On Friday night, Taniya Martin was crowned East Wilkes’ Homecoming queen and Kaleigh Couch was named Homecoming Princess.
RONDA — Week three of the 2021 football season was exciting for several teams around the area. The Starmount Rams travelled the short distance to Ronda to take on the East Wilkes Cardinals. The Rams were coming off of a 14-7 win over Alleghany, while East Wilkes lost to West Wilkes 21-20. Through three and a half quarters of action, the Rams were in control of the game. Starmount had scored two early touchdowns for a 14-0 lead, but the Cardinals were not going to give up easily. East Wilkes scored their first touchdown of the night with less than two minutes to play in the game. The home team tried to make a late come back but Starmount held them off for a 14-7 win.
Starmount won the toss to start the game and deferred to the second half. East Wilkes started their first drive of the game on the 22-yard line and were unable to advance past the sticks. Starmount held the Rams at the 28-yard line and the home team was forced to punt.
Back waiting for the punt was Davion Coleman, who was able to break through East Wilkes’ defense to bring the ball to the 47-yard line. Starmount set up on offense and the Rams made the most of their first three plays. On third and one from the 44, Alex Armstrong handed the ball off to Sterlin Holbrook for the fourth time in a row. Holbrook powered through the defensive line of East Wilkes to gain four yards and a new set of downs. The Rams kept pushing down the field and eventually made it to the 17-yard line. On second and nine, a flag was thrown against the Rams for a chop block. The flag backed the Rams up with the 26-yard line and Starmount was unable to make the yards back up. The Rams called out their field goal unit, and the kick from Jimmy Angulo was wide left. With 3:52 left in the opening quarter, Starmount and East Wilkes had yet to put points on the board.
In East Wilkes’ second drive of the night, the Cardinals struggled to gain positive yards. The first two plays saw the Cardinals flagged for false starts. On first and 20, East Wilkes had an incomplete pass. The Cardinals were looking to make a difference on second down, but the Rams had a different idea. Off of the snap, the Cardinals fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Rodney Watson. The recovery by Watson gave Starmount great field position as they set up on the ten-yard line.
Starmount wasted no time converting the fumble recovery into a touchdown, as Armstrong set up behind his center. Off of the snap, Armstrong looked down the field and saw Kaden Pardue open on the right side. Armstrong put the ball into Pardue’s hands, and the Rams had put up their first points of the night. The extra point attempt from Angulo was put through the uprights, as the Rams had a 7-0 lead over East Wilkes.
Things seemed to go from bad to worse for the Cardinals. On fourth and eight from the 19, the Cardinals went to punt the ball away with Kole Lambert setting up for the kick. The ball was off kilter from the snap, and Lambert tried to retain possession. As Lambert went to the right side of the field, the Rams were able to smother him at the seven-yard line. With the tackle, Starmount once again took over in the red zone. It took Starmount three plays before they found the end zone, as Armstrong handed the ball off to Holbrook at the three yard line. Holbrook waltzed into the end zone untouched and the Rams led East Wilkes 13-0. The point after attempt was successful, and with 12 seconds remaining in the first quarter, Starmount held a 14-0 lead over the home team.
In the second quarter, both teams were unsuccessful in their attempts to make it down the field. East Wilkes almost came up with a big play with under a minute left, but the pass was incomplete. Starmount went into the halftime break with a two touchdown lead over East Wilkes.
After the break, Starmount received the opening kick off. The Rams made it to their own 29-yard line and were forced to punt the ball away. East Wilkes took over on the 44, and ran 16 plays over the course of eight minutes. On fourth and three from the 23-yard line, Bryson Sidden had an impressive diving catch for the Cardinals. The catch set up a new set of downs for the Cardinals on the three-yard line. East Wilkes could smell a touchdown on the horizon, but Starmount was standing in their way.
On first-and-goal, Holbrook burst through the offensive line and came up with a huge tackle on Brody Martin for a seven yard loss. The next play put East Wilkes back at the seven, as Starmount was called offside. With the clock ticking down in the quarter, East Wilkes had two more chances to make it across the goal line. On third down, Starmount’s defense once again came up strong. Alex Williams pushed through the line to come up with a sack, which forced a loss of four yards. East Wilkes’ chances to make it into the end zone started to slim out, as they were called for a false start on fourth down. The penalty backed to Cardinals up to the 11-yard line with one more chance under their belt. The play was called by East Wilkes, but the Cardinals had nowhere to go. Starmount came up with a big defensive play on fourth down, and the ball was turned over by East Wilkes.
The Rams took two snaps and let the clock run out to take a 14-0 lead heading into the final 12 minutes of the game. East Wilkes’ defense held off the Rams and forced the visitors to punt the ball away. With under ten minutes remaining, East Wilkes’ next drive ended with another turnover on downs. With 7:32 left to play in the game, the Rams took over on the 28-yard line. Starmount ‘s drive only lasted four plays, as they were forced to punt the ball away on fourth down.
East Wilkes knew they were going to have to change things up if they wanted to start making a comeback before the game was completed. With less than six minutes on the board, the Cardinals started their drive on the 40-yard line. East Wilkes decided to start throwing the ball down the field, and when they did they gained positive yards. On second down, Briggs Gentry put the ball into the air for a five yard gain by Lambert. On the next down, Briggs passed the ball down field once again but the Rams came up with stop at the line of scrimmage. East Wilkes was then called for holding, which backed the ball up to the 30-yard line. On fourth and 20, East Wilkes knew this play was the one they needed to convert.
Gentry set up under his center and called for the play, which set his receivers in motion. Taking off down the field for the Cardinals was Titus Miller. Briggs put the ball into the air and the wide receiver came up with a perfect catch. Miller took off down the field for the Cardinals and was brought down at the 31-yard line. It was a 39-yard gain which put East Wilkes up the field with a new set of downs.
Five plays later, the Cardinals were able to make their way across the goal line for their first touchdown of the night. Briggs handed the ball off to Brody Martin who took the ball into the end zone for a one-yard touchdown. The point after attempt by Jorge Lopez was good and the Cardinals had cut Starmount’s lead to one touchdown.
On the next kick-off, the Cardinals tried for the onside kick. Starmount recovered the ball and made four plays before punting the ball away. With no timeouts left on the board, East Wilkes tried to make their way up the field. Unfortunately for the home team it was too little too late. As time ran out, Starmount came up with a 14-7 win over East Wilkes.
With the win the Rams are now 2-1 in the conference and will play West Wilkes at home on Friday night. East Wilkes is now 1-2 and will play at Alleghany on Friday.
Reach Kristian on Twitter @yadkinelksports