THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 1996 TAG: 9609120174
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 43 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JEFF ZEIGLER, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: EDENTON LENGTH: 63 lines
Jay Swicegood, Edenton-Holmes High School's football coach, also coaches track at the school. He advocates that his football players go out for the spring sport during their offseason. The policy seems to have paid off.
Last week's 45-20 win for the Aces over Williamston looked like a track meet for running backs Mitchell Stanley and Shelton White.
Stanley, who scored four touchdowns and has 10 for the season, rushed for 257 yards on just 15 carries. That's over 17 yards per carry every time he touched the ball - a guaranteed first down.
Against the Tigers, Stanley was unstoppable. He used every move in the book to gain yardage - breaking tackles, fakes, over the middle, around the outside - it really didn't matter how he ran it. The runs always came up gold.
White, who has been in Stanley's shadow as a blocking back, also rushed for 101 yards last week.
It is feasible that Stanley could rush for 2,000 yards and White could rush for over 1,000 this season.
On a night when humidity still lingered from Hurricane Fran, Swicegood marveled at his hurricane tailback.
``He (Stanley) added another dimension to his game tonight in the way he accelerated into the hole,'' said Swicegood. ``He also made some good cuts against the grain.''
The track meet started in the second quarter. Stanley led off the Edenton scoring with a 32-yard touchdown run with 11:00 to play in the half. Stephen Mitchener's extra point made the score 7-0.
Williamston countered when quarterback Jason Mobley hit freshman halfback D'Brian Hudgins with a 15-yard touchdown pass at 6:57. Edenton then led 7-6.
Next, Stanley scored his second touchdown of the game - this time on a 17-yard pass play from Chris Williams. Mitchener's extra point gave the Aces a 14-6 lead with 4:25 to play in the half. Less than a minute later, Mobley broke loose for a 47-yard touchdown run to put Williamston within two points.
With 1:03 to play in the half, White plunged in from two yards out. Mitchener's kick put the Aces up 21-12.
Edenton soon blew the game open with three quick strikes in the third quarter. On his team's opening drive of the second half, White took the football like a track baton and ripped off a 46-yard touchdown at the 10:23 mark. After the Edenton defense stopped Williamston on downs, the Aces came back for another score - this time a 26-yard run from Stanley on some crafty spin moves and jukes.
On Williamston's next play from scrimmage, Tigers quarterback Mobley, who was under heavy pressure, threw a wobbler into the hands of Edenton's Ryan Westbrook. Westbrook sprinted 47 yards for a touchdown to up the Edenton lead to 39-12 with 5:07 to play in the quarter.
Edenton added a final score on a 46-yard run by Stanley with 9:30 left in the game.
In the second half alone, Edenton, which was ranked seventh in the state coming into the Williamston game, showed its big play capability with three scoring plays of over 40 yards each.
Stanley, who rushed for 581 yards and scored 10 touchdowns in his first three games, gave credit to his offensive line.
``The holes were there. Marcus Sharpe and Brian Ward did a good job on trapping. And Shelton White had a great game,'' Stanley said. ``I give credit to the whole offensive line. I didn't expect their defense to be that strong. I knew if my line blocked for me, their defense didn't stand a chance.''
Swicegood said he didn't get a chance to run Edenton's pass offense because the run offense was so good. by CNB