Hough Wins Key North Carolina Matchup Over South Meck
Hough Wins Key North Carolina Matchup Over South Meck
In a meeting of two undefeated teams in the North Carolina school league, Hough defeated South Meck 34-14 to improve to 3-0.
This game was moved to Thursday night to avoid a winter storm coming into the area.
It was a dynamic showing by the Huskies with tries from captain Porter Kuebler, vice captain Kai Campbell, and also Andre Brown, CJ Baker, and Alai Uaisele. However, Hough also ran into problems ith the whistle, giving up far too many penalties and getting two yellow cards in the process.
Head Coach Bruce Colson praised his teams speed, power, and rugby IQ for overcoming the penalties, "when it counted."
Campbell, despite getting a yellow for the team being repeatedly offside, had an outstanding game as did Brown. Tui Tuionetoa played his first game for Hough at prop and was a standout, while the halfback combo of Kuebler and Max Colson kept the tempo high.
South Meck, missing three starters on the evening, also just "didn't play our structure very well," said Head Coach Rick Norvell. While Hough gave up a lot of penalties, South Meck gave up penalties at crucial moments—two offside infractions inside their 22 led to two tries.
"Our tackling wasn't great, either," added Norvell. "We had guys break lines and didn't bring enough support. All correctable things and we'll beat them when it matters!"
With the victory, Hough moves to 1st place in the North Carolina School Season Tier 1. Charlotte Catholic, who won earlier this week—Charlotte Catholic Moves to 3-0—is right behind them.
Charlotte Catholic plays South Meck next week and Hough the week after.
The key game may well be next week's Myers Park vs Marvin Ridge. If Ridge wins that game they will have a very good shot at being in the semifinals. If they lose, that might open the door for Ardrey Kell or, potentially, Myers Park also.
| NC Tier 1 | W | L | T | PF | PA | PD | BT | BL | Pts |
| Hough | 3 | 0 | 0 | 96 | 19 | 77 | 3 | 0 | 15 |
| South Meck | 3 | 1 | 0 | 111 | 42 | 69 | 3 | 0 | 15 |
| Charlotte Catholic | 3 | 0 | 0 | 90 | 10 | 80 | 2 | 0 | 14 |
| Marvin Ridge | 1 | 3 | 0 | 53 | 69 | -16 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Ardrey Kell | 1 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 104 | -66 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Myers Park | 0 | 2 | 0 | 29 | 68 | -39 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Corinth Holders | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 105 | -105 | 0 | 0 | 0 |