Get your own Free Home PageSmith's football team opened the season struggling, but there were definite signs of improvement during the first four games. The Golden Eagles are young, with 20 sophomores and only four seniors. But according to their coach, that doesn�t matter .
�The future looks bright with a team like this,� Smith coach Tony McKey said recently. �I see us being a playoff team in the next two years, but you can't go to the next level without commitment.�
And struggle. The Golden Eagles lost their first two games of the season by a combined score of 91-0, but they rebounded with a 14-7 upset win over Southeast Guilford. Then they lost 41-14 to highly-ranked 2-A power High Point Central, although Smith did not play uncompetitively. McKey's team was down 27-14 in the fourth quarter. Turnovers (two interceptions) and penalties (81 yards on 11 flags) proved costly as the Central Bison scored two touchdowns down the stretch to put the game away.
Still, the team is clearly playing better than it did after a 1-9 record last season and the less-than-spectacular start to the current campaign.
In the victory over Southeast, wideout Toney Price made five catches for 112 yards. Fullback Mike Daye added a critical 59-yard run that eventually led to another touchdown.
The defense hassled the Falcons all night long. Except for a 93-yard run on a reverse that accounted for Southeast's only touchdown, Smith's defense stymied the Falcons' offense. Indeed, the Falcons finished with only 91 rushing yards because of frequent Golden Eagle sacks. The Eagles forced five turnovers and Jesse Louis blocked a punt that led to a BLS score.
Saxton Zachary and Shamari Brown led the defensive effort for Smith.
This BLS team, despite its lackluster records, has faught hard to improve each week. According to McKey, a major problem in rebuilding the program is getting players to come out for the team. The first day of practice, McKey had only 28 players. Because of this, the JV team was scrapped and there are now 42 on the team. By contrast, Southeast has 85 players in their program.
�If we could get the commitment necessary from the student body, then we would definitely be a playoff team in the future,� McKey said.
Could the fact that Smith has a reputation for losing be the reason people haven't come out for the the team?
�It's not the fact that Smith has been losing (in recent years),� McKey said. �Any place is where you make it. I think the problem is where young men place their commitments, putting their jobs first. These are the years that you should be having fun. Working should come later.�
What about fan support?
�I think the attendance has a lot to do with it,� McKey said. �You don't find enough loyal fans.�
Winning, of course, would change that.
�When we start winning, the same people that were talking about us will be the same ones patting us on our backs,� McKey said.
The Southeast game demonstrated what Smith is capable of. In addition to forcing five Falcon turnovers, the Golden Eagles dominated the line of scrimmage, not so much with size, but with quickness. Southeast had 151 total yards and five first downs. That's a fine defensive performance any Friday night.
Smith scored first in the game on a 34-yard pass from quarterback Justin Baugham to Price. Daye added the PAT for a 7-0 lead with 3:25 left in the first period.
Baugham, who plays right cornerback on defense, also got Smith headed in the right direction defensively by intercepting a Falcon pass late in the first quarter. Baugham drove the Golden Eagles to the Southeast 23-yard line before giving the ball over on downs.
But that set the tone for the entire game. Smith moved the ball fairly effectively and the defense kept Southeast in check.
McKey�s team moved the ball best through the air on passes by Baugham to Price. The Golden Eagles also moved the ball well behind the running of Daye and tailback Travis McAdoo.
McKey confused the Falcons with a new offensive alignment. He placed the fullback behind the tackle and the slotback behind the tight end, with McAdoo aligned like a normal I-formation tailback.
�My father (Jonathan McKey) ran that at Dudley in the mid-1970s,� the Smith coach said. �He called it his �Elephant Set,� because it gave him more manpower at the point of attack.�
After Southeast tied the game with the long reverse by Ryan Marrow, Smith dominated the rest of the way. Southeast had only 23 total yards in the second half. The Falcons were thrown for losses on six plays in the second half.
With the aid of several penalties, the Falcons did drive to the Smith 29 to start the second half. However, the drive stopped there and a 456-yard field goal attempt was wide right.
Daye then raced 59 yards on a dive to the Southeast 20. However, that drive stalled and Baugham's first-down pass dropped incomplete.
Louis then blocked a Southeast punt and the Golden Eagles recovered at the 1-yard line. Baugham sneaked in on the first play from scrimmage and Daye added the PAT for 14-7.
Two fumbles doomed the Falcons down the stretch.
�I was happy to get that win for the guys,� McKey said. �But it's just one game.�
Central, ranked third in 2-A, riddled the Smith secondary with a 9-of-14 passing night for 200 yards. Meanwhile, Baugham was only 6-of-26 with two interceptions.
The Bison built a 21-0 lead behind the play of Ricky Haywood. He ran back the opening kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown and added a one-yard run to make it 14-0. Chuckie Reed scored from the 5-yard line for 21-0.
Smith countered with a 14-yard Baugham-to-Price connection. Daye's kick failed. Undefeated Central went up 27-6 at halftime when Reed hauled in a 56-yard touchdown pass, but the Golden Eagles got the only third-quarter score, on a 23-yard Baugham-to-Price pass.
The loss dropped Smith to 1-3, but the improvement was palpable.
�We are gaining respect,� McKey said. �But we have to be realistic. This is a process.�
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