South Meck Wins NC Final
South Meck Wins NC Final
South Meck completed their second-half surge with a 41-19 victory over Charlotte Catholic Sunday in the North Carolina Single-School league final.
South Meck had an excellent game from their interior backs Jameson Beatty, Jackson Wilson, and Brody Evans. They had the better of field position for most of the game, and their forwards worked very hard to consolidate line breaks and keep the pressure on.
Early in the game it was just that sort of pressure that allowed Evans to snake through for the opening try. Beatty converted for a 7-0 lead.
Charlotte Catholic responded. After counter-attacking on a kick Catholic got a lineout and then Vince Keller took a low pass and was through. Roman Hyland converted.
But slowly South Meck started to get the upper hand. Beatty added a penalty, and then a nifty show-and-go put the USA age-grader through for an excellent try and a 15-7 lead.
A very good sequence by Charlotte Catholic, again off a kick counter, saw the ball spun wide to Jack McFee for a nice finish on the wing. Hyland slotted the difficult conversion from the touchline and it was 15-14.
Just before halftime, a break by Evans allowed him to link up with Wilson for a crucial score near the posts. Beatty converted for a 22-14 halftime lead.
South Meck struck right after halftime. They pressured off their own kickoff, forced a turnover, and Beatty quickly sent it to Evans to Wilson and out to Patrick Dugan. The flanker did superbly, staying infield as he bull-rushed three defenders to score in the corner. Now it was 27-14 South Meck.
Dugan was active again, stealing the loose ball off a lineout. That allowed South Meck to attack wide. They were stopped but a penalty brought the play back and after a tap move Beatty once again scored on a show-and-go, making it 34-14.
About 17 minutes into the second half Charlotte Catholic was able to get into the South Meck 22 and after an offside penalty scrumhalf Andrew Kuhn tapped and scored in the corner. The Cougars looked to add to that as they worked the phases but the connection between two players was slightly off-time, the ball hit the deck and Beatty was immediate on it, scooping the ball off the deck and going in long-range.
This was about 25 minutes into the second half, and Evans went in to kick the conversion. He did.
After that conversion two players (who we will leave unnamed until disciplinary action occurs) had words, and that exploded into a fight. Players rushed in but, to their credit, really were there to separate the two players—it appeared to be a one-sided confrontation with the Charlotte Catholic player the aggressor.
With South Meck ahead now 41-19 and about 10 minutes to go, the officials called the game.
It was a very bad ending to an entertaining game that had drawn a large crowd. Beatty was exceptional, but Dugan produced some key plays and a lot of hard work for South Meck, as well.
South Meck came into the playoffs the #3 seed having lost to both Hough and Charlotte Catholic. But Head Coach Rick Norvell said his team was working hard to improve, and they did.
