on special teams is
we say the officials are sort of officiating the grass,
meaning can't really see whether there's a hole, but if
someone ends up on the ground, they know that that's
not supposed to look right. And so what we had
there was a couple of white shirts were on the
ground right near Trenton rams are in. I have to

(16:47):
be honest, whenever you hold somebody, don't put your hands
up like you didn't do anything. They tend to officiate
that too, the I didn't do it hands and they
got them there.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
First down to ten from the twenty five yard line
for West Charlotte, still trailing seven to nothing. The kickoff
return touchdown erased by a penalty that time number twenty three.
Just Seer Gray with the second carry of the evening
and it's a pick up of eight.

Speaker 4 (17:11):
Kyle, I want to go back to that tunnel screen.
We talked about a fifty three yard play. That's what
all these coaches are hunting for. Can I get my
quarterback an easy completion and let run after the catch
handle it? And what we saw there was was a
run action to the left and then the throwback to
the right, and we saw really good ball handling by
Faizon Brandon to get the ball on the run to
Hudson Cooper and then all those big offensive linemen one, two,

(17:35):
three cleared out there, guys for a big play.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
Second down and two it's another handoff up the middle,
some pinballing across the line of scrimmage, and just Seer
Gray picks up a West Charlotte first down. Notable here
on the near side of the formation was number two
wide receiver Dante Nicholson Charlotte forty nine ers commit I
bring him up. I was surveying which wide receivers were
on the field. Noticeably absent tonight is number nine Katie Cotton,

(18:04):
who is committed to Duke University. We found out minutes
before the game tonight that he is not dressed out
and will not play. Hoping for more updates on that
first down and ten from the thirty eight West Charlotte
moving right to left, quick hit or near side. Number
two Dante Nicholson makes a play like a vapor trail
down the near.

Speaker 4 (18:20):
Sideline, a foot race.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
That he's pushed out of bounds at the seventeen yard line.
Massive pickup on first down for West Charlotte. And despite
the kickoff return being erased, they've still got a lot
of juice out there and they're set up first down
and ten inside the red zone.

Speaker 5 (18:37):
Another little wide receiver screen.

Speaker 4 (18:39):
This block was sort of sprung from sprung free by
rakeeem Finch on the sideline on the West Charlotte side.

Speaker 5 (18:47):
I'll tell you what.

Speaker 4 (18:49):
The plays right now are going to the outside, and
that's been really good, getting the guys the ball in space.
There are some really good athletes on the field working
to the outside.

Speaker 3 (18:57):
Forty five yards from Nickel to Nicholson. And on first
down and ten for the seventeen so Maury Nichols hands
off to number two Emery McClain and with a full
head of steam, he picks up six.

Speaker 4 (19:12):
These plays are just extensions of the run game. Get
the ball on the outside. It's two on two, it's
three on three. In the case of the last wide
receiver screen, it's just one on one. I've got two guys,
you've got one. I got a ball handler and a
blocker sprung a big one free.

Speaker 3 (19:28):
If you're listening out there on sports radio WFNZ, we
appreciate you being with us off and running here. In
game number two, seven to nothing, Grimsley on top of
West Charlotte threatening second down and four from the eleven.
It's a handoff to Emory McClain again and it looked
like he had some room to run, but was tripped
up an ankle tackle and potentially a touchdown saving tackle

(19:49):
by an interior defensive lineman trying to figure out exactly
who that is.

Speaker 4 (19:54):
But a nice play right there by Grimsley. Jaden Warlaw
with a really nice play kind of evading at tackler,
and you know sometimes you're just try to grab a
shoe string there and came up with one.

Speaker 5 (20:04):
They're setting up a big third down.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
It's third down and three and it's a run off
the right side and a first down pick up of four.
Sam Grinder trusting in his run game right there on
third down and that trust pays off for him.

Speaker 4 (20:24):
Just Sir Gray moving the sticks for the Lions. Both
offenses after that first three and out are really kind
of finding their comfort zone. A lot of multiple plays
in formations, keeping the ball moving.

Speaker 3 (20:37):
Finch goes in motion, hard Count draws Grimsley across the
line of scrimmage.

Speaker 4 (20:47):
Looks like they didn't call it. They're still going audible
in here.

Speaker 3 (20:50):
I think West Charlotte was expecting a penalty because we
clocked down to two. They're gonna have to burn a
time out here. And Sam Grinder comes running onto the
field signaling for a time out. The near sideline judge.
I mean, I've seen that before. But Jamari Nichols, good job.
Hard Count clap draws multiple defenders across the line of scrimmage.
No flag comes in and it kind of caught West
Charlotte off guard.

Speaker 4 (21:11):
Yeah, they kind of got stuck in between there. Sometimes
the center will snap the ball. Teams will have like
a go call, like if the defensive line comes across
the line of scrimmage, the center snaps it and everyone
just got a predetermined whether it's four vertical routes or
something very quick and easy that everyone knows to convert to. Instead,
ball's not snapped, defense retreats and Sam Grinder's trying to audible,

(21:33):
trying to get into a new look. He sees a
blitz kind of get uncovered, and I think all the
players on West Charlotte just thought, well, they must have
thrown the flag and they didn't play clock goes down
and just couldn't get it communicated. So I'll have to
burn their first time out here with five eighteen left
in the first quarter.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
Kyle Bailey, JJ Janssen here with you on Charlotte Sports
Leader Sports Radio ninety two to seven wfn Z. Proud
to bring you to keep Pounding High School Classic for
the first time on these airwaves, but an event that's
been around for a couple of years. Kudos go out
to David and Nicole Tepper, ownership here at the Carolina
Panthers and Riley Fields, director of community relations, and everyone

(22:13):
who has a hand in making this happen, this doubleheader
that celebrates the sport of football, but also high school
football here in a great state four high school football.
You often hear about the Texas and California and Florida's
and Georgia's of the world, but this is one of
the most populated states in America and with that brings
a lot of young talent in youth sports. Football in particular,

(22:35):
and that's on display here tonight. First down in six
rather first down in goal for West Charlotte, and that
play starts but stopped by one, two, three, four penalty
flags out there on the field.

Speaker 4 (22:47):
I think they're all going to get the same false start.
Everyone kind of started except for the snap. So fall
start on everybody.

Speaker 3 (23:05):
Number seventy three, Khalil Cheese, Hansley McNair, he goes by Cheese.

Speaker 5 (23:11):
It's gonna be easier for us.

Speaker 4 (23:13):
We'll just call him cheese. That's always one as I
played offensive line in high school and one of my
biggest frustrations is when everyone false starts but they call
you just you're the one guy they singled out. Yeah,
I was never a big.

Speaker 5 (23:27):
Fan of that.

Speaker 4 (23:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
This West Charlotte offensive line, by the way, from right
to left goes six three three twenty six two three
thirty five, six feet three fifteen, six feet two fifty
five and six two two seventy five.

Speaker 4 (23:39):
Big boys out there, Big.

Speaker 3 (23:40):
Boys absolutely first down and goal from the eleven after
a five yard penalty and another flag flies in as
soon as Jamari Nichols gets his hand on the football,
and immediately we see another false start penalty will be
called against West Charlotte, And this is common.

Speaker 4 (23:58):
Let's say in high.

Speaker 3 (23:59):
School football all in week one, you get some sloppiness,
you get some pre snap procedural penalties. We saw it
in the first game between Huff and South Point. If
you're Sam grinder at certainly driving you crazy right now,
especially given the fact that you felt like you had
a lot of momentum after the big play to Nicholson
that got you down inside the red zone.

Speaker 4 (24:16):
Yeah, your first and goal at the six now your
first and goal at the sixteen. But yes, Kyle, like
the early games, you got some pre snap penalties. You're
gonna have some delayed games or using timeouts. Can you
survive this first quarter and kind of begin to find
the vibe of the game and the feel this is
the first game for a lot of these boys in
ten ten months. They just get to snap off.

Speaker 3 (24:40):
Nichols thought he might hand it off to Gray, pulls
it out and was swarmed by three Grimsly defenders back
at the eighteen yard line.

Speaker 4 (24:50):
That's a loss of two. Andrew Rodgers was the first
one in there, and again he's he's retafficked here.

Speaker 5 (24:55):
Early on.

Speaker 4 (24:57):
Jaden Warlaw, the junior defensive tackle also in on the hit.
And now you're trying to figure out, Hey, if I'm
coach Grinner, Hey, how do we find a field goal here?
This is second a goal from the eighteen. You don't
have to force it into the end zone. Let's find
some yards, Let's maybe get into third and manageable and
worst case scenario walk away here with some points on

(25:18):
what was a really good drive until the two fall
star penalties. And now all of a sudden, we've burned
a second time out for West Charlotte.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
Yep, the lines went from first to goal at the
six to now facing second and goal from the eighteen
yard line. Time out. Take it on the field. We'll
keep it right here. Kyle Bailey, JJ Jansen with you
here on this Friday evening, celebrating Friday Night lights and
about the biggest way possible here at Bank of America Stadium,
one of, if not the best high school football game

(25:46):
in America, West Charlotte versus Grimsley, Charlotte versus Greensboro, and
it's seven tohing after a Hudson Cooper fifty three yard
touchdown on a tunnel screen from Fazon Brandon lift the
fireworks and got us started here in the first quarter.
West Charlotte immediately, it seemed, responded with a Davon Jones
kickoff return for a touchdown, a play that was called

(26:08):
back because of a hold on number thirteen Trenton rams Aer.
West Charlotte, though unfaced a forty five yard pass play
from Jamuriy Nichols to Dante Nicholson that set them up
first in goal with the six. But a handful of
penalties and some mistakes and some Grimsley defense now has
us it's second down and goal from the eighteen.

Speaker 4 (26:27):
If I'm West Charlotte here, as they're kind of recollecting
their thoughts, this drive has been pretty good.

Speaker 5 (26:31):
How do I come away with points right now?

Speaker 4 (26:33):
If I'm Sam Grinder Jamuri Nichols in this West Charlotte offense,
They've burned two timeouts, they were in the red they
were down in the tight red zone, down at the
six yard line, and now all of a sudden, I
find myself in the second goal from the eighteen, and
you know Grimsley's defensive line is going to pin their
ears back. I imagine we're going to see Andrew Rodgers

(26:54):
off the side cashes bostick off the other side, and
how do I just protect the ball and find a
way to come away with this drive with points because
you've sort of matched what Grimsly did on their second
drive they got a touchdown. You've matched the energy. You
immediately know, hey, we can play with these guys. They score,
we've taken the ball right back down on actually twice.

(27:14):
So keep calm, find a way to end up with
some points, either a field goal or a touchdown here.
Don't turn the ball over, and you're right back in
the game. You're in a good spot here. Through about
half of the first quarter.

Speaker 3 (27:25):
You and I talked to Sam Grinder about his quarterback
Jamury Nichols running this offense that has its roots in
the wing tea with misdirection and how important you know,
ball handling and i'm manipulation are in this game and
running this offense, and just watching Grimsley's defensive front get
up the field hard and aggressive, you wonder if maybe
that's something they can take advantage of here.

Speaker 4 (27:45):
One of the biggest things when you've got pullers on
the offensive line is can I get penetration West Charlotte's
got to counter some of the upfield penetration or like
we saw on the on the wide receiver screen earlier,
get the ball to the outside.

Speaker 3 (27:58):
Land and Gilmour coming in should across the formation. Nickel
swings it out wide. Catch made by rackem Finch. Finch
trying to make a man miss but cannot get away
from number thirteen.

Speaker 4 (28:08):
Mackay yawn.

Speaker 3 (28:09):
It's a pickup of about ten we'll call it eleven actually,
and it sets up third down and goal from the seventh.

Speaker 5 (28:16):
Good little play here.

Speaker 4 (28:17):
They kind of catch him in a little bit of
a man concept.

Speaker 5 (28:20):
They work.

Speaker 4 (28:21):
They work rakeem Finch across from the left to right
along along the five yard line or so. And a
really nice job here to get this into that third
and manageable here from West Charlotte third and seven.

Speaker 5 (28:33):
Again, this may be four down territory.

Speaker 4 (28:35):
They don't really know, well, Sean doesn't really know what
their kicking game totally looks like Sam Grinder kind of
told us ahead of time. We're still trying to figure
that out. So could be four down territory.

Speaker 3 (28:43):
Three wide receivers, two to the knee, that's Nicholson and Gilmore.
Nichols immediate pressure up the middle, flush to the left,
running near sideline, turns throws across his body into the
end zone to a wide open Dante Nicholson. Touchdown top
c puts six on the board for the home team.

Speaker 5 (29:00):
What a play.

Speaker 4 (29:01):
This play broke down At the beginning, two or three
guys come free, including Drew Serrils. The linebacker for Grimsley,
flushed out Jamari Nichols to his left and really there
was nothing there. In fact, Dante Nicholson was standing in
the end zone almost like I'm covered. This play is over,
and when the fourth or fifth defender came towards Nichols,

(29:23):
he just flipped it across the goal line for an
easy time. That's the easiest touchdown catcher're gonna have in
your entire career.

Speaker 5 (29:28):
He was just standing there.

Speaker 3 (29:29):
How about that number thirty seven on for the pat
Angel Ruiz actually number thirty one. Pardon me, the pat
is good and we are all knotted up at seven apiece.
Let's check the replay. Here will be your eyes on
this one. Jamuriy Nichols flushed out to his left nearly

(29:49):
to the sideline, turns throwing against his body to a
wide open number two Dante Nicholson. The Charlotte forty nine
ers commit who made two monster plays on this scoring
drive earlier, a forty five yard catch and run to
set the lines up first and goal, and he finishes
the job.

Speaker 4 (30:07):
There in the end zone and Ramier Harris Jupriz is
the corner. He's guarding Nicholson and there are three defenders
going towards Nichols, and he just kind of leaves his man.
I think one of the dangers of having a running
quarterback as a defense is everyone feels like I've got
to be the guy that gets.

Speaker 5 (30:24):
Him down on the ground.

Speaker 4 (30:26):
And they're on that scramble drill working out to the left.
Everything's covered. It's it is a sack and the end
of the play. But when you have somebody as athletic
as Nichols, sometimes the DB's.

Speaker 5 (30:37):
Just lose track of the play because they're nervous.

Speaker 4 (30:40):
They've been told all week how impressive Nichols is as
a runner. It's like, I gotta get in the action.
And he just leaves Nicholson wide open. Like I said,
Nicholson thought the play was over. He's just standing in
the end zone. All of a sudden, you get a
little flip and at seven to seven.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
A nine play sixty eight yard scoring drive. Shout out
to our buddy Anthony Flounder Pagnata, who's charting for US
and tracking stats here tonight in the broadcast. Booth nine
plays sixty four yards in a touchdown, the equalizer for
West Charlotte with three point forty left to play here
in the opening quarter.

Speaker 4 (31:17):
And now Wes.

Speaker 3 (31:18):
Charlotte a little bit of a delay here lining up
for the kickoff back to Grimsley.

Speaker 5 (31:24):
Pulled one of the players off.

Speaker 4 (31:25):
I don't know if it's an equipment thing or the
referees pulled off Jamill Watsont, number eleven from the kickoff team.
Let's say they're going to restart now. So the ball
is teed up.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
And kicked away by number thirty eight Brandon Raccoon, the
kickoff specialist here tonight. Another short kick fielded by number
five Kai in Battle and Battle swallowed up by a
couple of special teamers for West Charlotte, number twenty four
Josiah Whitlock to make the stop.

Speaker 4 (32:01):
So unlike in our first game, where it felt like
for three quarters everyone was trying to feel each other out,
we have three and out, three and out touchdown drive
touchdown drive, and I have a sense that this might
be a shootout with the quality of quarterbacks and skill
players we have on the outside. Pretty good drives there
for both teams, and we've got a seven to seven
game here.

Speaker 5 (32:20):
With three thirty left in the first.

Speaker 3 (32:22):
Quarter, third possession of the game for Grimsley, first down
to ten for the thirty three face on, Brandon sneaks
through some traffic at the line of scrimmage a designed
run and he gallops out to the forty four yard
line where he runs out of bounds after a first
down for the Whorlies.

Speaker 4 (32:40):
First time we've seen Brandon run on a quarterback design run.
One player's kind of got a lead blocker there and
a nice little run gets you started. I like when
running quarterbacks get a few design runs early in the game.
I think it gets them into the flow of the
game early. And Brandon with a nice first down run there.

Speaker 3 (32:58):
Thirteen yards on the gallop for brand moving left to right,
balls on the near side, Hash fires at far side
to Cooper.

Speaker 4 (33:04):
This time it's Alex.

Speaker 3 (33:05):
Alex makes the grab, fighting out across midfield into plus territory,
tackled out of bounds at the forty eight yard line
of West Charlotte by number eighteen. Pardon me, that's number
ten maj Daniels making the tackle.

Speaker 4 (33:23):
It was a cool little play. There was a wide
receiver screen baked in with a go route. West Charlotte
did a nice job of not biting on the screen,
kind of went screen deep ball back to the little
wide receiver screen to Cooper.

Speaker 3 (33:36):
Three catches for the Cooper family so far here in
the early going, three seventeen left to play. Now with
Hudson Cooper's turn catches one out in the flat inside
the forty five yard line should be enough for another
Grimsley first down.

Speaker 4 (33:50):
You can see why Jesse tripped the quarterback. Coach and
play caller likes getting into the Cooper brothers. They are
really hard to get down, really good hands. And again
this becomes the extension of the run game. The balls
on the outside and with everything packed in right now,
you can get some really athletic guys on the outside,
man and man and try to break some tackles for
big runs.

Speaker 3 (34:10):
Three wide receivers to the far side of the formation.
The give is to the running back number two, Micah
Williams up the gut and he picks up positive yardage
for the first time tonight, tackled at the thirty nine
yard line.

Speaker 5 (34:23):
It's been a really cool pace of the game so far.

Speaker 4 (34:26):
It feels like both teams they're not going fast, they're
not going slow.

Speaker 5 (34:30):
Everyone feels very comfortable on the field.

Speaker 4 (34:32):
A little bit different than that first game where I
said we're trying to feel each other out, Like we
are into the action really really fast. I think it
speaks to how well both of these teams are coached
and the energy that's in the stadium tonight.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
Kai in Battle in motion the bottom of the screen,
the give is back to Micah Williams again, but this
time dropped at the line of scrimmage. Number zero Sam
Johnson coming off the far edge and number five Elijah
Little Jean meeting him there to make the stop.

Speaker 4 (35:02):
And we're gonna get into this a little bit more,
but a little bit of a unique defensive style from
Sam Grinder's defensive group. Sometimes we'll play four men, sometimes
they'll play five men. Elijah Little john he's kind of
their linebacker. He's kind of a pass rushing end. It's
gonna add some complicated looks for this Grind or for
this Grimsly offensive line. Is it three down? Is it

(35:24):
four down? Is a five down? The multiple looks will
be a challenge.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
Ty Schumak joining Beason Brandon in the backfield, this time
on third and eight to the thirty nine.

Speaker 4 (35:32):
There goes Brandon.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
Inside the thirty yard line down to the twenty seven.
That's a game of twelve yards for the Grimsley quarterback
and he gives his offense a fresh set of downs.

Speaker 4 (35:45):
Just a little counterplay here. You got two pullers h
Gavin Milton, Jackson Simmons pulling left to right and you
just get get in behind the big guys are pushing
down the line of scrimmage and and two now runs
from Freison Brandon and that kind of got something cooking again.

Speaker 3 (36:02):
That's on Brandon already with twenty five yards rushing here,
one twenty left to go in the opening quarter, seven
to seven game. These two heavyweights trading punches. A couple
of touchdowns here in the opening quarter, as that time
on first down, it's a handoff to the left side.

Speaker 4 (36:17):
Number twenty four.

Speaker 3 (36:18):
Ty Shoemaker gets his first touch of the evening and
he picks up two.

Speaker 4 (36:22):
You get another counter look here and look head coach
Daryl Brown said, Hey, this is the biggest we've ever
been up front, and we're gonna live and die by
running the ball. And we've seen that on this drive,
whether it's been with Brandon or with the running backs.

Speaker 5 (36:34):
They want to be a running team.

Speaker 4 (36:35):
So even though they've got this talented quarterback that all
the schools want, Tennessee got at the end of the day,
as we talked about before, Grimsley is gonna take on
the style of their coach.

Speaker 5 (36:45):
They want to run the.

Speaker 3 (36:45):
Ball, phasing, straight drop. On second down and eight, he's
in trouble. He's sacked back at the thirty two yard line.

Speaker 4 (36:54):
That'll be a loss of seven yards.

Speaker 3 (36:56):
Faison Brandon tried to he thought he had some room,
but was chased down by Elijah little John from the backside.

Speaker 4 (37:04):
How about that closing speech. I don't know if that
was a misprotection or they should have been hot off
that off that, but the whole offensive line went to
the left. No back picked up Little John, nor should they.
I mean that that should be one on one with
the outside tackle. Feels like a misprotection and that'll probably
take us to the end of the first quarter.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
Sure looks like at three two one on the scoreboard,
and now triple zero's the score seven to seven. West
Charlotte answers Grimsley. We're all knotted up going into the
second frame here at Bank of America Stadium.

Speaker 5 (37:33):
It's to Keep.

Speaker 3 (37:34):
Pounding High School Classic, presented by Belk on Sports Radio
ninety two seven WFNZ.

Speaker 6 (37:40):
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Lady in Black doesn't care who you are, rookie or vet.

Speaker 5 (37:48):
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Speaker 6 (37:49):
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Speaker 2 (38:10):
You are listening to The Keep Pounding High School Classic
on Sports Radio ninety two point seventyn Z.

Speaker 3 (38:26):
Second quarter of action moments away, Kyle Bailey, JJ Janssen
on hand for a heavyweight showdown Wes, Charlotte and Grimsley.
Already one quarter in the books, and it flew by
because as our guy, our engineer Anthony Flounder pak Natta
said during the break, the heavyweight players, the big time
performers that we expected to play well tonight, they came

(38:46):
out playing well.

Speaker 4 (38:47):
In the first quarter. JJ Jansen Yew. Whenever you get
into these big games, the senior leadership has to come out.
Who are your dudes, And what we've seen here, whether
it's been Elijah Little Jean, Fazon, Brandon, the Cooper brothers,
we've seen a lot of action from the best players
on the field. And what's been really cool is it's
been punch, CounterPunch, now three and out, three and out,

(39:09):
touchdown drive, touchdown drive, and now we're getting another one here,
although we've got a big third down coming up here
for Grimsly. And when your coach, when your coach said, hey,
we're gonna put the ball in your hands, you want
a bunch of guys to stand up and say, give
me the ball, let me make a play. And in
these big games, you're hoping that your leaders are the
ones that are kind of making the first first punches.

Speaker 5 (39:32):
And so far we've had that.

Speaker 3 (39:35):
TIA's Shoemak back in the backfield to start the second
quarter next to Faison Brandon, Alex Cooper, Kayne Battle, the
two wide receivers to the top of the formation. Hudson
Cooper already with a fifty three yard touchdown tonight, kind

(39:55):
of in a wing back spot right now. We'll see
if he gets moving before the snap here, but we
flipped the field. Grimsley moving right to left on your
radio dial N plus territory lot of scrimmage the west
Charlotte thirty one yard line ball on the near side.
Hash Brandon calls for it, rolling right, has protection fires

(40:15):
complete to Cayenne Battle just short of the sticks. But
this will make for an interesting decision for Darryl Brown.

Speaker 4 (40:21):
Feels like it's gonna be pretty straightforward. They're gonna probably
go for it. And what you're really looking for is
can I get this inside a fourth and four, fourth
and five where I feel pretty comfortable. Now we've said
it a couple of times today. This is no man's lands.
Most high school kickers are not lining up from forty
forty five yards, so you got a big chunk left
and fourth and three now is a very manageable conversion

(40:42):
opportunity here for Grimsley.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
Faison Brandon four of six passing for seventy five yards
so far in a touchdown. Fourth down, and three keeps
it himself and he stopped after a gain of two
one yard short of the first down marker.

Speaker 4 (40:58):
But a flag flies in late, kind of flag in
from the backside, and I'm not sure if we're gonna
get I don't know what we get there from that angle.

Speaker 5 (41:07):
It could have been. I don't know if we're gonna.

Speaker 4 (41:10):
Get a hold.

Speaker 5 (41:11):
Maybe a face mask.

Speaker 4 (41:12):
So weird angle for on an inside run play is
just a one man power with one polar I'm not
sure what the back judge has to throw from thirty
yards away.

Speaker 3 (41:25):
Well, they're still deliberating out there at about the seventeen
yard line, the head official, two of his compadres talking
it over, a couple of players from each side listening in.
We're looking for body language here. Damn, I believe you

(41:50):
said illegal block below the ways. So what we're gonna
get here?

Speaker 4 (41:54):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (41:54):
Yeah, there it is.

Speaker 4 (41:54):
So you're sort of taught to block the polar right,
So fifty seven and Jackson Simmons is pulling and the
corner coming off the edge. That's a big guy running
at me. Michael Walker.

Speaker 5 (42:07):
It goes low.

Speaker 4 (42:08):
You got to be above the way, so you're kind
of cracking the cracker, as it sort of says, and
all of a sudden we end up with a block. Bloways.
That's a safety rule, is all that is. We don't
want shots at the knee. It's just a very unusual
call from that angle, and it's the right call, but
it's a big call. And I'll give a first down
and goal from the nine and we'll get a time
out here from Grimsley.

Speaker 3 (42:29):
Yeah, sure looks that way. That's deflating a bit. If
you're the West Charlotte Lions. It looked like you had
to stop on fourth down in three they stopped fhazon
Brand in a yard shore of the sticks. But instead
a penalty will give Grimsley an automatic first down. It
sets the whorlies up first down and goal from the
nine yard.

Speaker 4 (42:46):
Line, and Sam Grinder is bringing the white hat over
and trying to get an understanding that is a very
unusual call. Again, I think it's the right call. But
as a defensive back, all of a sudden you have
a pulling guard, right, So Jackson Simmons is you're sitting
there at five ten, two hundred pounds, You're like where
do I go? And I've got to hold the point

(43:07):
because that's exactly where they're trying to run the ball.
And you know, sometimes they say low man wins, But
if that block gets below the waist from a safety standpoint,
that used to be very commonplace in the NFL in college,
those rules in order for player safety, protect the knees
and things of that sort has changed. Of course, I

(43:28):
always feel bad for the DB's going, well, I'm eighty
pounds lighter. What am I supposed to do? And it's
the right call. It's just a big one there on.
Otherwise would have been a fourth down stop for West Charlotte.

Speaker 3 (43:39):
So Grimsley will come back out again with fresh life.
First down in goal from the nine yard line.

Speaker 5 (43:45):
Sam Grinder is still hot.

Speaker 4 (43:47):
Any official within ten yards of him is getting an
ear full after this faison.

Speaker 3 (43:53):
Brandon the quarterback back out with his litany of playmakers.
The brothers Cooper split out wide to the bottom of
the formation, high end battle in the slot, Ty Shuemaker
back to the left of Brandon, who's in the gun.
An early movement by a West Charlotte defensive tackle. I
believe that was big number ninety nine to Mary Wallace,

(44:14):
the junior who jumped early, and that'll be five yards
additional for the Grimsley offense.

Speaker 4 (44:23):
Good use of cadence there right after a big play.
Can you maybe get the defensive line a little out
of kilter? And now it's first.

Speaker 3 (44:32):
Some goal from the four, same formation for the whorlies
balls on the far side, Hash shotguns snapped back to Brandon.
Brandon hands to Shoemaker and Shoemake is cut down back
at the seven yard line. That's a loss of three yards.

Speaker 4 (44:49):
A lot of carries here for the sophomore running back,
and it just goes to show the depth of this team,
sophomores and juniors all over the field. One of the
Cooper brothers, Alex Cooper, also a soft. Grimsley's got a deep,
deep well of talented players to go along with their senior.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
Quarterback Xavier Porter, with a nice tackle that time to
bring down Shoemake. Second down and goal from the seven
yard line. Battling motion across the formation, Brandon takes the snap,
gives to number two Micah Williams, and Williams picks up
about a yard, but then driven backward. Third down and

(45:26):
goal from the five coming up Kaden Smith with a
nice tackle there, and hasn't been a lot of running
room inside. It's just sort of a little split zone
carry there. And more helmets flying. I don't know what
the deal is, but there's helmets all over the place.

Speaker 4 (45:43):
Michael Griffin, also in the linebacker for West Charlotte with
Notre Dame and FSU offers, I feel like I got
a reference as many Notre Dame guys as I can, cause.

Speaker 5 (45:51):
I don't like the Virginia tech.

Speaker 3 (45:52):
Dude, you have to, that's right, Sam Grinder also saying
Michael Griffin might be the best linebacker he's ever seen.

Speaker 4 (45:57):
Are you kidding me? Another one?

Speaker 3 (45:59):
I don't want to pick on the kid, but Damari
Wallace number ninety nine with a carbon copy penalty from
the one we saw snap before last.

Speaker 4 (46:09):
And the and the pushes on the center from pre
snaper getting more and more egregious. Neil Johnson went flying
back as Damari Wallace hit him right in the shoulder pads.

Speaker 5 (46:21):
And then immediately put his hands on his head like
what have I done? Oh? Go?

Speaker 4 (46:26):
A tough sequence of events there for Wallace. Big big
play here.

Speaker 3 (46:31):
Sorry Wallace six four three forty Neil Johnson five nine
two fifty five.

Speaker 4 (46:36):
There's a discrepancy there.

Speaker 3 (46:37):
Here's Brandon on third down and goal, fighting for the
goal line, and it looks like he was stopped inches short.

Speaker 4 (46:45):
Did another helmet come off another We're up to about
five or six. We're gonna get a counter here, helmet counter.
I think we're up to five or six on uh
lost helmets. But this ball right at the goal line,
probably about a half a yard off and.

Speaker 3 (46:58):
They're gonna go quickly. Fourth down, a goal from the one.
Grimsley a big snap right here, seven to seven ballgame.

Speaker 5 (47:08):
I feel like this is for Brandon.

Speaker 4 (47:09):
Right Brandon gives to Michael Williams.

Speaker 3 (47:11):
Williams dives into the end zone, touchdown, Grimsley whorlies and
the squad from Greensboro retakes the lead thirteen to seven.

Speaker 4 (47:21):
That's a really really good drive, you know, aided by
that penalty on that fourth down conversion that went against
West Charlotte. And the running game right now for Grimsley
hasn't been explosive, but it's been really efficient, and they're
putting a lot in the in the hands of phase
on Brandon, Do I give it?

Speaker 5 (47:36):
Do I take it?

Speaker 4 (47:37):
And nice run there by Michael Williams to pound it
in from about a half yard in, but again penalties
again for West Charlotte. They've had a bunch. They had
him on offense, two on that or three on that drive.
Excuse me, and kind of bailing them out a little bit.

Speaker 3 (47:50):
Chase Hull Mantle on for the extra point, splits the uprights.

Speaker 4 (47:54):
It's good.

Speaker 3 (47:55):
Fourteen to seven. Grimsley retakes the lead with nine thirty
eight left to go into second quarter. It's the Keep
Pounding Classic on Sports Radio ninety two seven WFNZ.

Speaker 2 (48:05):
You're listening to the Keep Pounding High School Classic on
Sports Radio ninety two point seventyfn Z.

Speaker 3 (48:17):
Micah Williams, the running back for Grimsley, putting the exclamation
point on a fourteen play sixty seven yard touchdown drive,
the second scoring drive of the night for the Grimsley
Wirlies and the visitors are back on top here at
Bank of America Stadium with nine thirty eight left to
go in the first half. I'm Kyle Bailey alongside Carolina

(48:37):
Panthers long snapper JJ Jansen, bringing you the action of
the Keep Pounding High School Classic here on wfn Z,
and this second game, West Charlotte and Grimsley, a couple
of defending state champions preseason rank number one in seven
A and eight A respectively.

Speaker 4 (48:53):
Well, it's living up to the billing.

Speaker 3 (48:54):
There's a high, short kickoff from Grimsley fielded by number
twenty three just Seer Gray, not much of a return,
and the Lions will get the football back at their
own twenty nine yard.

Speaker 5 (49:05):
Lock, cool kick there by Chase Hull Mantil trying to
drop it.

Speaker 4 (49:07):
It almost becomes like an extended on side kick that
Grimsley almost gets. But going back to that last drive,
fourteen play drive the one before at nine, Grimsly with
that big offensive line, that's twenty three plays in the
last two drives, and if there through was this fifteen
minutes now of the game, you'd like to think that
this is everything that they wanted. They want to lean

(49:28):
on West Charlotte with their big, big offensive line and
kind of grind down this athletic group for the Lions.

Speaker 3 (49:35):
So Jamuri Nicholson Company get the football back first and
ten on their own twenty nine. Moving left to right
on your radio dial, ball on the far side, hash left, hash,
depending upon your perspective.

Speaker 4 (49:48):
On first down.

Speaker 3 (49:51):
It's a handoff left side to number twenty two Emery McClain.

Speaker 4 (49:56):
West Charlotte matched the first touchdown drive from Grim's Let's
see if they can do it again here, and they
did a little bit differently a little They're looking for
explosives all around the field. The inside run game not
quite as explosive getting the ball to the outside as
we see a wide receiver screen here.

Speaker 3 (50:11):
Down at the bottom, Dante Nicholson makes the grab, tries
to run after the catch, but he is caught and
brought down by number twenty Ramier Harris Dupree. Harris Dupree,
one of those players that head coach Darryl Brown told
us to look out for tonight, has multiple offers at

(50:32):
the collegiate level. Like many of the players out there tonight,
still mulling his decision, but very active, very physical player.
Ball now on the near side hash second third down
and two coming after a gain of five. Nichols taking

(50:56):
his time at the line of scrimmage and flag flies in.

Speaker 4 (50:59):
What'd you see? JJ, looks like we had a little twitching,
probably a probably gonna get us our false start here?
Sure are so? What show it's done? Something interesting here?
Multiple times. They have sort of sped up, got to
the Lion of scrimmage with plenty of time on the
play clock, and then it almost looks like they're standing
around and it looks like Sam Grinder is sort of
calling it from the sideline, and so there's been a

(51:21):
little bit of communication that's just a little slower to
get in. It's probably part of the way that they
want to do some audibling where the coaches can get
a feel for, Hey, where are these guys lined up
and what can we attack.

Speaker 5 (51:35):
Now?

Speaker 3 (51:35):
Third down and seven from the thirty two, Nickels hands
off to Gray. Gray stretching it left side around the corner,
ball comes loose at the end.

Speaker 4 (51:44):
And Grimsly thinks they have it.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
Do they had Gray held on to the football, that
would have been a Lion's first down, but the ball
came out as Gray was going down and it's Grimsley football.

Speaker 5 (51:57):
They had the first down. That was on third and seven.

Speaker 4 (52:00):
You don't typically see run, but you get a lighter
box and Grace got the first down. As we're seeing
this replay and as he's going to the ground, it's
the most dangerous time as you're going to the ground
guys are punching from behind and big play looks like
Patrick Carter kind of got the one punch on the
left hand of Gray knocks the ball out and there's

(52:23):
our first turnover of the game.

Speaker 5 (52:24):
And Grimsley has got all the momentum.

Speaker 3 (52:26):
Now Tristan Wardlaw, the sophomore defensive lineman, coming up with
the football and now Grimsley up fourteen to seven, having
just scored minutes ago. They have the ball in plus territory.
They give us to Michael Williams on first down. Williams
back to the original line of scrimmage, takes a big
shot from number one Michael Griffin, who lost his helmet

(52:48):
again and Davon Jones, what is going on with Michael
Griffin's helmets?

Speaker 4 (52:52):
I will add it to the list. He's been the
offender of about three or four of these. And big
play in the game was on that goal line play
for the touchdown. Michael Griffin's helmet came off, comes off again.
He wasn't even on the field. This is two or
three times. They've got to get this squared away or
their best player on defense isn't gonna be on the field.

Speaker 3 (53:13):
Just a one yard gain for Micah Williams that time
had to work for it too. Second down and nine
from the thirty nine yard line of West Charlotte, here's
Grimsley Faison Brandon going up top, has a man trying
to drop it in between three defenders and a pretty
good throw, but Cayenne Battle couldn't get there, falls incomplete.

Speaker 4 (53:31):
Nice little throw. It's kind of like a slot fade.
So he's this number two receiver to the right side
of the formation and on the outside Hudson Cooper stops
at about five yards and then he's got all that
sideline Battle does to work to the open side, but
good tight coverage from the slot defender Michael Walker. And
third down, this is a big third down, probably four

(53:52):
down territory fourteen to seven. Grimsley on top with the football.

Speaker 3 (53:56):
Third and nine from the thirty nine of West Charlotte,
Brandon stops and checks his sideline play clock at eight.

Speaker 5 (54:05):
Now.

Speaker 3 (54:05):
He shifts Ty Shoemake to his left side from the gun.
Brandon takes the snap, gives the Shoemaker inside handoff, and
he is punished in the backfield by a couple of
West Lyon defenders. Number fifty four Jason Shaw with a
big hit there at the end.

Speaker 4 (54:22):
Nice play there again, it's another counterplay, very common that
we've seen from Grimsley, and Shaw gets in there and
turns what would have probably been four down territory into
a punt and that's the stop that they needed after the.

Speaker 3 (54:33):
Turnover, Shaw actually wrapping up Shoemake there. It was number
eleven Jameil Watson coming in to finish him off. And
now Chase Hull Mantle will come out to punt the
football on fourth and twelve for the Whorlies. Big stop
by the West Charlotte defense. Hugh Mantle, bit of a misfire,

(54:53):
punts it out of bounds. We'll see where the near
side judge ultimately decides this football should go. The twelve
you guard line is where West Charlotte will take over.
After what could have been a disastrous turnover and a
fumble by just Seer Gray, the West Lion West Charlotte
Lions defense bows its neck and gets the football back
to its offense.

Speaker 4 (55:15):
And that's what you're asking your defense to do. Hey
a sudden change situation. So West Charlotte gives up the
ball on offense and immediately a bang three and out
get the ball right back and it kind of null
avoids that turnover so big hold there by the West
Charlotte defense and their defensive coordinator, Robert Williams, who's also
the associate head coaches, giving a lot of high fives

(55:35):
on that sideline, said hey, look that's what we needed
you to do. Let's get the ball back to our offense.
Sudden change, no points and now the offense gets to
take over and and that's a big play in this game.
We'll come back to that moment if West Charlotte makes
a run here at the end of the first half
and go.

Speaker 5 (55:52):
That was a turning point in the second quarter.

Speaker 3 (55:54):
Chris Coleman the offensive coordinator at West Charlotte. We'll see
what he's got in store now for the Grimsley defense.
Chris Coleman is a Crest High School in lumb just
west of here out in Cleveland County, played at in
c State And fun fact, Chris Coleman is the only
player in NFL history to block two punts in a
playoff game. Did it for the Tennessee Titans against the

(56:17):
Baltimore Ravens.

Speaker 5 (56:18):
How about that and they still lost?

Speaker 4 (56:19):
They still lost the game, which every special team's coach
in America, whether you are a high school college of the NFL,
said hey, you block a punt, you win the game.
Eighty five ninety percent of the time. They did too.
They should have won one hundred and eighty percent of
those games and they were over So, uh yeah, that
was in the If I remember correctly, and I'm kind
of going off the top of my head here, I

(56:40):
think that was in the Baltimore Ravens defense of heyday.
The Titans may not have even scored even though they've
blocked two punts, So Ray Lewis probably had something to
say about that. Feels like a completely different era of football. Sit,
doesn't it?

Speaker 5 (56:52):
Absolutely it does.

Speaker 3 (56:54):
Jamuri Nichols Amory McClain in the backfield hre Keem Finch
in motion for while receivers three to the far side.
Nichols fakes the handoff, standing in the pocket surveying, has
time now, decide to tucket and run, shimmy's and shakes
at the ten yard line and battles his way out
to the sixteen. That'll be a pickup of four for

(57:15):
Jamori Nichols.

Speaker 4 (57:16):
Really good coverage everybody Grimsley landon Gilmore was trying to
come open all the way across the field and just
happened that on that play they dropped eight and coverage
all over the field. So nice job by Nichols turning
in there was nobody open. Would have ended up being
a coverage sack. Runs for four or five and sets
up second and manageable though given five on the run.

Speaker 3 (57:37):
So it's second down and five from the seventeen yard line.

Speaker 4 (57:40):
Here's the give to McLean.

Speaker 3 (57:41):
McLean hard running out across the twenty yard line, right
at the sticks the twenty two. I believe that will
be a West Charlotte first down. The Lions needed five
and Emory McClain went out and got it for them.

Speaker 4 (57:54):
Lost another helmet as well.

Speaker 5 (57:56):
That's what we're up to. Nine.

Speaker 3 (57:58):
I don't know what's gont want to be a broke record,
but I would love to. I've never seen this many
helmets come off in a football.

Speaker 4 (58:03):
Game, and one of the questions always is, well, okay,
why are you guys bringing this up? Like these guys
have to come out for at least one play until
it gets fixed. They can't go back in. You're losing
guys for equipment problems. And when when it's your best
player like Mitt Michael Griffin at linebacker on defense.

Speaker 5 (58:18):
That's a huge issue.

Speaker 3 (58:20):
First down and ten from the West Charlotte twenty two
Nickel Servang has time. It likes to run it himself
and run out of bounds at the twenty two yard line.
Let's pause ten seconds for station identification.

Speaker 2 (58:34):
You're listening johns Yawn c FM, Harrisburg he w l
n ahd Lee Charlotte loan that Charlotte's choice.

Speaker 3 (58:45):
Back here at Bank of America Stadium to keep pounding.
High School Classic Game number two, fourteen to seven. Grimsley
Worthies out of Greensboro leading the West Charlotte Lions with
four point fifty left to play here in the second quarter.
It's been action packed, a lot of hard hitting, plenty
of offense too, and West Charlotte looking for a game

(59:05):
tying drive here if they can find one. Nichols quick
hitter over the middle caught by Dante Nicholson. Nicholson across
the thirty five out to the thirty seven and a
first down to pick up of fifteen yards.

Speaker 4 (59:17):
When we talked to Sam Grinder and he said Nichols
has got elite ball handling skills, and this is great example.
It's a really quick play action and then almost like
a short stop making an inside turn at second base.
It's sort of a wrong foot throw and hits a
quick slant there to Nicholson. As we get a run
here from West Charlotte and Emery McLain.

Speaker 3 (59:40):
Not much doing for McClain there on first down. Worth
noting here, Dante Nicholson to Charlotte forty nine ers commit
already up to seventy two yards receiving in this game,
has a seven yard touchdown catch, a forty five yarder
to set up that touchdown reception, but seventy two yards total,
averaging eighteen yards a catch so far here this evening.

Speaker 4 (01:00:04):
And Nichols has certainly been very comfortable throwing the ball
to Nicholson. It's kind of been his first rate on
most of his throws tonight.

Speaker 5 (01:00:12):
Clearly have made quite the connection.

Speaker 3 (01:00:14):
Second down and nine, little play action from Nichols, who's
going across the middle, complete out to midfield across the
fifty yard line, catch made by King Kobel the third
who stands up and gives a triumphant first down side.

Speaker 5 (01:00:29):
Another good throw.

Speaker 4 (01:00:30):
These are all coming off a play action fakes, and
what those are designed to do is bring the linebacker
in and then King Kobel kind of comes in behind
the linebackers who have been pressed up reading run. Then
you're able to throw in behind with a little bit
more space and a nice throwing catch there for a
first down.

Speaker 5 (01:00:49):
Those business.

Speaker 3 (01:00:52):
Twelve yard completion from Nichols to Cobyl first down and
ten at the fifty yard line, orre Keem Finch goes
from the slot back into.

Speaker 4 (01:01:04):
Motion across the formation.

Speaker 3 (01:01:05):
Nichols has to get rid of it quickly and does
catch made by Landon Gilmore cutting inside, picks up about
four yards on first down.

Speaker 4 (01:01:14):
Think you almost lost that ball, Patrick Carter, the senior
kind of there they call the star linebacker, the star
being a position. Knock that ball out and it almost
came out for a second fumble around midfield, but Landon
Gilmore was able to hang on to as he was
going down really close.

Speaker 3 (01:01:36):
By my counts, Jimuri Nichols a perfect seven for seven
to start this game passing.

Speaker 4 (01:01:42):
Did you just do the announcers curse possibly at.

Speaker 3 (01:01:45):
Nichols though not risking it there on second down handoff,
it's a number twenty three just sear Gray and he's
upended for a loss of two yards.

Speaker 4 (01:01:56):
I've been really impressed just kind of with you know,
Coach Grinder talked about the ball handling skills of Nickels.
When you can have a quarterback that can throw from
multiple arm angles, off the left foot, off the right foot,
you've got some variability. It really creates opportunities to deceive
the defense, more specifically the linebackers. Where is the ball?
We've seen it on some of these quick slants and screens.

Speaker 3 (01:02:18):
Third down and nine from the forty nine of Grimsley
West Charlotte looking to keep the drive alive, but a
whistle and a timeout taken by head coach Darryl Brown
on the Grimsley sideline. It's a big play right here.
Of course, you want to avoid giving up a third
down and long conversion. But with one minute, thirty one

(01:02:39):
seconds left to play and Grimsley still having one more
time out, if you're Darryl Brown, you want a game
plan in here because you'd love to get the ball
back up a touchdown with the opportunity to possibly go
into the locker room with a two touchdown lead.

Speaker 4 (01:02:53):
Yeah, so you're in two down territory or four down territory.
If you're West Charlotte here you're round midfield nine. But
if you're Grimsley, if you can get a stop here,
make this fourth and nine, maybe a sack incompletion, whatever,
you're gonna get the ball back with plenty of time
to get down the field if you want to. So
West Charlotte's gotta be very careful here, even if they

(01:03:13):
get four or five six yards. If I'm West Charlotte,
I'm letting this clock run down because West Charlotte is
not gonna have any time problems scoring with the time
and timeout they have remaining.

Speaker 5 (01:03:26):
Grimsley could.

Speaker 4 (01:03:27):
So it'll be interesting with each team having one time
out left. If there's anything kind of short of the
sticks here, how do these two teams manage the timeout situation.

Speaker 3 (01:03:42):
Sports Radio ninety two to seven wfn Z proud to
bring you to keep pounding classic here this evening, the
ultimate Friday Night Lights experience here in Uptown Charlotte.

Speaker 4 (01:03:51):
We appreciate you being with us.

Speaker 3 (01:03:53):
Third and nine, Nichols takes the snap hit from behind,
ball's loose, Grimsly's on it, and the second fumble turnover
of the quarter for the West Charlotte offense in that time.
Jamuriy Nichols never saw the defender coming from his blind side.

Speaker 5 (01:04:10):
And Jayden Warlock he just wins.

Speaker 4 (01:04:12):
It's a one on one matchup with Ian Smith the
left guard and swipes the hands comes around and then
as you're going for a sack, if you're a defensive lineman,
you're always looking for the pocket, that area above the
right shoulder for a right handed quarterback where the throw
is initiating from.

Speaker 5 (01:04:29):
And he swipes down right through the pocket, strips the ball.

Speaker 4 (01:04:32):
Very clear fumble, no doubt in my mind that his
arm wasn't even close to coming forward.

Speaker 5 (01:04:37):
And Grimsly's got everything they want.

Speaker 4 (01:04:39):
That's the second turnover round midfield. They got a timeout
and a minute twenty two left in the first half.

Speaker 3 (01:04:45):
Nightmare scenario for the West Charlotte Lions here trailing by
a touchdown. It's fourteen to seven Grimsley and with one
minute twenty two seconds to go, the Worlies have the
football back on the fifty yard line and it's a
handoff on first down going nowhere goes to two. Micah Williams,
who has had a tough time finding running lanes here
in the first half.

Speaker 5 (01:05:04):
I don't really like that play call.

Speaker 4 (01:05:05):
You got the number one player in the country and
you're handing the ball off with a minute left in
one timeout. Feels like there's not enough urgency, almost as
if Grimsley is very content going in because they're not even.

Speaker 5 (01:05:17):
In a hurry up. They're running their normal offense. Right now,
clock rolls.

Speaker 3 (01:05:20):
Fifty two seconds left Faison Brandon, flushed out of the pocket,
gets across midfield, tackled at the forty eight. He's into
plus territory, but the clock keeps rolling now down to
forty seconds, third down and eight and coming up from
the forty eight yard line. You watch the replay there phasing.
Brandon had hoped, I'm sure, for more time to set

(01:05:42):
his feet and make a play down field, but it
disintegrated and they're just letting time melt off. The clock.
Here now twenty five seconds on the game clock. Three
wide receivers, two to the top of the formation, running
right to left. Brandon tucks runs, tries to escape a
defender does picks up the first down inside the forty
down to the thirty seven yard line, and the clock

(01:06:05):
it's still running.

Speaker 5 (01:06:06):
YEP.

Speaker 3 (01:06:08):
I don't think Zeryl Brown is any concern about taking
this thing into the locker room. Up fourteen to seven,
and now finally Phase and Brandon clocks to football.

Speaker 5 (01:06:17):
Yeah, that's just not good time management.

Speaker 4 (01:06:20):
So the clock briefly stops when they're resetting the chains,
but they got those things reset really fast. I think
coach Brown thought they were gonna be able to get
on the ball and spike it with about twelve seconds.
It ended up getting to three. So they're not even
gonna get to use their time out here. We'll get
one play, likely a heave to the end zone. We've
got let's see, we got Hudson Cooper on the top.

(01:06:41):
There's sort of a three man set. I'm imagining it's
going to go to the right side of this offensive formation.

Speaker 3 (01:06:46):
A lot of wasted time here at the end of
the first half, but three seconds left and Phase and
Brandon will do exactly that. Heaves it down the near side,
nowhere close to the end zone looking for Alex Cooper
sails out of bounds, and the clock hits trip zero
into the first half, fourteen to seven, Grimsley with a
touchdown advantage. They've scored a couple of touchdowns forced a

(01:07:09):
couple of turnovers.

Speaker 4 (01:07:10):
If you're West Charlotte, though.

Speaker 3 (01:07:12):
I mean, you like some of the things that you've
done out here in the first half JJ, but you
also feel very fortunate you're not down by more than
a touchdown.

Speaker 4 (01:07:18):
This should have been a lot worse. Two turnovers around
midfield and Grimsley just didn't do anything with them. So
if I'm Sam Grinder, I'm going into the halftime speech
and going, hey, look, guys, as good as the one
drive was on offense, we've got to tighten it up.

Speaker 5 (01:07:32):
We've got to protect the football.

Speaker 4 (01:07:34):
But it went about otherwise about as bad as it
could have, at least offensively, and we're now one score
so not a big deal and they're going to get
the opening kickoff here to start the second half.

Speaker 3 (01:07:43):
We'll talk more about it when we come back the
Victory Chevrolet Halftime Show just around the corner. We'll take
a look at first half stats, give you second half
thoughts and more. Right here, the Keep Pounding High School
Classic twenty twenty five edition. Grimsley Worthlies lead the West
Charlotte Lions fourteen to seven at break. This is Sports
Radio ninety two to seven WF and Z you're.

Speaker 2 (01:08:04):
Listening to the twenty twenty five Keep Pounding High School Classic.
It's kind of the ufn Z halftime Show driven by
Victory Chevrolet.

Speaker 1 (01:08:12):
Now back to the booth, Aaron, your hosts, Kyle Daily
and JJ Jamson.

Speaker 3 (01:08:23):
Half time here at Bank of America Stadium, Game two
of the Keep Pounding High School Classic presented by Belch
and the score fourteen to seven. The Grimsley Whirlies. They
had a very good first half, couple of touchdowns, couple
of turnovers forced, but still only up by seven. The
West Charlotte Lions. They moved to football, they made some
plays defensively, they were stout out there, Jj, but we

(01:08:44):
have a touchdown. Game could have gone a lot of
different directions, but the second half sets up for a
lot of fun action.

Speaker 5 (01:08:49):
I think if you're West Charlotte you feel pretty good.

Speaker 4 (01:08:51):
But coach Grinder is in the locker room saying right now, hey,
two turnovers, we can't have that, and three costly penalties
in the red zone on the second scoring drive from Grimsley.

Speaker 5 (01:09:01):
So sometimes when those plays happen, you as a coach.

Speaker 4 (01:09:03):
You are frustrated, but you're saying, hey, we've shot ourselves
in the foot a few times here, and look where
we're only on we're down, we're down one score. We're
going to get the ball to start the second half
where we're in really, really good shape. As far as
Grimsley goes, I didn't like the way that they handled
the minute thirty left in the in the second quarter.
I thought they could be more aggressive, maybe get into
field goal range. I didn't love how they handled it,

(01:09:24):
but that was really about the only thing that went
wrong for them. A couple of nice scoring drives, getting
the ball to the brothers Cooper, Alex and Hudson, a
nice screen and for a fifty three yard touchdown. And look,
they got twenty three plays in two drives there early
and it felt like they had an opportunity to kind
of lean on them. But West Charlotte didn't break in
a couple of big three and outs after the turnovers,

(01:09:47):
and so we got ourselves a really nice football game
and setting up to be an awesome second half, no
doubt about it.

Speaker 3 (01:09:52):
We'll get the official stats from our friends over in
the press box momentarily, but by my count, Faison branded
the number one quarterback prospect in the country and a
Tennessee commit with one hundred and two total yards of
offense there in the first half, including that fifty three
yard touchdown pass two to Hudson Cooper, but one two
total offense some plays left out there to five of

(01:10:14):
eight passing. I mean, I'm sure that he'd want a
couple of those back, but overall, he's got to be
happy with the way he played.

Speaker 4 (01:10:19):
Yeah, the one big place just like a wide receiver screen.
All it really is is a run play to Cooper
and the three offensive lineman come out and handle their block.
So he's been relatively quiet, has Faison Brandon, And you wonder, hey,
second half now coming up, do they let it air
out a little bit more. The defense for West Charlotte

(01:10:39):
has been really, really good. They've been able to cover
the guys deep and at the end of that two
minute drive, Brandon was looking deep a couple of times,
once to Kayan Battle, once to Alex Cooper, another time
to Hudson Cooper, and those guys weren't there.

Speaker 5 (01:10:51):
So give credit to West Charlotte.

Speaker 4 (01:10:53):
They've done a really nice job in the back end
Xavior Porter since here day, Davian Jones, they've done a
really nice job controlling the game. They can do that
in the second half. They got a really good chance
to go home victorious. They sure do.

Speaker 3 (01:11:06):
Let's take a quick look at the score sheet here
we also, I should start here. We have a phazing
Brandon officially five of nine passing for eighty two yards,
so I had the yardage right there. Michael Williams the
other touchdown for Grimsley there in the first half, had
a one yard rushing touchdown, but only three yards rushing
in the first half, three yards rushing in a touchdown

(01:11:27):
for him. On the other side, Jamuriy Nichols for the
West Charlotte Lyons six of seven passing fifty seven yards
and a touchdown of his own, that one to Dante Nicholson.
Nicholson had himself a heck of a first half out there,
had the big forty five yarders who set them up
first down and goal caught the seven yard touchdown pass
as well. On the rushing front, they had Jair Gray

(01:11:48):
with twelve yards, Emory McLain with twelve yards each with
four carries. Jamury Nichols also four carries and negative two
yards there in the first half.

Speaker 4 (01:11:57):
Yeah, Jamury Nichols, I thought he did a nice shot,
but trolling the offense. Short of the two turnovers, there
were some good drives in there, and we talked about
this in the lead up. He's got really good ball
handling skills. Coach Grinder's coming from a wing t kind
of a deception offense where there's a lot of traps
and counters and pullers, and if you can have a
quarterback in the back end that can handle the ball,

(01:12:18):
there's a few good plays there. But there hasn't been
a lot of room inside the tackle box, and both defenses,
especially the front four on both sides of have shut
down all the inside running right now, and so now
it's probably time in the second half to let these
quarterbacks kind of take off and really kind of show
what they've got because I think most of the space

(01:12:39):
and the second half is going to be on the outside.

Speaker 3 (01:12:40):
Absolutely, let's take it. Let's give the defenders a little
love here as well. On the West Charlotte side, Michael
Griffin has ten tackles in the first half, seven solo,
three assisted, with ten total tackles. I believe his helmets
come off nearly that many times as well. But as
we mentioned, Sam Grinder told us a couple of days ago.
This is the best linebacker I've ever seen in my life.

(01:13:02):
His speed is incredible. He has offers from Notre Dame,
Florida State, so many others, but ten first half tackles
from Michael Griffin speaks for itself.

Speaker 5 (01:13:10):
I'd personally encourage.

Speaker 4 (01:13:11):
Him to go to Notre Dame immediately, So I got
no problem with That's all all makes it. If he
ends up with twenty tackles, I think he kind of
becomes the Whataburger player of the game, especially if they win.

Speaker 5 (01:13:21):
I may go down to present it and try to
get him a Notre.

Speaker 4 (01:13:23):
Dame letter of commitment right there on the field, so
that'd be good for the broadcast. But he's played really well.
And again West Charlotte Lyons have played well. Grimsley's moved
the ball, but it hasn't been explosive, and I think
that serves West Charlotte well here in the second half.
Sure does.

Speaker 3 (01:13:40):
And since JJ mentioned it the What a Burger player
of the game, it's a real thing. Fans the Carolina
Panthers are excited to welcome Whataburger as a partner in
tonight's game. JJ and I will be selecting the What
a Burger Player of the Game, who will be recognized
on the field at the conclusion of tonight's game. In
addition to receiving the Whataburger Player of the Game trophy,
win will receive free Whataburger for a year. That's an

(01:14:03):
awesome deal if you ask both of us and shout
out to Ethan Royal Huff Husky's quarterback, who received that
honor in the after the first game here today.

Speaker 4 (01:14:11):
I watched his reaction. He really liked the trophy. He
loved the Whataburger. Yeah, if you're a high school kid,
you're going to college like fast food. Free fast food.
He will have so many I'm sure as a starting
quarterback int Huff High School.

Speaker 5 (01:14:27):
I'm sure he's got plenty of friends.

Speaker 4 (01:14:29):
But you will have a lot more friends when you
can take your buddies to Waterburger get whatever they want.
And I'm sure he'll be making new friends along the
way as he pulls up.

Speaker 5 (01:14:38):
There you go. Awesome, all right?

Speaker 3 (01:14:40):
We got marching bands on the field here at halftime,
just a couple of minutes remaining. We're still waiting on
each team to retake the field and get warmed up
for the second half. Though I look down there right now.
West Charlotte quarterback Jamory Nichols the first one out on
the West Charlotte side while the band plays. He's down
there getting some throws in and getting warmed up for
the second half. Fourteen to seven. Faison Brandon and the

(01:15:02):
visiting Grimsley Worlies, with a touchdown advantage in the second half,
is just minutes away. Right here on Sports Radio ninety
two to seven WFNZ, you are listening to.

Speaker 2 (01:15:12):
The Keep Pounding High School Classic on Sports Radio ninety
two point seventyn Z.

Speaker 3 (01:15:26):
What inn atmosphere here at Bank of America Stadium. The
lights are flickering, the crowd, which is estimated to be
somewhere around eight to ten thousand, They've got their cell
phones out. As the stadium goes dark, we got music blaring,
and both teams out on the field for the second
half of action. Fourteen to seven. Grimsley's made the trip
down from Greensboro. They played a heck of a first half,

(01:15:48):
a touchdown advantage for them, but the West Charlotte Lyons
not easily beaten, and this is their backyard. We'll see
what Sam Grinder and company have in store here. On
the second half. Kyle Bailey, JJ Jansen with you Sports
Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ. We appreciate you being
with us wherever you are out there, but if you're
in the house tonight, you are experiencing some of the
most fun high school football.

Speaker 4 (01:16:09):
That you will ever see. This is an unbelievable atmosphere.
Lights are out, M and M's playing right after Queen
Like whoever? This is Mike Tolbert on the ox before
games in twenty fifteen. The music going from one genre
to the next and again and under the lights here
right now, there's no lights on the field because it's
all part of the vibe.

Speaker 5 (01:16:30):
And what a cool experience.

Speaker 4 (01:16:32):
Again, we were just saying, as we're coming in, these
kids are gonna get every other high school football game
they ever playing. Is like Pee Wee's six year old football,
because this experience is one of one, and in high
school football in the Carolinas, it absolutely is.

Speaker 5 (01:16:46):
So.

Speaker 3 (01:16:46):
Again, we got about a minute left to go before
second half kickoff, and this one should be just as
good in the second half as it was in the
first half.

Speaker 4 (01:16:54):
These two teams came out swinging a JJ.

Speaker 3 (01:16:56):
I think you were right in the first game here
in this doubleheader, it kind of felt like Huff and
South Point they were the first action of the season.
A lot of feeling each other out, but these two
teams had the opportunity to kind of take it in
and there was no you know, himing and hauling. They
came out ready to hit, ready to play, ready to
fight at the very beginning of this game.

Speaker 4 (01:17:15):
This game's been fast, it's been physical. The offenses feel
like they're comfortable. I always think the defense is ahead
of the offense early in the year because they're reacting,
the offense is trying to be coordinated.

Speaker 5 (01:17:25):
Everything's looked really good.

Speaker 4 (01:17:26):
You know, the two biggest plays in the first half,
each team had a wide receiver screen that hit perfectly,
so the timing and spacing really worked out. These guys
have done a really, really nice job handling this environment,
in this atmosphere. And as the second half sets up,
I think it's gonna be the quarterbacks. Now everyone's kind
of gotten all their plays in. Now we kind of

(01:17:46):
know how how the game's gonna go, and now we're
sort of expecting Brandon and Nicols to you know, take
over the show here and whichever quarterback plays the best
in the second second half is gonna win this game
because these two teams are very evenly matched across the
rest of the rosters.

Speaker 3 (01:18:03):
Interestingly, on the West Charlotte side, as we mentioned, Katie
Cotton did not suit up tonight, the Duke commit. We
were looking forward to seeing him out there tonight. We
won't be able to. He's not playing in this game
for reasons that are still unclear to us. Maybe that
becomes a parent after the game. We'll find out. Rakeem Finch,
the Air Force commit, the tight end slash h back.
Thought maybe we'd see some more of him there in

(01:18:24):
the first half given his versatility offensively, but I do
wonder in the second half they look to get him
involved just a little bit more.

Speaker 4 (01:18:30):
Yeah, you know, Coach Grinder said, Hey, this is kind
of a unique kid. He's an Air Force commit. He's
he's really diligent, he's really versatile. They kind of play
him at tight end, but he's he's sort of split out.
He's an athlete on the field, he's an X factor.
Like to see him get a little bit more involved. Nicholson,
as we've talked about, has kind of been the number
one target and and and look, Nichols can get the

(01:18:52):
ball to all parts of the field because his ball
handling is so good. Landon Gilmore's got a bunch of
the throws and we saw King Koble with one nice
in the second quarter, So a lot of places to
go with the football. But yeah, I'd like to see
rakeem Finch get a few more touches here in the
second half because he's a unique talent on the field
his size and speed.

Speaker 3 (01:19:12):
The air Force commit, so Grimsley's offense will head back
out onto the field, or rather they're kicking unit. Pardon me,
Chase hill Mantle will tee up the football at the
forty yard line to kick back to West Charlotte, but
really quickly on the Grimsley side. Fase On Brandon, the
number one quarterback prospect in the country, committed to Tennessee

(01:19:34):
back in August of last year.

Speaker 4 (01:19:36):
His mother, ROLANDA.

Speaker 3 (01:19:37):
Brandon, filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court on
his behalf. You might recall there was an announcement the
State of North Carolina said there will be no nil
deals for public school athletes in the state of North Carolina. Well,
the branded family challenged that in court ultimately won and
now faise On Brandon has an NIL deal reportedly north

(01:19:59):
of a million dollars, so I'm say one point two million,
but not only a top quarterback prospect, but a trailblazer
now in the state of North Carolina. Filing that suit
challenging the State of North Carolina and Awake County. Judge
ruled in favor of Brandon, enabling public high school athletes
in North Carolina to begin monetizing their NIL rights effective

(01:20:20):
as early as this school year in twenty twenty five
twenty six. Now West Charlotte will take the field for
the first time here in the second half. We check
the numbers again there during the break. Officially Jamuri Nichols
seven of eight passing in the first half for one
hundred yards and a touchdown to Dante Nicholson, who leads
all receivers with four catches seventy four yards. On the

(01:20:44):
evening first and ten for West Charlotte, moving right to
left balls on their own thirty five yard line, It's
a handoff on first down to just see her gray
and gray with a nice pickup on first down and
another lost helmet.

Speaker 4 (01:20:57):
Number fifty nine.

Speaker 3 (01:20:58):
A team rose the tackle, loses his bonnet and will
have to step off the field for a play.

Speaker 4 (01:21:04):
I didn't know if it was fifty nine the player
or a fifty ninth helmet that's been off today, because
we had that a little bit in the first game.
West shot it off to a good start there, and
I like that. That's an outside run. I think that's
where the space is here.

Speaker 3 (01:21:18):
And jamury Nichols quickly on second down, this time going
far side to the top of the formation, flicks it
out to the flat call it. Catch is made, pardon me,
and a first down for the Lions, number three land
in Gilmour making the catch.

Speaker 4 (01:21:34):
Nice job, good pursuit there from the inside, number twelve
Andrew Rogers coming in to kind of clean up the
tackle there on the outside.

Speaker 5 (01:21:43):
And good start here. Two plays in our first down
for West.

Speaker 3 (01:21:47):
Charlotte, seven yard pickup for Gilmore from Jamury Nichols. Second
catch of the night for Gilmore first and ten from
the forty five.

Speaker 4 (01:21:59):
Nickel with a pitch.

Speaker 3 (01:22:03):
Back to Gilmour his second consecutive touch, but he is
cut down back at the forty yard line.

Speaker 4 (01:22:08):
That's kind of one of the flaws of the wing
t offense. We get a little orbit motion behind the quarterback,
and so when Landon Gilmore gets the ball, he's nine
yards behind the line of scrimmage and just great pursuit
angles Number twenty Ramiir Harris Dupre kind of finishes the
tackle off, but not a lot of downfield pursuit there
from West Charlotte and a big loss there on first down,

(01:22:31):
setting up a second and long from their own.

Speaker 3 (01:22:33):
Forty one loss of five second down in fifteen. Here's
nickel shotgun snap rolling right, has some options, drops it
off underneath positive yardage for the Lions offense right there.
Catch made by number eight Rakeem Finch, So there's a
there's a look there at Finch there getting a little again.

Speaker 4 (01:22:55):
This is sort of a combination. It's kind of a
levels route. You got guys on the in the shallow,
oh mid and deep. Grimsley backs off in a second
and long situation, not gonna give up anything deep and
Finch was kind of open for an eight yard game,
setting up a third manage well and again another four
down territory around midfield here for West Charlotte.

Speaker 3 (01:23:15):
Third and seven from the forty nine West Charlotte looking
to cross midfield and again Nichols gets rid of it quickly,
this time out to number fourteen Davon Jones on the
far sideline, and he is pushed out of bounds at
the forty six. Like that play call just get yourself
into fourth and short there, so quick throw.

Speaker 4 (01:23:33):
He didn't even have the laces as he caught it.
Ball comes out quickly in Davian Jones runs out six yard, stops,
turns around, setting up a fourth and short, and.

Speaker 3 (01:23:45):
It's a handoff on fourth downed two. This one's gonna
be close. Grimsley thinks they made the stop if the
far side judges any indication, though it looks like West
Charlotte got the first down, although he's inched back more
toward the forty five yard lines, so.

Speaker 4 (01:24:00):
I don't want to speak too soon here. It's kind
of a cool play there. It was almost like a
wildcat formation. Nichols looked like the quarterback, and when the
ball was snapped, Emery McLain jumped in front. I don't
know if what the deception is there, but it becomes
like a wildcat play and then Nichol sticks the ball
across the line and the far side line judge gave
him the advancement. I don't actually when he pulls that

(01:24:21):
ball back, I don't think he gets to keep his
forward progress. But it fooled the judge on the top
side of the screen.

Speaker 3 (01:24:27):
First and ten from the forty four West Charlotte, now
in enemy territory. It's a first down handoff right up
the middle and a gain of two.

Speaker 4 (01:24:38):
Looked like Emory McLain with another carry right there.

Speaker 3 (01:24:42):
Indeed it was, and the one two tandem of Emery
McClain and just see her Gray. They've been busy tonight.
Out of the West Charlotte backfield. Someone lost his shoe.
Second down and eight Nichols quick hit or flips it

(01:25:04):
out to the far side catch made by number two
Dante Nicholson. Nicholson dragged down at the forty yard line
after a gain of two more.

Speaker 4 (01:25:14):
I'm still trying to figure out there a shoe was
thrown off on the sideline one of the other there
it is, okay, I found him. Cheese played that whole
play without a shoe. He chucked it out to the
white hat who then threw it across the field, and
there was an equipment manager on the field during that play.
Cheese didn't want to come out of the We got
guys that have to come out because of helmets and

(01:25:34):
cheese without a shoe. Played that entire last run play,
all right? How about that eight.

Speaker 3 (01:25:40):
Forty six left to go here in the third quarter,
fourteen to seven, Grimsley with the lead, but West Charlotte
driving third and six from the forty Nickels stretching it out,
dumps it off to Rakeem. Finch makes the catch at
the thirty three yard line. That's good for a West
Charlotte first down.

Speaker 4 (01:25:56):
Just to reverse with the last ball that went to
Finch before it was going towards the Grimsly sidelines. The
levels concept. Finch's got the low route about seven or
eight yards down the field, landing Gilmore has the medium
round at fifteen yards, and it's just putting these defensive
backs in high low situations. So far they've backed off Grimsley.

(01:26:16):
At some point, you're hoping Grimsley bites on the underneath
threat and you can find something over the.

Speaker 3 (01:26:20):
Top for King Finch up to three catches here tonight,
twenty six yards receiving first and ten from the thirty
four near side hash It's a handoff up the middle
that time it's just Seir Gray who gets nothing. Second
down and ten on the way. Jamuri Nichols up to
one hundred and thirty yards passing. He's eleven of twelve

(01:26:46):
on the night. A lot of short stuff here to
begin the second half, but still eleven of twelve passing.
You'll take that as a head coach. Jamuriy Nichols twelve
of thirteen in the state championship win.

Speaker 4 (01:26:56):
Last year, and they're not asking him to do a
whole lot except spread the ball around, take good care
of the ball, be really good and decisive it. There's
a lot We lost another helmet on an inside run there,
but there's a lot of ball handling in this wing
te style offense.

Speaker 5 (01:27:12):
So is it pull? Do I keep? Am I pulling it?

Speaker 4 (01:27:15):
Where's the throw going? And that's what they're asking their
quarterback to do. They're not asking Nichols to drop back
and throw it fifty yards down the field. It's get
the ball to different parts of the field quickly to
let the playmakers make a play.

Speaker 5 (01:27:27):
Setting up this third and four.

Speaker 3 (01:27:28):
Emory McLain the latest footballer to lose a helmet. He's
off for a play, just Seer Gray back on play
action to Gray and Nichols whips one to the near sideline.
Number two Dante Nicholson has to go up and get it.
I believe they've deemed him in complete though feet out
of bounds.

Speaker 4 (01:27:45):
Oh, actually they're calling it complete. I take that back.
Those give five yard line.

Speaker 5 (01:27:48):
They'll give it to him.

Speaker 4 (01:27:49):
So fourth and fourth and short, and that feels like
that route doesn't make sense for that situation. So it's
third and fourth's It's basically a one yard what we
call like an Omaha route, a quick out.

Speaker 3 (01:28:01):
Two yard completion, fourth down and two from the twenty
five West Charlotte trailing by a touchdown, trying to keep
the drive alive, knocking on the door, but a time
out called by Sam Grinder. Grinder did not like what
he saw out there, and with seven to twenty five
left to go here in the third quarter, he burns
a time out, still two left in his pocket here

(01:28:22):
the rest of the way. Kyle Bailey JJ Jansen to
keep pounding Classic on Sports Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ.
We've been treated to a couple of very fun football
games here today, huff holding on to beat South.

Speaker 4 (01:28:34):
Point fourteen to ten.

Speaker 3 (01:28:36):
In the early game, a go ahead touchdown run by
Ethan Royle, the Husky quarterback. He had two of those
today and Huff picked up a big win. And here
tonight some fireworks early offensively, but I think both defenses
have settled into this game.

Speaker 4 (01:28:49):
The defenses have settled in and there Other than the
one screen pass that went to Hudson Cooper, there hasn't
been a lot of big plays in today's game. It's
been efficient offenses three and four yards, keeping the chains
moving in a couple big fourth down conversions. The biggest
one of the game was in the second quarter grimsly
converted on a defensive penalty the low crackback by the

(01:29:12):
West Charlotte defense. These fourth down conversions in a game
where no one's really getting explosive plays, becomes more and
more important. But it puts a lot of pressure on
your offense when you're constantly having to convert third and
fourth downs. I think the team that's able to find
one or two explosives from here on out, it's got
a good chance to win. It's hard snapping the ball

(01:29:33):
over and over and over again.

Speaker 5 (01:29:35):
No one you're only getting three or four yards to carry.

Speaker 3 (01:29:37):
So Sam Grinder's offense coming out of the time out
here and I did ask you during halftime, but they
find a way to get Rakeem Finch more involved offensively.
He already has two catches on this drive.

Speaker 4 (01:29:49):
Some of the coaching staff clearly listening to our broadcast,
and we appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (01:29:53):
Yeah, fifteen yards receiving on this drive.

Speaker 4 (01:29:56):
Might they look for more?

Speaker 3 (01:29:57):
Just here Gray in motion direct snap to Imray McClain
and mcclan driving across the twenty yard line down to
the seventeen first down West Charlotte, and I feel bad
even saying it again. Two more helmets have been lost.

Speaker 5 (01:30:14):
Very very cool play here.

Speaker 4 (01:30:16):
So what you end up getting is almost what looks
like a speed option, but it's actually snapped and caught
by the running back going in the other direction. So
as we talked to the same grind and goes hey,
I like to deal in misdirection. And that was a
really big play And why they use the timeout going
into that fourth down play.

Speaker 3 (01:30:34):
West Charlotte up to fifty nine yards rushing. Now here's
a screen pass. Paul comes loose at the end of
the play that's being deemed to fumble and Grimsly is
on it. That's the third turnover of the night for
the West Charlotte offense, and what seemed to be a
promising drive ends again in disaster for dub c.

Speaker 4 (01:31:00):
Cassi Barnes recovered it and then get a good angle.
It looks like it's out. But even though we're in
an NFL stadium, we are not gonna get the automatic replay.

Speaker 5 (01:31:11):
Wow, I think he's down.

Speaker 4 (01:31:13):
Rakeem Finch, I believe. I think you're right about that.

Speaker 3 (01:31:15):
If you watch the replay again, I absolutely believe he
was down and I mentioned him a second ago. Would
they look to get Rakeem Finch more involved?

Speaker 4 (01:31:25):
They have?

Speaker 3 (01:31:25):
They did again, but after a catch there, it looked
like the knee was down, but the ball came out
and the officials have deemed it a fumble and they
turnover and FaZe on. Brandon and the Worlies take over
first and ten at their own five yard line, up
fourteen to seven. Brandon hands off on first down to
Michael Williams. Williams with a little bit of space into

(01:31:48):
the second level out across the ten yard line, brought
down at the fourteen a pickup of nine yards, and
that's three turnovers now for West Charlotte, and he said, hey,
you got to go into the locker room, and how Queen,
eliminate the penalties, eliminate the turnovers. First drive very promising,
going into score again, and we have another turnover.

Speaker 5 (01:32:09):
That's three.

Speaker 4 (01:32:10):
It's hard to win a game when you're minus three.
They need to find at least one, maybe two on defense.

Speaker 3 (01:32:18):
Here we go, second down in one from the fourteen,
Brandon whips one near side. Alex Cooper makes the catch,
picks up a first down and takes a hard shot
at the end of that play out to the twenty
six yard line.

Speaker 4 (01:32:34):
Just a little thrown catch there at the bottom of
our screen here on the West Charlotte sideline and set
in the first half. These Cooper brothers hard to bring down.
Alex took a big, big shot, hop right back up,
but a massive shot right along the sideline.

Speaker 3 (01:32:50):
His third catch of the night, twenty three yards receiving
for Alex Cooper. His brother Hudson has a fifty three
yard touchdown catch to his name already here tonight, here's
Kaien battle in motion. Takes the pitch on a sweep,
tries to turn it up field. Not much room to
run and he's dropped at the twenty nine, Pop Bowman

(01:33:11):
with the tackle there for West Charlotte five and a.

Speaker 4 (01:33:14):
Half to play.

Speaker 3 (01:33:15):
Here in the third quarter, fourteen to seven, Grimsley on
top the sun set long ago here on the Queen
City nine to forty nine pm Eastern time, we are
nestled here in the press box to booth at Bank
of America Stadium, surrounded by what I think is one
of the great skylines in all of America. We're a
little biased, we live here, but it doesn't get better

(01:33:37):
than North Carolina.

Speaker 4 (01:33:38):
Was taking it in and I'll get a chance to
take it in on the sideline during these night games.
But just gorgeous second and seven from the twenty nine.
It's a handoff to Michael Williams and Williams loses the yard.
I mean, this has just been a gorgeous night for football.
Picture perfect skies, cool, there's not a lot of humidity,

(01:34:00):
which kind of makes for good football in late August.
And we're setting up here for a really big third down.
Twice already after turnovers, West Charlotte has been able to
get the ball back on these sort of sudden change situations.
This is gonna be a big, big, play kind of
keep grimsly pinned back third and eight from the twenty

(01:34:20):
eight faizon.

Speaker 3 (01:34:21):
Brandon, with Michah Williams next to him in the backfield,
looks over to the sideline for the call. Three wide
receivers bunch to the near side, balls loose on the
turf at Brandon's feet. Did he fall back on it?
I believe he did. West Charlotte Almays almost came up
with their first turnover of the night.

Speaker 4 (01:34:40):
I thought Jashawn Shaw had a chance maybe wrestling it
away there from Brandon and Brandon hangs on and.

Speaker 3 (01:34:52):
Loss of six on the plow close how to bring
up fourth down and thirteen from their own twenty three
yard line, meaning Chase hull Mantle is back out to
punt the football line of scrimmage the twenty three he'll
mantles standing at his own eight yard line.

Speaker 4 (01:35:11):
As my kids call them. Let me break out the
old innoculars. Here they're trying to hustle a wing onto
the punt formation here with five seconds left on the
play clock. Close got it off return men standing back
at their own forty and it's caught by number eighty

(01:35:31):
eight J D McDonald. McDonald using the joystick trying to
make some defenders miss across midfield, and the Lions will
get the football first and ten in plus territory at
the Grimsley forty eight yard line. So the West Charlotte
defense holds against that's three turnovers by the offense in
all three times West Charlotte's gotten the ball back to

(01:35:53):
their offense as.

Speaker 5 (01:35:56):
Three minutes here in the second half or in the
third quarter.

Speaker 4 (01:35:59):
And the biggest thing here that I'm looking for is,
let's find some spot on the field that we can attack.
Haven't really seen them throw the ball down the field.
This wing t offense that Sam Grinder talked to us about.
It's a lot of deception and misdirection. What they haven't
really been able to do other than the one throw
to Nicholson on the West Charlotte sideline is they haven't

(01:36:21):
found an explosive and they haven't really thrown the ball
downfield at all. I'd love to see some sort of
early down play action where you're throwing it deep to
Nicholson or Gilmore and just try to stretch the defense
a little bit. It's really hard trying to go three
and four yards a play.

Speaker 5 (01:36:39):
Somewhere you gotta find a big explosive.

Speaker 3 (01:36:41):
Yeah, they're playmakers out here, and I feel for rakeem Finch.
Fortunately for him, that fumble, which we're not even sure
was a fumble at the end of the last West
Charlotte drive was not converted into points by Grimsley. I'd
have to think they're still looking to get him involved here.
But you brought up the name Dante Nicholson. I've mentioned
a couple of times tonight. He is a Charlotte four
forty nine Ers commit and Charlotte, by the way, shout

(01:37:02):
out to the forty nine Ers fan base. They opened
the season with app State coming up next week right
here at the Bank. New head coach Tim albin A
mac champ on his way out of the Ohio Bobcats
program last year. There's a lot of excitement around that
program in its future, and they're no doubt paying attention
to what their future wide receiver's doing out here tonight.
Here's Nickols on first down and ten from the forty nine.

(01:37:25):
It's a handoff with the Grimsley defense penetrating and making
the stop for a loss. Emery McLain driven backwards and
dropped at the forty seven yard line, So why is
there so much struggle to run the ball inside with
these sort of wing te concepts, which is a lot
of gap scheme, meaning the ball is supposed to go

(01:37:47):
between the guard and the tackle. Andrew Rodgers sixty four
to two forty, Jaden Warlow five ten two twenty is
Sire Crawford sixty one two seventy Cassius Bostiks sixty one
two ten.

Speaker 4 (01:37:57):
There are big guys on this defensive line.

Speaker 3 (01:38:00):
Low snap, Nickels handles it, floats a screen pass, Paul
comes loose again, but fortunately this time West Charlotte able
to retrieve it. I mean, that's the definition of right place,
right time, Big number fifty. Ian Smith, the senior offensive lineman,
was standing right there as the ball was fumbled by

(01:38:21):
rakeem Finch again. I shouldn't say again, but the last
one I didn't seem to be technically a fumble to us.

Speaker 4 (01:38:27):
But you got to worry about that if you're Sam Grinder. Now,
play kind of started off with a little bit of
a low snap which got everything a little bit out
of sink. Ian Smith's actually running to his block, He's
a little bit late again. The timing is messed up.
Because the snap kind of starts off weird. Thankfully the
ball bounces right back into his handers or that would
have been a fourth West Charlotte turnover.

Speaker 3 (01:38:48):
Third down in eighteen. Now from their own forty three,
here come the Lions. It's just Seir Gray on the
swing pass, keeps his feet back to the original line
of scrimmage across midfield and driven out of bounds at
the forty eight yard line of Grimsley, still well short
of a first down, and Sam Grinder and company will
have to punt again.

Speaker 4 (01:39:07):
And even though they're gonna punt this ball away and four,
it was third and eighteen and Grimsley is playing a
little bit of softer defense. I like that they're pitching
the ball outside, trying to get the ball into a
little bit of space. It has been almost impossible to
run inside on Grimsley tonight. The linebacking crew of Patrick Carter,
Drew Searles, and Kyrie Milner are filling any gaps that

(01:39:27):
are still left out there. And we're having another punting
issue in terms of personnel, and West Charlotte chooses to
burn a timeout, which.

Speaker 5 (01:39:37):
So in the NFL we've kind.

Speaker 4 (01:39:40):
Of learned timeouts are golden, And the biggest reason is
we want to have drives at the end of the halves.
If I could get all these high school coaches together
and I would encourage them, please stop using your timeout. So, yes,
it's fourth and ten and they are short of man,
I don't think that they should snap the ball, but
a five yard penalty right there is not terrible when

(01:40:00):
we're punting in the plus territory. We've seen this now
in both games, where I think a lot of these
coaches are getting frustrated that they don't have their personnel
out on the field and they're burning timeouts almost as
like a show of frustration. Yep, a five yard delay
a game would not have been a big issue right there.
And you'd certainly rather have that timeout than five yards

(01:40:21):
at any point in the game, except for those last
two or three minutes needing a two minute drive to
score and win the game.

Speaker 5 (01:40:27):
So I'm gonna we're gonna have a clinic.

Speaker 4 (01:40:30):
Well, we'll have a clinic on all the high school
coaches here at some point and try to keep those
timeouts in your pocket. Listen, I think you make a
great point.

Speaker 3 (01:40:38):
And with one oh nine left to play, Grimsley leading
fourteen to seven, set to get the ball back here.
But your point is a salient one because right now
West Charlotte is trailing by seven. Not much has gone
their way offensively. They've turned the ball over three times
and now they're down to one time out and Grimsley
has all three left. Daryl Brown has yet to call
a time out here in the third quarter, so things
can change. Obviously, football could be a a crazy sport,

(01:41:01):
but I think you're all over it.

Speaker 4 (01:41:02):
It's not an ideal place to be.

Speaker 3 (01:41:05):
Dante Nicholson back to punt, takes the snap, gets it
away line drive kick, fair catch called for and made
by Alex Cooper at the twenty yard line, and that's
where Faison Brandon and the Whorlies will assume the position
back on offense with one oh three left to go
in the third quarter, and.

Speaker 5 (01:41:23):
West Charlotte was really lucky there.

Speaker 4 (01:41:25):
That ball was a line drive punt right at Alex
Cooper and he had about fifteen yards low.

Speaker 5 (01:41:31):
Line drive kick.

Speaker 4 (01:41:31):
He could have easily converted that into at least your
you know what, we call the first first down ten
yards and get the offense going, but bailed out by
a quick fair catch opportunity and Brandon will take over
it his own twenty.

Speaker 3 (01:41:46):
First and ten from the twenty moving left to right,
ball between the hashes here, three wide receivers to the
near side, quick pitch out to shoemake right side, makes
a man miss into the second level, lowers his shoulder
and bowls over three West Charlotte defenders hit the forty
yard line out to the forty two, a twenty two
yard pickup for number twenty four ty Shoemaker and.

Speaker 5 (01:42:08):
Sam Grinder's living.

Speaker 4 (01:42:09):
They only had ten on the field, did West Charlotte,
and just has been some substitution issues here in the
third quarter that are really kind of causing West Charlotte
to shoot themselves in the foot.

Speaker 3 (01:42:21):
Longest running play of the night for the Grimsley offense.
Here's Brandon on first down, fires one near side catch
made by Kate and Cato, and he's immediately wrapped up
by a couple of West Charlotte defenders a gain of two.

Speaker 4 (01:42:36):
Twenty seconds left here in the third quarter. I'll be
curious to see if maybe maybe there's sort of take
a shot play, fake a snap count right here before
the end of the clock. They don't have to snap it,
and looks like they're gonna choose not to, but might
have been one of those cool spots on the field
round midfield to fake a snap and see if you
can get someone, draw someone off sides and take a

(01:42:56):
shot down the field. But they'll let the third quarter
expire here fourteen to seven.

Speaker 5 (01:43:01):
To wrap up the third.

Speaker 3 (01:43:02):
Quarter, we go to the fourth four fingers in the
air all across the stadium. Grimsley the road team from Greensboro.
They've got a fourteen to seven advantage. As we go
into the final frame, we'll see what West Charlotte has
to offer.

Speaker 4 (01:43:16):
Keep it right here to Keep Pounding.

Speaker 3 (01:43:18):
Classic, presented by Belk on Sports Radio ninety two seven WFNZ.

Speaker 2 (01:43:23):
You're listening to the Keep Pounding High School Classic on
Sports Radio ninety two point SEVENTYFNZ.

Speaker 3 (01:43:33):
The top quarterback prospect in the nation, Faison Brandon, having
a solid night here in the opener. His team leads
at fourteen to seven over the West Charlotte Lions, and
the Whirlies have the football up fourteen to seven and
looking to put some distance between themselves and West Charlotte
for the first time tonight. As we enter the fourth
quarter of action, second down and eight from the forty

(01:43:55):
four yard line, coming up here to kick things off
here in the final frame. Kyle Bailey, JJ Jansen. This
has been a heavyweight matchup. That's how it was built
and that's how it's played out here this evening.

Speaker 5 (01:44:05):
It's been a great first three quarters.

Speaker 4 (01:44:07):
It's almost kind of been the reverse of our first game.
There was a lot of action early and now it
feels like everything's tightening down a little bit as we
enter here into the final frame. And again I've said
it a few times, we're looking for a couple of explosives.

Speaker 5 (01:44:21):
Both of these defenses have played very very well.

Speaker 4 (01:44:25):
Grimsley's forced three turnovers, but West Charlotte's forced a lot
of hunts. And it's a one score game, and both
of these quarterbacks need to find some sort of big
play because it's gonna be really hard to continue to
move the ball down the field little by.

Speaker 5 (01:44:39):
Little, So we flipped the field.

Speaker 3 (01:44:44):
Brandon and the Worley offense moving right to left on
their own forty four yard lines. Second down and eight
tunnel screen inside Kayan Battle makes the grab and across midfield,
he goes to the forty four yard line of West Charlotte,
first down for Grimsley.

Speaker 4 (01:45:04):
Nice tackle there by Davian Jones. We saw him on tape.
The first thing that jumped out about him is he's
a dude, and he's a hard hitter and another big
hit in the defensive secondary. And Grimsley runs these tunnel
screens really, really well. We saw it on the touchdown.
Their offensive line is big, but they can get out
and move.

Speaker 3 (01:45:22):
First and ten. Now from the West Charlotte forty four,
here's Faison. Brandon dials his own number up to middle.
He go spins away from a defender and falls inside
the forty yard line, stretches out and gets down to
the thirty eight.

Speaker 4 (01:45:35):
That's a pickup of six. You know, I thought we'd
see Brandon kind of throw the ball over the yard
a little bit more.

Speaker 5 (01:45:40):
He's been a runner and a.

Speaker 4 (01:45:41):
Ball distributory so far here today, and he's got a
big arm, and I'm kind of expecting.

Speaker 5 (01:45:48):
I keep waiting. I keep waiting to.

Speaker 4 (01:45:50):
See someone go deep down the field, and I want
to see him air one or two of these out.
And right now they got ten guys up on the
line of scrimmage. There's some room back there if we're
willing to throw the ball down the field.

Speaker 3 (01:46:01):
Second and four from the thirty eight ball came loose.
It's on the turf, and West Charlotte's got it. Ty
shoemake with a tough run, fighting for extra yardage, and
as he was, the ball was poked out and West
Charlotte forces their first turnover of the game here early
in the fourth quarter and down by seven, They've suddenly

(01:46:21):
got some life.

Speaker 5 (01:46:22):
The junior Cayden.

Speaker 4 (01:46:23):
Smith comes up with the fumble and this is just
fighting for extra yards and first guy in is gonna
wrap up, and then the second, third, and fourth guy
start punching at the ball, pulling at the ball, and
on the bottom of the pile, I think that's number ten.
Maj Daniels gets in there and rips it out and

(01:46:44):
any leather you can get your hands on and just
try to rip and punch and poke. When you got
a guy wrapped up and she make lost that one
wasn't able to hang on.

Speaker 3 (01:46:52):
Let's see if Jamury Nichols in the Lions offense can
capitalize first down pressure in his face, flushed right, tucks
it run still in back across midfield.

Speaker 4 (01:47:01):
Forty five forty.

Speaker 3 (01:47:03):
It'll be a first down if the play stands, but
a flag down on the near sideline.

Speaker 4 (01:47:08):
I'd be curious to see what they call here. It
was it kind of looks like it was setting up
to be a legal whole offensive line downfield.

Speaker 5 (01:47:15):
It was everybody. It wasn't just one guy.

Speaker 4 (01:47:17):
But then he ran, so I don't know what they're
gonna have here on the West Charlotte sideline.

Speaker 5 (01:47:23):
Maybe get him for a hold.

Speaker 4 (01:47:27):
Still deliberating here near midfield.

Speaker 3 (01:47:31):
Nichols that time had immediate pressure in his face, escaped
to the right, and it was tiptoeing down the near
sideline in front of his own bench.

Speaker 4 (01:47:42):
And they are still discussing it. Four officials in the
huddle and plenty of chatter from the West Charlotte sideline,
maybe trying to sway the call here. If it stands,
it'll be a seventeen yard run for the West Charlotte quarterback.

Speaker 3 (01:48:02):
Here's the decision. Defensive holding is the call? Jaden wardlaw
the guilty party. We'll see if we'll get a second look.
Warlow clearly disagrees. Look at me, like what on He's
got his hands out, Like what did I do? I'll

(01:48:23):
I'll be curious to see maybe he did nothing.

Speaker 4 (01:48:25):
They confer for so long sometimes I wonder if they're
trying to figure out we threw a flag, we have
to call something.

Speaker 5 (01:48:34):
We won't get a replay of that, and so that'll
be tacked on.

Speaker 4 (01:48:37):
So the seventeen yard run, yeah, Plus I think they're
gonna get him for ten yards for defensive holding.

Speaker 3 (01:48:42):
That is correct, first and ten. New line of scrimmage
the Grimsley thirty four and Nichols an Eric pass looking
for Dante Nicholson, and they just weren't on the same
page right there.

Speaker 5 (01:48:56):
No, they weren't.

Speaker 4 (01:48:58):
Nichols has done a nice job of West Charlott's had
three turnovers, but Nichols has done a nice job distributing.

Speaker 5 (01:49:05):
The ball and keeping it out of harm's way.

Speaker 4 (01:49:06):
And sometimes on those broken plays, with that timing's not
quite right, it's best to make a bath throw and
just live to fight another down.

Speaker 3 (01:49:14):
Ten minutes, thirty four seconds left to go in this
ball game. West Charlotte trailing fourteen to seven, but they
have the football second and ten in in amy territory
at the world's thirty four. But there's a false start
penalty that'll be five yards against the Lions, Michael Toddy,

(01:49:40):
the sophomore offensive lineman that Sam Grinder speaks very highly of.
It's caught moving a bit early right there.

Speaker 5 (01:49:48):
I think that was setting up to be.

Speaker 4 (01:49:50):
We had one on one coverage at the top of
the at the top of the screen as we're looking
at it landing Gilmour, we had one on one coverage
on with Raheem sorry Ramir Harris Dupree, and thought it
was setting up as a possible opportunity. Now as we've
got the same setup this time, Dante Nicholson out.

Speaker 3 (01:50:07):
There one on one second and fifteen now from the
thirty nine straight drop for Nichols, looking downfield, throws it
into the end zone incomplete dangerous throw right there. King
Kobel the third was the intended target. A couple of
defenders in the zip code though as well. It's the
first time we've really seen the ball thrown downfield. But
in this particular case, Nichols is throwing into double coverage

(01:50:31):
Number thirteen. Mackay Yon back there as a safety, but
also EJ.

Speaker 4 (01:50:35):
Davis really they were they ended up becoming the primary receiver,
so he had single coverage at the top instead decides
to throwing a double coverage in a post and maybe
felt like he was trying to force a play there.

Speaker 3 (01:50:48):
Jamuri Nichols does not have many incompletions in his box
score tonight.

Speaker 4 (01:50:56):
Here's third down and.

Speaker 3 (01:50:57):
Fifteen zips one of the far side catch made by
davy On Jones. Jones stretches out for the twenty five
yard line. We'll call it the twenty six. That's a
gain of thirteen but still two yards shy of a
first down.

Speaker 4 (01:51:11):
And Jones there at that time was in single coverage
able to kind of find a soft spot right in
front of number twenty Ramier Harris Dupree and fights to
make this a fourth and very manageable fourth and two.
Fourth and three here in a must go situation, as
west Chawotte's running an offensive lineman out on the field.

Speaker 3 (01:51:30):
Nine forty nine to play fourth and two from the
twenty six. The Lions need the twenty four yard line
for a first down to keep the drive alive, and
now no way. Sam Grinder has just called his final
timeout with nine minutes and thirty nine seconds left to play.

Speaker 4 (01:51:50):
So we talk about a lot of times like miss
cues and pre sint penalties and all of these things,
why does it matter? So the day before the game,
most teams are doing some kind of a walkthrough. Usually
the primary goal of the walkthrough is the basic plays
and the substitutions.

Speaker 5 (01:52:06):
Two things have to happen.

Speaker 4 (01:52:07):
The coaches need to know who are the first subs
in all the positions, and those players need to know
what's going on. If you mess up those substitution patterns
on a Thursday walk through before a Friday game, these
situations come up where all of a sudden, you're running
guys on late burning timeouts, and.

Speaker 5 (01:52:24):
Those become so costly.

Speaker 4 (01:52:25):
So there's a lot of young players go, well, you know,
it's a small mistake. Well, that small mistake becomes a
big mistake because now West Charlotte is out of timeouts.
Now he had a take one there, he doesn't have
a good setup. It's fourth and two, and up to
this point, this is the biggest play of the game.
It's a big conversion in Grimsley's territory. But he's now

(01:52:46):
out of timeouts with nine and a half minutes left
in the game in which he's losing. And we've just
seen this a couple of times. Now I got on
coach Grinder for using one in the punt back in
the third quarter that time. He really doesn't have much
of a choice, right because if you fail there, you're
really putting yourself behind the eight ball the rest of
the way. But these are the little things that coaches
are talking about. If we don't have substitutionnaires, we can

(01:53:09):
snap the ball on time, and there's not that ticki
tacky stuff that builds up in a close game when
you're playing a defending state champion.

Speaker 3 (01:53:16):
Absolutely so to contrast that and to rub salt in
the wound as your alliance fan, the Grimsley Whorlies have
all three timeouts remaining with nine and a half minutes
left to play.

Speaker 4 (01:53:25):
But JJ's one hundred percent right.

Speaker 3 (01:53:27):
This is a critical snap coming up for West Charlotte
in this game. It's fourteen to seven. There's still a
long way to go here, but you're running out of
opportunities and you can only ask your defense to bow
it's neck and make a stop at so many times.
Here's fourth and two, the gift to bird.

Speaker 4 (01:53:44):
No.

Speaker 3 (01:53:44):
It actually kept by Jamory Nichols around the right side
and nearly a touchdown, but he was cut down at
the fifteen yard line. Call it the thirteen actually first
down and a thirteen yard run for Jamuriy Nichols, And
I got to say, we've been commending his ball handling
all night long.

Speaker 4 (01:54:00):
He duped me on that fake. He duped everybody, and
I love the play call.

Speaker 5 (01:54:04):
EJ.

Speaker 4 (01:54:04):
Davis makes a great open field tackle. Otherwise this is
a touchdown. But all night the ball's been going inside, inside, inside,
this time on the mesh where he's holding the ball
in the belly of the running back.

Speaker 5 (01:54:15):
He pulls it really, really late.

Speaker 4 (01:54:17):
All the defense caves down, and I've been saying, where
was the open space on the field outside the tackles.
Nichols looked electric there and Davis barely barely stopped a touchdown.

Speaker 3 (01:54:29):
Three wide receivers Jones and Gilmour to the far side.
It's a handoff to Emery McLain around the right side.
McLain looking for a lane, couldn't find one. Tackled for
no gain at the thirteen yard line by number three
Kasi Barnes.

Speaker 4 (01:54:44):
We lost another shoe on the offensive line. I'll tell
you what shoelaces and helmet buckles needs to be assessed.

Speaker 5 (01:54:51):
Between the Week one and week two.

Speaker 3 (01:54:52):
I think the equipment manager managed needs to be running
gassers on Monday at practice.

Speaker 4 (01:54:57):
Is one hundred percent correct and Khalil Cheese Hansley.

Speaker 5 (01:55:01):
McNair got away with a hold.

Speaker 4 (01:55:02):
He about ripped down Jaden ward Law there, but he
didn't get called.

Speaker 3 (01:55:07):
Quick screen out to the near side. Catch made by
Dante Nicholson. Nicholson inside the ten yard line, down to
the seven and that's a gain of six.

Speaker 4 (01:55:18):
Setting up here an interesting third down. So it's third
and four here at the seventh thing, get a first down.
They're clearly in four down territory. As far as I'm concerned,
I don't think a field goal does anything good. Especially
coach Grinder talked about I don't know how great we
feel about our kicking situation. So four down territory a
lot of room to work, and in the red zone,
I'd like to see them work outside.

Speaker 3 (01:55:39):
Wes Charlotte looking for the equalizer here, knocking on the door.
Third down and four from the seven yard line. As
JJ just said, the Lions can pick up a first
down here, but they're looking to score and tie this
game up seven and a half to play.

Speaker 4 (01:55:54):
Jamury Nichols in the offense. Can they finish it off?

Speaker 3 (01:56:00):
Snap back hand off up the gunt to just see
her gray nothing doing, and these Lions running backs continue
to run into a brick wall up the middle against
this grimsly defensive front.

Speaker 4 (01:56:14):
I'd really as good as Nichols is and pulling the ball,
I'd really like to see, especially in the resident There's
not as much room. All the safeties are right down
on top of the line of scrimmage. I'd love to
see him pull one here, much like he did on
the last fourth down about a minute and a half ago.

Speaker 3 (01:56:31):
Fourth down and three from the six, gotta have it.
Nichols takes it, running right, one man to beat, shakes
him off, fighting for the goal line. Stop short, but
it's a first down for West Charlotte. We have a
grimsly defender number six E. J. Davis celebrating for some reason,
thinking that they made a fourth down stop, but doesn't

(01:56:52):
realize that the Lions just picked up a first down.
It's first and goal West Charlotte from the two yard line.
Huge play by Jan moriyan Nick with his feet.

Speaker 4 (01:57:01):
The move that Nichols put on Kyrie Milner in the
open field.

Speaker 5 (01:57:06):
He had known anything what happened?

Speaker 4 (01:57:08):
It was an unbelievable move here, and now we're getting
this quarterback sneague play under center? Was that Nichols riding
a center into the end zone? I believe it was touchdown?

Speaker 3 (01:57:19):
Wes Lyons Wes Charlotte Lions fourteen to thirteen extra point pending.

Speaker 4 (01:57:26):
Kind of had a little tous push there playing and
actually coach Grinder had said, hey, Rakee Finch.

Speaker 5 (01:57:30):
Might be the guy.

Speaker 4 (01:57:31):
Would we would toush push with They got Nichols under
center there and a big, big drive, couple big conversions
by Nichols and punching it in for a what could
be here the game tying score with the pat pending
number thirty one.

Speaker 3 (01:57:47):
Angel Ruiz on to kick the extra point, landing Gilmore
to hold kick us up, but it's blocked, but it's
picked up by West Charlotte. No good Oh my goodness,
extra point blocks. Angel Ruiz never got the ball off
the ground.

Speaker 4 (01:58:06):
It might have hit the.

Speaker 3 (01:58:07):
Back of an offensive line and we'll have to check
the replay. But Grimsley retains a one point lead.

Speaker 5 (01:58:14):
And I may have just done the announcer's curse.

Speaker 2 (01:58:18):
Ah.

Speaker 4 (01:58:18):
I told myself I wouldn't do that that's bad. That's
bad ball by me. I'm sorry, Wes Charlotte. That wasn't good.
That's tough.

Speaker 3 (01:58:25):
There's the replay of the touchdown run and yes, a
bit of a toush push. Here's the kick, and that
ball was never going anywhere. It never got higher than
helmet height of the offensive line, never had a chance.
Fourteen to thirteen, West Charlotte still trails with six seventeen
left to play.

Speaker 4 (01:58:44):
Play a time here.

Speaker 3 (01:58:46):
But again, the problem if you're Alliance fan is you
have no way to stop the clock by a time.

Speaker 4 (01:58:50):
Out the rest of the way. Okay, Now, Grimsley's had
two big drives here where they've in the first half
where they had a fourteen play drive in a nine
play drive for touchdowns. The way I'm looking at this
right now, if I'm Darryl Brown and Jesse Tripp their
offensive play calling quarterback coach, there's six seventeen left. If
I can get three first downs, West Charlotte can't stop me.

Speaker 5 (01:59:13):
So I'm slowing the tempo down.

Speaker 4 (01:59:15):
With a one point lead, and I'm trying to grind
this game out. Whoever's going to run the ball, whether
it be Faison, Brandon Michaeh Williams, ty Shuemak, whoever's touching
the ball. I'm doing everything I can for three first
downs a traditional four minute offense.

Speaker 3 (01:59:32):
I don't want West Charlotte to touch the ball again.
Short kickoff. There By West Charlotte kaien battle for Grimsley
catches it at about the thirty five yard line. Short return,
so the thirty nine we'll call it to thirty eight
as a matter of fact, First and ten Grimsley from

(01:59:53):
their own thirty eight yard line up by one.

Speaker 4 (01:59:56):
So with six to thirteen left, West Charlotte maybe kind
of feeling like, hey, we're still in a normal game.
If I'm Grimsly, I'm looking at this and saying, hey, look,
I might only have ten more snaps left in the
entire game. How can I run it down West Charlotte's
throat to end this game?

Speaker 3 (02:00:13):
They're throwing it on first down, man open. Hudson Cooper
makes the grab and he's off to the races. Big
chunk play on first down, deep into plus territory, and
apparently Darryl Brown had other ideas.

Speaker 4 (02:00:28):
I think Hudson Cooper fell on the ball there looks
like he might have got the win knocked out of him,
but a really nice throwing catch there. It's just a
quick slant, three step drop Hits Hits Cooper coming across
the middle, and that's a really nice timing around finding
a soft spot in the zone. And second or third
time Cooper brothers kind of hit in stride by Brandon

(02:00:52):
and really nice throwing catching.

Speaker 5 (02:00:55):
I think he's gonna be okay.

Speaker 4 (02:00:56):
I think he landed on the football, which isn't a
good feel, but that will not necessarily knock you out
of the game.

Speaker 3 (02:01:03):
Thirty two yard pitch and catch from Faison Brandon to
Hudson Cooper sets up the Grimsley Worthies first and ten
at the West Charlotte thirty yard line. When play resumes,
Hudson Cooper, who is now up to ninety two yards
receiving on the night by my count, having a great

(02:01:24):
evening fifty three yard touchdown the first score of the
night on a tunnel screen from Faison Brandon and now
Hudson Cooper is up and moving. JJ Jansen appears to
be right. Cooper seems fine and will step off for
at least to play.

Speaker 4 (02:01:39):
And I don't know who the little kid is next one.
It could be his little brother, because he's also wearing
a ten jersey. But if that is his little brother,
probably calling a few names and telling him to get up,
that's his motivation as anything, to stand up and run
off the field.

Speaker 3 (02:01:53):
Interestingly, his brother Alex Cooper followed him off the field.
So now the wide receivers out there for Grimsley, number
one Caden Cato and number I believe that's number seven
Patrick Carter, So both Cooper brothers off the field. First
and ten Grimsley. Brandon takes the snap, hands off to

(02:02:14):
Michaeh Williams right side and a nice gain on first
down for Michah Williams, a pickup of six.

Speaker 4 (02:02:25):
Hudson coming back into the game, Hudson Cooper, they don't
have to snap this football early, even if they don't score.

Speaker 5 (02:02:35):
You want to wear out the clock.

Speaker 4 (02:02:37):
Here five twenty one to play by the way.

Speaker 3 (02:02:40):
Here in the fourth quarter, fourteen to thirteen, Grimsley on
top by a point and has has the football second
and two from the twenty two of West Charlotte Faison,
Brandon keeps it himself around the right side and chopped
down after a gain of.

Speaker 4 (02:02:55):
One big third down. Here you would imagine Grimsly's in
four down territory. We haven't seen anything big from a
field goal kicker in pregame, you know traditionally, Hey, a
field goal here puts you up more than a field

(02:03:15):
goal would be kind of a valuable setting. But I
would imagine this is gonna be four down territory for Grimsley.
And again they wanted to be four down territory. They
want to run this clock out. Third and one from
the twenty one shotgun snap back throw over the middle?

Speaker 3 (02:03:30):
Was that catch made my goodness number nine to tight
end DJ Howardton. The ball was behind him and he
wrangles it with one hand. Let's watch the replay here
of Howarton. Great job, great focus, brings it in with
his left hand, grabs it with both at the end,
falls down to the turf, takes a shot there at

(02:03:51):
the end at the twelve yard line, first down Grimsley.

Speaker 5 (02:03:54):
That's a dangerous throw.

Speaker 4 (02:03:55):
He throws him away from the coverage, but it's on
his back shoulder and that's one of those balls that
could have easily gotten tipped up to a safety. And
they get away with one and convert for a big
first down.

Speaker 3 (02:04:06):
Howarton's first catch of the night. First and ten from
the twelve to give us to Michaeh Williams. Williams tries
to bounce it outside, but he's brought down by three
West Charlotte defenders. Gain of one for Micah Williams, and
I tell you what, just like the first game, these
running backs are working for everything. Michaeh Williams has eighteen

(02:04:26):
total rushing yards tonight. He does have a touchdown in
a one point game, tackle.

Speaker 4 (02:04:33):
There by Damari Wallace and Elijah little John. And again
there is no easy yards in either one of these games.
Between the tackles, these running backs are taking a licking
on all their inside run stuff.

Speaker 3 (02:04:48):
Second and ten from the twelve. This time Brandon keeps
it himself. Foot race left side, throws a stiff arm
brought down short of the goal line at the two.
A ten yard game for Faison Brandon. That should be
good enough for a fresh set of downs, and it
is first in goal from the two for Grimsley with

(02:05:09):
three to zero four to play, looking to extend to
one point lead here late in what has been a
fantastic ballgame between two powerhouse programs here in North Carolina.

Speaker 5 (02:05:20):
Really big run there and.

Speaker 4 (02:05:23):
Gets the first down, which is probably the best of
all potential situations. New set of downs and letting the
clock run here. Grimsly's doing a nice job of milking
this clock. They'll snap this thing under at least five.

Speaker 3 (02:05:35):
Here is four three, first and goal from the two
Faison Brandon going around the right side this time met
with force at the lone of scrimmage and dropped for
no game. I have to wonder, if Sam Grinder sits
here and goes do we just let him into the
end zone right now?

Speaker 4 (02:05:54):
I don't have any timeouts. They should milk this clock.
They snap the last ball of two, there's a good
chance they won't.

Speaker 5 (02:06:02):
Snap this next snap until at.

Speaker 4 (02:06:03):
Least one forty if they're kind of fully aware of
the clock here. And if I'm Sam Grinder, I'm thinking,
I don't know, like I might just let him in
the end zone it And conversely, if I'm Grimsly, do
I want to score a touchdown right now?

Speaker 5 (02:06:20):
I don't think so.

Speaker 4 (02:06:21):
I'm not sure.

Speaker 3 (02:06:22):
It looks like they may burn a time out right here.
In fact, they do, Darryl Brown comes out. Let's the
play clock get all the way down to one. The
game clock is at one forty nine, and unlike his
counterpart Darryl Brown, has saved all of his timeouts for
late in the game, burns his first of the second
half and stops the clock at one forty nine. The

(02:06:43):
score is fourteen to thirteen. A hard fought game has
come down to this. The Grimsley Worlies lead by one
and have the football knocking on the door with a
chance to go up by as many as eight.

Speaker 4 (02:06:54):
Right now, if I'm Grimsly right now and we're having
this conversation, and I'm an assistant coach, here's the math
play one o'clocks forty seconds two times. That's a minute
twenty at least, and there's usually a little bit of
reorganization time. I can run the cl I can run
this clock at least under thirty seconds, maybe down to
twenty and not score. And then the question just becomes

(02:07:15):
do I think I can stop a ninety nine yard
play with twenty seconds left? If I'm Grimsly, I don't
want to score right now. If I'm Wes Charlotte, if
they are silly enough to run a play, I'm letting
them in the end zone. Because every single time they're
gonna run the clock down, so this will be interesting strategy.
Here does Grimsly encroach Darryl Brown just say I think

(02:07:39):
I can win this game fourteen thirteen, even if I
give you the ball back of the two, or are
they gonna be excited to try to go score because
even if they hit the pat it's an eight point game.
And you give Wes Charlotte, let's say a minute forty
to go down score and tie this game up. If
I'm Grimsly, I am not letting myself score right now.

Speaker 3 (02:07:58):
It'll be very interesting to see directions Darryl Brown has
given Brandon or Faison Brandon and the offense coming out
of the huddle here one nine to play, fourteen thirteen,
Grimsley on top. Let's see if what JJ said just
a moment Ago comes to fruition shotgun snap is back
to give to Michael Williams, and Williams punches it in touchdown.

(02:08:20):
Worlies twenty to thirteen, extra point pending.

Speaker 4 (02:08:28):
And we got a late flag in the secondary about
seven yards deep in the end zone, and I think
we're gonna get a personal foul some kind of taunting.

Speaker 5 (02:08:40):
Looks like it might be Sam Johnson. I can't tell.

Speaker 4 (02:08:45):
To bring up a second interesting situation here? Yeah, would
you go for two and try to end it? I
was gonna ask you the same question, any thought of that.
I mean, listen, it's high school football. Kickstart automatic, right,
I mean something to consider. You hit a two point
conversion here. It's a two possession game with a minute
forty three left to go, and your opponent has no
timeouts left.

Speaker 5 (02:09:05):
They may they looks like they're gonna kick.

Speaker 4 (02:09:07):
They may be able to put this on the kickoff
and kick off from the would I imagine be about
the fifty yard line, maybe plus forty five, depending on
how they spot it. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (02:09:18):
Have we got an official word yet? I don't know.

Speaker 3 (02:09:20):
But I look down in front of me here at
the bank and the West Charlotte faithful streaming toward the exits.
Nick Kashubara number seventy two for Grimsley, charged with a
late hit there at the end of the play.

Speaker 4 (02:09:37):
And can I say we're gonna have a clinic. Make
this be a long field goal because you need a touchdown.
I don't give up this one point. Make this be
a thirty five yard pat. Well, it's a regular pat
instead Heuel Mantle puts a boot into it. How are
all of these helmets coming off? It's unbelievable. Another one

(02:10:00):
on a pat. But the kick is good and it's.

Speaker 3 (02:10:03):
Twenty one to thirteen, Grimsley with the lead one forty three.

Speaker 4 (02:10:08):
Left to play. As weird as this sounds, right West Charlotte,
they're down eight. Of all possible outcomes, that was the
best one. They're gonna get the ball back. We're gonna
back up on the kickoff here, so they'll have a
decent chance for some good field position, probably close to
midfield after the kickoff, and they're down eight. If I'm Grimsley,

(02:10:28):
everyone's celebrating. If I'm on West Charlotte sideline, I'm kind
of happy they scored right there, because again, Grimsy could
run this game out and well Charlotte might have had
one play, maybe two at the absolute most, so.

Speaker 5 (02:10:43):
Given where they were three and a half minutes ago.

Speaker 4 (02:10:46):
Of real time, West Charlotte's probably in the best possible scenario.
But I just want to go back to most teams
are not kicking a lot of pats or i'm sorry,
a lot of field goals beyond like Pat Range, so
I would have really conceive that are daring them to
try to kick a pat because I would rather go
for two for the win, because I don't think we're

(02:11:06):
kicking another pat if I'm West Charlotte, but go for
two for the win versus two for the tie. I've
got a day job, but I could have helped him
both of these situations here at least at least at
least give the options. There's some options here, but this
should be an exciting last minute forty three no timeouts again,

(02:11:28):
but in high school football, with the way the clock stop,
it should be enough time to make a long drive.

Speaker 3 (02:11:34):
End of game strategy one oh one with JJ Jansen
here at the end of the broadcast.

Speaker 5 (02:11:39):
This is four oh one. This is advanced level that
the listeners are getting.

Speaker 4 (02:11:42):
Master's level stuff. That's right.

Speaker 3 (02:11:44):
Just Seer Gray and Daveon Jones back to receive the
kickoff for West Charlotte. Chase hull Mantle will tee it
up at the twenty five yard line, so he's blooped
the first two.

Speaker 4 (02:11:57):
Off to the right, and there's still not anyone from
West Charlott standing over there, although Danta Nicholson's beginning to drift.
Maybe their sensing where this is going. Here's hugh'll Mantle
gets a foot into this one.

Speaker 3 (02:12:11):
J Justir Gray makes the catch coming near side, nearly
tripped up. He's got a couple of blockers across midfield
and falls at the Grimsley forty six yard line.

Speaker 4 (02:12:23):
So if there's a chance, and there is with one.

Speaker 3 (02:12:25):
Thirty five left to go, West Charlotte got a big
break right there with a nice kickoff return by Juster Gray.

Speaker 4 (02:12:32):
So they're gonna get this ball across the fifty yard
line a minute thirty five and really really nice run
there by j Justir Gray getting all the way around.
And another bit hit by Davian Jones number fourteen. We
talked about him in in the beginning. He's just a dude.
So he's rocked about three or four guys.

Speaker 2 (02:12:52):
Here.

Speaker 3 (02:12:52):
Here's Nichols on first down and ten from the forty
six in trouble, but gets away streaking for the first
down marker, and I believe he got it inside the
thirty five out of bounds at the thirty four yard line.
A twelve yard scamper for Jamori Nichols on first down,
and I got to point out we still have a
you know, West Charlotte still has.

Speaker 4 (02:13:12):
To do the thing here.

Speaker 3 (02:13:13):
But a lot of dumb c fans exited this building
as soon as Grimsley scored a touchdown, and the Lions
are just thirty four yards out from a touchdown and
a chance to tie this thing up. I'm just throwing
that out there. I know we're broadcasting into the concourse
right now. He's bank of Americans.

Speaker 4 (02:13:27):
Go back.

Speaker 3 (02:13:28):
You may want to go back to your book. You
might want to go back to your seat to check
this out. Here we go first and ten from the
thirty four far side, hash going left to right, Nichols,
we'll run again.

Speaker 4 (02:13:38):
That should be that should have been a face mask
what I thought too.

Speaker 3 (02:13:41):
Still a healthy gain on first down, but the West
Charlotte sideline is apoplectic. They wanted a penalty for a
face mask. And it sure looked like one from up
here that that was as clear as can be.

Speaker 4 (02:13:53):
I mean, his whole helmet moved off of his head,
and I can't believe nobody saw that. All Right, here
we go.

Speaker 3 (02:14:03):
Going up top far sideline and they're saying it's incomplete.
It looked like the ball was hauled in by number
two Dante Nicholson.

Speaker 4 (02:14:16):
Let's check the replay. Beauty of a throw one handed catch. Oh,
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (02:14:20):
Come on, let's see.

Speaker 4 (02:14:21):
Look at this Dante Nicholson.

Speaker 5 (02:14:24):
Oh, the ball.

Speaker 3 (02:14:25):
Bounced on the turf. Okay, that was the right call.
Nice job by the far side official. It's easy to
just want officials when they get him wrong.

Speaker 4 (02:14:32):
But that was the right car.

Speaker 5 (02:14:32):
You were gonna tell me he was wrong if he was.

Speaker 4 (02:14:35):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (02:14:36):
What an effort though by Dante Nicholson, who's had himself
a game here tonight. Clock stops with fifty three seconds
left to go twenty one to thirteen, Grimsly with an
eight point advantage, but West Charlotte with a chance third
and four from the twenty eight yard line of the Whorlies,
the crowd getting loud. Here here's Nichols hands off up

(02:15:01):
the middle to Emory McClain and mcclan.

Speaker 4 (02:15:04):
Charging toward the first down marker. And I believe he
got it. And that's big because that also stopped the
clock as the chain's move and West Charlotte's moving quickly
here to be able to snap as soon as this
resets down to forty seconds, clock restarts now thirty eight
and moving snap back to Nickels straight drop coming near.

Speaker 3 (02:15:22):
Side, has a man catch made at the five yard line,
sliding out of bounds. Number eight Racaem Finch with his
biggest catch of the night, the air force comit has
his team first in goal at the five yard line.

Speaker 4 (02:15:39):
And that's the best throw of the night too from
Jamury Nichols, a big out route about twenty five yards
down the field and really nice throw.

Speaker 3 (02:15:46):
West Charlotte fans, I implore you get back to your seats.

Speaker 5 (02:15:50):
They're starting to come back. They're coming back.

Speaker 3 (02:15:56):
And now a time out taken by Grimsley and the
West Charlotte faithful loves it. Thirty two seconds on the
game clock, first down and goal from the five. The
Lions have made a litany of mistakes tonight, three turnovers,
drives that have stalled, wasted opportunities.

Speaker 4 (02:16:14):
But they've got a chance here with thirty two.

Speaker 3 (02:16:16):
Seconds to play, to score a touchdown and then a
two point conversion to potentially tie this game up.

Speaker 4 (02:16:26):
So this is kind of an interesting scenario. Your best
player right now is Nichols. He's running, he's throwing. If
I'm coach Grinder, I got thirty two seconds, I want
four plays at the end zone. So I think every
one of these plays is at least a throwing option.
And if I'm Nickels, and I'm telling him right now
in the huddle, hey, everything's either a throw or we

(02:16:49):
are running it into the end zone. And if you
can't get in, throw it away. So you're putting a
lot on Nichols. I don't like any designed runs. Right
before that time out, there was actually a designed run
and they blew it dead. I don't want to design
run here because it probably limits me to one, maybe
two more shots. Got single coverage off to the left

(02:17:10):
there with with Dante Nicholson, and I wouldn't mind finding
some single coverage here.

Speaker 3 (02:17:15):
First and goal from the five, Nicholson gives to mcclaan
McLain up the gut, met by a couple of defenders.
Did the ball come out again? It looked to me
that his forward progress should have been stopped. The issue
now is that the clock continues to roll inside of
twenty seconds.

Speaker 4 (02:17:29):
West Charlotte has no timeouts.

Speaker 3 (02:17:31):
They've got to get on the football down to fifteen
second down from the two, and they clock it with
twelve seconds left to play.

Speaker 4 (02:17:40):
And right there is my concern why you don't want
to run the ball. So the first down starts at
thirty two seconds. They get a three yard run. Clock
runs twenty seconds go by, and they all they have
to do is spike. So they're gonna get two plays
as long as they throw it into the end zone
here on the first play, and not sure what is
happened that they have stopped the clock because the play

(02:18:02):
clock is running and the coaches are on the field.
Here we got nineteen seconds, they got a hustle, not
a lot of urgency. Play clock has been reset.

Speaker 3 (02:18:12):
Now now at thirty four seconds, Nichols in the backfield,
McClain to his right. Nichols takes the snap, a cavalcade
of blockers.

Speaker 5 (02:18:24):
In front of him.

Speaker 4 (02:18:25):
Touchdown Jamary Nichols.

Speaker 3 (02:18:30):
From two yards out, his second rushing touchdown of the night.
It's twenty one to nineteen, and the Lions, left for
dead a couple of minutes ago, have a chance to
tie it up with a two point conversion. All right,

(02:18:51):
JJ Jansen, you're Sam Grinder? Where are you going here?

Speaker 4 (02:18:55):
I mean, the only guy that can touch the ball
is Jamuri Nichols, right like That's that to me as
clear as day. Now, how do you do you want
to give him a run pass option like that last
play appeared to be kind of turned into just kind
of a quarterback run, but it was definitely a run
pass option. And feels like this regulation is gonna come

(02:19:16):
down to can Nichols get it in on his own.

Speaker 3 (02:19:18):
One way or another. Here's the play snap back to Nickels,
drifty left. He's got a lade scampering left side tie
ball game twenty one apiece. Jamoury Nichols do it at
all for dumb c What a ball game here at
Bank of America Stadium.

Speaker 4 (02:19:40):
They left him minute and thirty on the clock for
Jamury Nichols. So an unbelievable drive there for West Charlotte.
Nichols takes over. He gets a little bit of help
on a nice out route there by Dante Nicholson going in.
I have to reset fifteen minutes ago this game was over.
It's Grimsley having a one point lead and they choose

(02:20:03):
to score and give the ball back to Jamie Nichols
and this West Charlotte offense. And when we talk about
situational football, teams that master the situations win more often
than not. And we've got tons of great coaches and
tons of great players. But Grimsley had a shot to
end this game with the ball in their hand, and

(02:20:27):
West Charlotte gets a massive, massive break.

Speaker 3 (02:20:30):
And I'm in awe as to how many West Charlotte
fans have re entered this day.

Speaker 5 (02:20:34):
And then where they're coming back. They hurt us in
the concourse?

Speaker 3 (02:20:37):
How about that we've used our powers for good here tonight,
West Charlotte fans, welcome back to the action. Eight seconds
left to go, and barring a special team's miracle here
from Grimsley, it looks like we're headed for overtime.

Speaker 4 (02:20:50):
Here are the keep pounding classic. I think you want
to kick this ball as deep as possible with a
big arm like Faison Brandon, want to keep him out
of hail. Mary range ands it is a short kick
and they went for a fair catch, so so Grimsley takes.

Speaker 5 (02:21:06):
A fair catch.

Speaker 4 (02:21:07):
There they're saying, hey, we want one maybe two plays,
So what do I imagine happening? They got one time out.
If they don't get a look they like, they can
easily burn one. What is the arm strength of Phason Brandon?
Does he need to be at the fifty? Does he
need to be at the plus forty five eight, so
that the minus thirty eight eight seconds is more than

(02:21:28):
enough to get twelve thirteen yards and burn a timeout
and have a shot at hail Mary range, so there
is still time. I'll be curious to see what Grimsly
dials up here.

Speaker 5 (02:21:39):
On this first play.

Speaker 3 (02:21:40):
Kayen Battle, Hudson, Cooper, Cayden Cato. The wide receivers on
the field, DJ Howards in the tight end. Also in
the formation, Michael Williams to the left of Brandon Fazon.
Williams takes the handoff on first down and is tackled
at the thirty nine and we're going to overtime, folks.
Us Charlotte Lyons got the ball back with a minute

(02:22:02):
thirty five down by eight with no timeouts, and Jamoury
Nichols put on a show and brought the Lions fans
back into the building twenty one all and we're getting
free football here at the bank.

Speaker 4 (02:22:14):
We'll bring it to you on the other side.

Speaker 3 (02:22:15):
It's the Keep Pounding Classic presented by Bell Got Sports
Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ.

Speaker 2 (02:22:22):
You're listening to that Keep Pounding High School Classic on
Sports Radio ninety two point SEVENTYFNZ.

Speaker 3 (02:22:31):
Well, this game has been entertaining from starting to finish,
and we're getting more headed to overtime here in Uptown Charlotte.
Kyle Bailey JJ Jansen with you to Keep Pounding High
School Classic twenty twenty five edition, Game number two, going
to overtime. West Charlotte Lyons quarterback Jamury Nichols took the
football with a minute thirty five left to play, his

(02:22:54):
team trailing twenty one to thirteen, no timeouts remaining, and
Nichols put the squad on his back. Some big plays
and a couple of rushing touchdowns, including a two point
conversion attempt to tie the game up, and the Lions
fans that were streaming toward the exits have come rushing
back into the building to take in the overtime period.

(02:23:16):
And listen, you and I have been trying to keep
up with the action of the entire way and this
has been a breakneck pace.

Speaker 4 (02:23:21):
And a whole lot of fun down the stretch. JJ.
This has been an absolute blast, and we get overtime
in game two of what's been two fantastic games and
the Keep Pounding Classic and my old teammate Trey Boston's
on the field that he doesn't even have a script anymore.

Speaker 5 (02:23:34):
He is just he is leading the two of posting student.

Speaker 4 (02:23:37):
Body in the stands and he's having a blast. And
this has been an unbelievable event. And we've had two
great teams and we get overtime football, and it's gonna
be exciting to watch this because we're gonna we're getting
little different rules here. Once we get set up, we'll
explain them. But high school football, it's Matt, It's whoever gets.

Speaker 5 (02:23:58):
The ball first. There's a match.

Speaker 4 (02:23:59):
There's strategy to this, and I've always been a big
fan of taking the ball second here, So whoever wins
the toss, I would imagine once to defer go on
defense first. And I don't know if I'm if I'm
Grimsley right now, just based on the energy in the
corner that's right in front of us, I do not
want to play overtime in front of the West Charlotte

(02:24:20):
fan base and their band. You guys could probably hear
the band, yeah, come across the airwaves. They've been going
all night. It's been fantastic. I'd be curious to see.
And Sam Grinder went out for the coin toss. So
there's not a player out there. Uh, Coach Grinder just
went straight out there. So that's fantastic. Coach Grinder out
representing his Lions. Faison Brandon, the Grimsley quarterback out there

(02:24:43):
for the toss.

Speaker 5 (02:24:43):
Too, I've seen that. That's fantastic.

Speaker 4 (02:24:46):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (02:24:46):
While we wait for the decision here, we want to
remind you the Whataburger Player of the Game is yet
to be determined, and we got multiple multiple players out
there vying for the honor tonight. If the West Charlotte
Lions win, I think Jamori Nichols has wrapped up the
award for his squad. On the other side, though, you know,
Faison Brandon, he's got a touchdown pass, he's got it

(02:25:08):
more of a volume of work, let's say.

Speaker 4 (02:25:10):
But running back Micah Williams.

Speaker 3 (02:25:11):
Has scored twice tonight for Grimsley despite not having a
ton of yardage, So we have some decisions to make.

Speaker 4 (02:25:17):
JJ Jansen Yeah, I mean, quite frankly, it'd be nice
if West Charlotte one. It would just be really easy
for us because that's about as clear as can be.
It's been more of a team effort for Grimsley, and
maybe this overtime will kind of tilt the scale. So
we are coming down. Grimsley is going on offense first,
and they've got to go in front of this West

(02:25:38):
Charlotte student body and band, and just as we predicted,
defer and get and get your end that you really
want to be in front of.

Speaker 5 (02:25:48):
Good for West Charlotte. It's a field, go ahead.

Speaker 3 (02:25:52):
It's a field littered with future collegiate football players. Some
may go on to play on Sundays with Friday night lights.
Is what it's all about. Out They remember a game
like this for the rest of their lives and this
has been a fantastic game. So just in case you
don't know high school rules here. So the ball's been
put on the ten yard line.

Speaker 4 (02:26:11):
Grimsley's gonna get it first, and they're gonna choose to
put this ball on the left hash. They get that choice,
and they're actually gonna move it again because Grimsley's they
wanted the ball in the left middle. So that's coming
from the bench. They got four downs to score. They
can do whatever they want. They can they can go
for a touchdown and go for a field goal at
the end of four downs. I'd imagine this is four
down territory the whole way, and then West Charlotte will

(02:26:34):
have a chance to count. The only reason it wouldn't
is a turnover that results in a touchdown run all
the way back. So both teams should get a shot
here and we'll just do this as long as until
we get a winner. Something tells me it's not gonna
take too long. We'll see though.

Speaker 3 (02:26:51):
Grimsley will get the football first. Fazon Brandon leading the
offense out onto the field. Kaien Battle the wide receiver
to the far side, it's number one, Cayden Cato to
the near side, Michael Williams in the backfield, Grimsley going
right to left. Balls on the ten yard line middle
of the field, Hard Counts gets a lion to jump

(02:27:12):
and Sam Johnson the guilty party right there. Not a
great start for West Charlotte here in the overtime period.

Speaker 4 (02:27:20):
And uh, I have to appreciate even in a stressful moment,
Nick Cashumar, who got knocked over Gunna knocked on his back,
got right back up and ran and got right back
into position, having a little fun. There's still kids and
they're still having the time of their lives. So a
funny way to start here, no doubt about it.

Speaker 3 (02:27:36):
I Dj howardson the tight end on the right side
of the formation, Hudson Cooper the wing back right behind him.
Here's Faison Brandon shotgun snap quarterback keeper left side down
to the four yard line to pick up of one
that'll bring up second down from the four yard line.

Speaker 4 (02:27:55):
I'm going and go a little bit quicker here Kaden
Smith had had the tackle, and you here at the
four yard line.

Speaker 5 (02:28:01):
This is four down territory.

Speaker 4 (02:28:02):
I would be really surprised if we see anything other
than a run or maybe a quick pass. And West
Charlotte's pack in the box. There's nine guys within three
yards of the line of scrimmage. Here is Grimsly looks
at the sideline to get the audible from their offensive play.

Speaker 3 (02:28:16):
Callers exact same formation, Michael Williams to the right of
his quarterback fase On Brandon. But a flag comes in
before the snap gets off.

Speaker 5 (02:28:29):
I think we're gonna get a false start.

Speaker 4 (02:28:36):
On the defense encroachment the second procedural penalty. I think
the alliance I did not see it.

Speaker 5 (02:28:44):
I was looking right in the area and didn't see it.

Speaker 3 (02:28:52):
Number zero, Sam Johnson balls on the three yard line two. Actually,
I take that back. Second down from the two, Brandon
takes the snap, gives to Williams and he has dropped
immediately Number five, Elijah little John, the Penn State commits
screaming off the edge to make the stop.

Speaker 4 (02:29:14):
Little John comes down and there's just no blocker for him,
and it's almost kind of like an edge blitz.

Speaker 5 (02:29:19):
He's playing in the edge. The run's going to the.

Speaker 4 (02:29:22):
Left, and they're basically saying we can get in before
we have to block you, and Elijah little John said, no,
you probably should put someone on me. I'm going to
Penn State. Someone probably should block me. Third down from
the two. You'd have to think that.

Speaker 3 (02:29:39):
Darryl Brown is not even considering kicking the football even
if his team doesn't manage to score here and right
there he calls it time out. Didn't like what he saw,
comes running out onto the field, gets the time out.

Speaker 4 (02:29:54):
Each team has one timeout, so Grimsly's used theirs for
this first set of overtime, set of downs and little
different situation. We got all untimed plays here, so get
yourself in the right formation. You don't want to take
a negative play, and Grimsley's got a huge advantage here,

(02:30:14):
third and two, third and goal from the two, and
I think just two runs inside probably gets gets them in.
And you know, Mike Miller, Nick Kashubara, these guys are
six four sixty five sixty six. Get I think I
get behind them and just try to ram it down
their throat. But tensions are high, so you're never quite

(02:30:40):
sure what everyone's thinking in a in a structful situation
like this.

Speaker 3 (02:30:44):
Two minutes and forty five two hours, rather in forty
five minutes into this ballgame. The excitement level was through
the roof when this game kicked off. A heavyweight matchup
between two of the best programs in the state. It
has delivered, and nearing eleven o'clock Eastern time, we're still

(02:31:05):
awaiting a result because here comes the Grimsley offense out
for third down from the two yard line, Lions showing blitz.

Speaker 4 (02:31:15):
They'll bring it.

Speaker 3 (02:31:16):
Faison Brandon stopped in the backfield at the one yard line.
It's where he's brought down officially, and it's fourth down
from the one coming up.

Speaker 4 (02:31:26):
Jamil Watson came and gave an absolute licking right at
the goal line. Brandon is in and Watson and Caden
Smith hit him right on right at the goal line
and sets up a unbelievably big fourth down right here
at the one and Grimsley's starting to little disorganized here

(02:31:50):
gets to ten.

Speaker 3 (02:31:50):
Yeah, we're at eleven and we have two wide receivers
sprinting to the near side of the formation. Play clock
down to six now five. Faison Brandon down two high snap,
grabs it, barrels across the goal line. Touchdown faise On
Brandon and the Grimsley Whorlies retake the lead twenty seven
to twenty one. Well, that was a stressful.

Speaker 4 (02:32:16):
Four plays ten yards, but a penalty at the beginning
of the drive. The encroachment really hurt them because they
only needed to go five yards over the four plays
and Fazon Brandon punches it in over the left side
of the offensive line, and.

Speaker 5 (02:32:33):
That was a big, big drive.

Speaker 4 (02:32:34):
And of course this is a big pat here, as
we've seen already a little bit of issues in the past.

Speaker 3 (02:32:40):
Chase Hull Mantle perfect tonight, clean snap, kick us up
and it's good.

Speaker 4 (02:32:47):
Twenty eight to twenty one.

Speaker 3 (02:32:49):
Grimsley retakes the lead up by a touchdown after a
touchdown was scored by the twenty twenty four North Carolina
Gatorade Football Player of the Year and mister Football here
in North Carolina. Face on Brandon last year, picking up
where he left off, making big plays in big moments.

(02:33:09):
His team has the advantage, and now Wes Charlotte will
get the ball on offense with a chance to tie
it up or potentially go ahead, and really cool.

Speaker 5 (02:33:17):
You know, it's a little bit of a counterplay.

Speaker 4 (02:33:19):
They got one puller and the second puller is Hudson Cooper,
the senior wide receiver. And you know, coach Daryl Brown said, hey,
we like throwing him the ball. He does a lot
with the ball in his hands, but as we saw
by the fifty three yard touchdown, but he likes to
get involved in the run game and he's the final
block that springs Brandon there for the touchdown. Now West

(02:33:39):
Charlotte down seven. You'd imagine this is touchdown go for
two situations, So I imagine this is going to be
the last drive of the game.

Speaker 5 (02:33:49):
No ties here, Wes Charlotte, first down.

Speaker 3 (02:33:52):
Jamuri Nichols takes the snap, fakes the handoff up the gut,
wasted no time, touchdown from ten yards out. Jamury Nichols
on a touchdown spree here late in the game, a
rushing touchdown and a two point conversion to tie it
up at the end of regulation, and his very first
touched in over time goes for a ten yard touchdown run.

Speaker 5 (02:34:14):
That was pretty easy. Run straight up the middle, and
look at him.

Speaker 3 (02:34:21):
You see the West Charlotte faithful. They're holding the dog
over zoo. Yeah, you want West Charlotte to go for
two in the win.

Speaker 4 (02:34:25):
Right here, this ball is going to Nichols and I'm
pretty sure this is Nichols here down at the ten
yard line.

Speaker 5 (02:34:32):
He ran straight in.

Speaker 4 (02:34:33):
I'm guessing this is a cramp and uh yeah, Sam
Grinder wasted no time. He almost seemed uninterested with the touchdown.
He immediately called a time out and he wanted to
get organized because he was going for two. The whole
way Nichols went in really didn't even get touched running around,

(02:34:53):
and I wonder if.

Speaker 5 (02:34:54):
He cramped up there. He is he kind of cramped
up right there as he.

Speaker 4 (02:34:57):
Got around to celebrate with a landing Gilmore And assuming
that's just a little crampage, and so two point conversions
coming from the three yard line, they've already had one
of these and I'd say the best player on the
field tonight, it's been Jamuriy Nichols. Like I know, we
got Faison Brandon, he's the number one player in the

(02:35:17):
country and at least at the quarterback position.

Speaker 5 (02:35:19):
He's going to Tennessee. But Nichols has been fantastic.

Speaker 4 (02:35:23):
Much like I said at the end of the fourth quarter,
I imagine this play is ending in the hands of Nichols,
I would think so.

Speaker 3 (02:35:30):
I just first of all, I love the reaction from
the fan base here without hesitation, folks, I mean, they're
right in front of us here, the entire West Charlotte
fan base, nearly thousands of them immediately held up two
fingers and all yelled to go for two. And that's
exactly what West Charlotte is going to do. Right here,
in overtime, trailing by one, Grimsley fire the opening shot.

(02:35:54):
Here in the extra period twenty eight to twenty one.
They went up by a touchdown Jamoury Nichols moments ago,
a ten yard touchdown run on the first overtime possession
for the Lions, and now one play.

Speaker 5 (02:36:07):
To win it all.

Speaker 3 (02:36:09):
Now we've got movement where there shouldn't be movement. Flags
flying in.

Speaker 4 (02:36:13):
This is gonna be a huge, huge call. I saw
it as off sides. Let's see how they see it.
Everyone was moving, yes, still deliberating out there. JJ's wright.

Speaker 3 (02:36:27):
We had multiple players moving on both sides of the
line of scrimmage, all start against West Charlotte.

Speaker 4 (02:36:37):
Wow, let's watch the replay here.

Speaker 5 (02:36:41):
No wow, no, no way.

Speaker 4 (02:36:44):
That's a bad call. Oh, that's a bad call. So
number twenty five, Cassius Boston comes across the line of
scrimmage and the tackle and tight end standing right in
front of him are the ones that move. And that's
what they call the false start on bosticks across the
line of scrimmage when they.

Speaker 3 (02:37:00):
Move a Keem Rose was pleading his case with the official,
but they back them up five yards.

Speaker 4 (02:37:06):
They'll try it anyway.

Speaker 3 (02:37:08):
Nichols takes the snap drag down in complete. Grimsley Worlies
get the win here at the Bank twenty eight to
twenty seven.

Speaker 4 (02:37:19):
I've got no rooting interest in this game. We're just
here to call it.

Speaker 3 (02:37:22):
But if I'm a West Charlotte fan, that leaves a
very bitter taste in my mouth for a long time.

Speaker 4 (02:37:28):
That is an incredibly hard way to lose the game,
and look, wow, it felt like it was setting up
there for Nichols to win it. I have to wonder
is it a different play call because it's at the
eight yard line set of the three. I know he
just ran it in from ten yards. It's so hard
to just say, hey, we're gonna run the ball on

(02:37:50):
what it amounts to fourth and goal, right, a two
point conversion. I would have loved to have seen what
would have happened on a true two point conversion play.
And you and I disc on the on the off
sides call, but that's that ends up.

Speaker 5 (02:38:03):
Being the biggest call in the game. I don't think
we disagree at all. Yeah, I don't think we disagreed all.

Speaker 4 (02:38:07):
And Grimsley played fantastic and what a great, great way
to finish. I yet another unbelievable, keep pounding classic here
in Bank of America Stadium, no doubt about it.

Speaker 3 (02:38:19):
I mean that was right there. If you, if you
obviously are just listening to us. The pocket collapsed on
Jamuri Nichols there on that play. He was being drugged down,
tried to throw the ball to the far side incomplete
off the turf, and he is beside himself upset about
the way this game has ended, as you would expect,
but the final score twenty eight to twenty seven. The
Grimsley Worlies come down from Greensboro and win their first game,

(02:38:40):
and to keep pounding classic here in twenty twenty five
will come back. We'll name our player of the game,
presented by Whataburger, and we'll wrap up the coverage here
at the bank right here on Sports Radio ninety two
to seven WFNZ.

Speaker 2 (02:38:54):
You are listening to that keep pounding high School Classic
on Sports Radio ninety two point seven UNZ.

Speaker 3 (02:39:09):
Final score twenty eight to twenty seven. The Grimsley Whorlies
win it in overtime, quarterback Faison Brandon with the game
winning touchdown. Int Jamuri Nichols gave it everything he had
for West Charlotte, including a touchdown and two point conversion
at the end of regulation, a ten yard touchdown run
on the lions only possession of overtime, but after a

(02:39:31):
questionable false start penalty on his offensive line that backed
them up five yards, he was dragged down unable to
make a play on the conversion attempt. The two point
conversion attempt that might have won the game for West
Charlotte and the Lions falls short. Kyle Bailey JJ Jansen
wrapping up the coverage here from the twenty twenty five
Keep Pounding High School Classic and partner first and foremost

(02:39:53):
great to work with.

Speaker 4 (02:39:54):
You had him last. Couldn't have asked for more from
the second game. We had two great games tonight and
Get Time thriller amongst two defending state champions. And you know,
I think you and I both had the same feeling
a little disappointing because we thought maybe that wasn't the
right call there on the fall start. I would have
loved to have seen one play from the three yard line.
Felt fitting, just kind of the way these two teams battled.

(02:40:16):
And can't say enough about how well Jamori Nichols played,
especially down in the fourth quarter, taking his team down
the field to win or to put the game into overtime.

Speaker 5 (02:40:27):
And two great teams, two great programs.

Speaker 4 (02:40:29):
And obviously in seven A and eight A respectively, we
would expect them right there at the end.

Speaker 5 (02:40:35):
Doesn't hurt for their RPI.

Speaker 4 (02:40:36):
We got two really good teams here, and in this
new world to high school football, you're certainly encouraged to
play great teams. And we were blessed with an unbelievable
game here tonight in the in the nightcap, we.

Speaker 3 (02:40:47):
Sure were time to announce the What A Burger Player
of the Game, and that award goes to a man
who's been well collecting awards the last couple of years.
He was the Gatorade Player of the Year in North
Carolina and Mister Football in North Carolina last year on
his way to a state championship with Grimsley, and tonight
it's quarterback Faison Brandon.

Speaker 4 (02:41:06):
Who ends the night with one hundred and forty nine
yards through the air.

Speaker 3 (02:41:11):
He also rushed for forty yards a couple of touchdowns
to a fifty three yard touchdown pass to Hudson Cooper
to get the scoring started way back win in the
first quarter, which now feels like eons ago given the
way this game turned out. But Faison Brandon being recognized
on the field during the champions trophy ceremony and will
also receive what must be one of the greatest awards anybody's.

Speaker 4 (02:41:33):
Ever heard of, Free Whataburger four a year.

Speaker 3 (02:41:36):
Congratulations to Grimsley quarterback and Tennessee commit Faison Brandon our
Whataburger Player.

Speaker 5 (02:41:42):
Of the Game.

Speaker 4 (02:41:43):
You know It was really a nice team win and
Brandon wasn't asked to do a ton but you know,
at the end of the game they're in overtime.

Speaker 5 (02:41:51):
Yea.

Speaker 4 (02:41:51):
The Grimsley put it in their best player's hand and
he definitely kept him on track.

Speaker 5 (02:41:56):
No turnovers in a game where West Charlot had three.
He did everything he was asked for.

Speaker 4 (02:42:01):
And you know, Darryl Brown told us before the game, Hey,
look if Faison Brandon throws the ball four times, yeah
and we win, he's happy and clearly that's what we
got here.

Speaker 5 (02:42:11):
And he wasn't asked to do a lot with his arm.

Speaker 4 (02:42:13):
He was very impressive with his legs when when they
gave him the ball, and you can see why he's
one of the very best players at North Carolina and.

Speaker 5 (02:42:19):
In the entire country.

Speaker 4 (02:42:20):
And Grimsy's got to be really happy with what they've gotten.

Speaker 5 (02:42:24):
I'll tell you what.

Speaker 4 (02:42:24):
They've got a really nice receiving corps and a lot
of weapons for Brandon to throw to. It was. It
was a mighty impressive game from there offensively.

Speaker 5 (02:42:32):
Sure was.

Speaker 3 (02:42:32):
And an honorable mention and tip of the cap goes
to running back Michael Williams, who also had a couple
of scores tonight, not a ton of volume yardage in
this game, but a couple of scores. A young man
who took over for one of the greatest North Carolina
high school running backs in the history of the state,
Mitchell Summers, who was part of that run to a
title last year and now playing at Sacred Heart, Michael
Williams a couple of touchdowns. Honorable mention goes out to him,

(02:42:56):
and an honorable mention goes out to everybody involved in
this broadcast tonight, from our boss man jeff Rickord, to
Colin Hoggard, who always make sure we're on a straight
and narrow to our buddy Anthony flounderpak not a engineer
and statistician tonight here on the broadcast, to Amy Martin
here with the Panthers Tepper Sports and Entertainment, our friend
Riley Fields, the director of community relations for the Panthers,

(02:43:18):
And I'll just shout out Trey Boston because he's a
mutual friend of ours who's m seed a heck of
an event here too, unbelievable. I don't think I've left
anybody out, but if I have, it's not intentional. I
want to thank everybody who had a hand in making
this broadcast happen here tonight.

Speaker 4 (02:43:30):
Really awesome night, and can't say enough about the event
that they've put on here the last few years. And look,
I got some inside information and there's a ton of
school signing up to do this and you can understand why,
and what a great opportunity for these kids and really
really impressive. And we talked about this in the first game.
It's not just the kids, it's the parents, it's the

(02:43:52):
grandma's and grandpa's, aunts and uncles. They get to see
their young boys on the field, on an NFL field,
and it's a really special moment for all of them,
and it's a great event. It's very very cool, and
we were blessed with two awesome games tonight, which makes
things even even better. And shout out to Grimsly and
huff with two fantastic wins for those programs.

Speaker 3 (02:44:12):
Absolutely a big thanks to Deshaun Baker of Huff, to
Bobby Collins South Point, to head coach of Sam Grinder,
and Daryl Brown here in this game tonight, all of
whom gave us their time earlier this week to help
JJ and I prepare for the broadcast. It means a
whole lot to us. Quick reminder coming up tomorrow, the
high school football coverage does not end here on wfn Z.
Another tradition back in play tomorrow night, the Charlotte Kickoff

(02:44:35):
Night powered by Ortho Carolina. Another doubleheader of high school
football coming your way Myers Park and JM. Robinson will
kick it off at five o'clock from Memorial Stadium tomorrow
evening and following that game it's Butler and Olympic. So
make sure to be right here at WFNZ for a
doubleheader tomorrow evening. Once again, for all of our crew

(02:44:56):
involved in the broadcast and my partner JJ Jansen, I'm
Kyle Bailey. It's been a great time. Final score twenty
eight twenty seven. Grimsley gets it done and they head
back up eighty five to Greensboro victorious. Here in the
Keep Pounding High School Classic twenty twenty five edition. You
heard it all right here on Sports Radio ninety two
seven WFNZ