Charlotte Catholic Edges South Meck; NC Semis Clear Up
Charlotte Catholic Edges South Meck; NC Semis Clear Up
In a very tight, back-and-forth Friday night match in North Carolina's school league, Charlotte Catholic edged South meck 26-24 to stay unbeaten.
The game was tied at halftime 7-7 and both teams scored three tries in the second half. CC managed one extra conversion.
"Our guys played an entire game," said South Meck Head Coach Rick Norvell, who has seen his side lose to Charlotte Catholic and Hough but did so while missing three starters. "The boys dug deep and played hard all night. They were creative in play calling and adjusted to a very fast CC defense. We had guys playing new positions and Brody Evans played two new positions in the same game as a result of an injury."
Norvell said the loss was on him, not on his players.
Big, powerful South Meck captain Quinn Miller was a brutal presence in the middle channels, while lock Brennan Rhodes caused all kinds of problems disrupting Catholic's lineout.
"It was a very physical match and well played by both teams. "I'm very confident we see them in the playoffs and equally confident we beat them when we play them again."
Meanwhile, Jason Zehmke's Charlotte Catholic team is now 4-0 in league play and looking ahead to Hough next week.
"It was a huge defensive effort from both teams," said Zehmke. "At full time I told the boys: 'These games you might win one day, and another you will lose, but these games are the ones you remember the most, because it was all-out rugby for 70 minutes.' Respect to South Meck for playing their part in an amazing game of rugby."
Catholic captain Vince Keller was the player of the game, handling field position well with his kicking and playing well overall. He added key leadership as well. Luke Zehmke was hugely active with his tackles, powerful runs, and jackling the ball. Miles Caple, Lukas Lupinski, and Keane Teeter were ruthless in the pack.
Next up for Charlotte Catholic will be a Thursday night home game against Hough, who beat Ardrey Kell Friday night—official score 42-7.
As a result, both Hough and Charlotte Catholic are 4-0. Hough is still in 1st place due to bonus points. South Meck, now 3-2, has clinched 3rd after earning two bonus points. They have only one more game left in the regular season and, with the Marvin Ridge win over Myers Park, nobody can catch them.
With two weekends to go, then, South Meck can lose their final game against Myers Park and still be third. But they cannot catch either Charlotte Catholic or Hough for 2nd, so it's 3rd place for them.
Marvin Ridge is now 2-3 with 10 standings points, and play winless Corinth in their final match. Myers Park could conceivably catch them, but Marvin Ridge would have to lose, and Myers Park would have to beat South Meck and Hough. All three of those things have to happen and it's tough to see them all coming to pass.
As a result, we know the semifinal teams: Hough, Charlotte Catholic, South Meck, and Marvin Ridge. The only question is whether it is Hough or CC at the top, and thus we don't know the actual matchups slated for February 7. But after this coming Thursday night, we will.
