Providence Grove plays for a piece of conference title on Friday

CLIMAX — The Providence Grove High School football team has an opportunity to add another banner to its football history Friday night as the Patriots head to Thomasville to meet the Bulldogs with first place in the Central Carolina Conference on the line.

PG, the defending CCC champions, will enter that contest one game behind the Bulldogs (4-0, 8-1) in the conference standings after both teams captured wins last week with Thomasville blowing past East Davidson and PG (3-1, 6-3) capturing a 23-14 home win over Wheatmore.

The Patriots need a win to earn a share of the title, which could end up to a three-way split between PG, THS and West Davidson.

“At this point, it would be a three-way tie, but we’ll take it any way we can get it,” PG coach Cody Moran said. “Last year, Thomasville ran a Wing-T and had all that speed inside and we thought as coaches if they spread things out, they could be really, really good. I think that’s what they have done this year.”

Thomasville can put points on the scoreboard. The Bulldogs are averaging 42 a game. After a season-opening 28-19 loss to T.A. Andrews, THS has won eight straight, putting up 63 points on Western Guilford, 51 on Wheatmore and 63 last week on East Davidson.

“If they make mistakes up front, their running back (senior Cordell Moon) is good enough to offset that,” Moran said. 

PG can ill afford many mistakes against the Bulldogs. They made too many, Moran said, against Wheatmore.

“We felt (last Friday night) we shot ourselves in the foot,” Moran said. “At halftime, we were talking about how the Patriots were beating the Patriots. But our guys responded and made some plays. At this point in the season heading into the playoffs, that’s what you want to see as a coaching staff.”

Against Wheatmore, the Patriots found themselves down 14-10 in the third quarter before junior lineman Easton Ibe took a handoff and rumbled two yards for the go-ahead score.

“We have a package for him,” Moran said, stating the coaching staff watched him carry the ball in practice before scoring a rushing TD last week against East Davidson. “He’s coming right at you. He’s a mean ball of energy.”

That gave PG a 16-14 lead after the PAT missed, but Connor Tozer picked off a fourth-quarter pass and returned it 20 yards for the final 23-14 score.

“Our defense has played really well the past three weeks,” Moran said of a unit that has allowed just 21 points total the past three weeks. “Tozer hasn’t even played defense since Jordan-Matthews (Sept. 18). The guys stepped up and made plays when they had to.”

PG led 10-0 after quarterback Landon Fox connected with Conner Haithcock for a 14-yard TD pass and Kyle Keller nailed the PAT. A 26-yard field goal by Keller extended the lead before Wheatmore made it 10-7 at halftime on a 36-yard TD connection from Cole Lane to Bentley Mills.

WHS took a 14-10 lead on another TD pass before PG scored the final 13 points of the contest. 

PG rushed for 166 yards in the contest and Fox threw for 117 yards.

Wheatmore was held to 94 yards on the ground while Lane threw for 186 yards after completing 15 of 40 pass attempts.

PG has played much more relaxed the past few games. That came after a time of self-reflection after the win over Trinity when the coaching staff realized it may be putting a bit too much emphasis on winning and not enjoying the game.

“We preach all the time that we are going to make them better men, and I was getting so uptight about winning and losing, probably from winning last year,” Moran said. “We had the players meet with a coach, we took notes and realized we weren’t doing the guys justice. For a couple of weeks, we were miserable. 

“This week was the best week of practice we have had. We had the most energy we had shown. I just didn’t tell them how proud I was of them as much as I should.”

Friday’s win was the eighth straight in the rivalry and gives PG an 11-4 all-time record against the Warriors, who will close the regular season at home against Trinity.