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By Jay Spivey
For the Clemmons Courier

Last Friday’s game between Glenn at West Forsyth was billed as the last two teams with undefeated records in the Central Piedmont 4-A.

It’s now down to just one undefeated team after Glenn defeated West Forsyth 22-13 at Jerry Peoples Stadium.

West Forsyth (3-2, 1-1) was held in check by Glenn (4-1, 3-0), which defeated West Forsyth for the first time in four tries since Glenn joined the Central Piedmont 4-A during the 2017-18 school year. Glenn also held West Forsyth to 139 yards rushing on 36 carries after West Forsyth rushed for 457 yards in its previous game three weeks ago against Mount Tabor. The scheduled game two weeks ago at Parkland was canceled.

It also wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing game for either team. Glenn had 20 penalties for 145 yards, and West Forsyth had 13 penalties for 110 yards.

The result of the game caught the ire of Coach Adrian Snow of West Forsyth.

“If I was the principal, if I was Kevin Spainhour (the principal at West Forsyth), or if I was basically Mike Pennington (the athletic director at West Forsyth), I would fire me tomorrow or Monday because I didn’t do my job,” he said. “Period. That’s it. I failed our kids.”

Although Snow’s statement is hyperbolic for one of the most successful coaches in the area, it doesn’t take away from what the Bobcats did.

“It looked tougher than it actually was,” running back Jevante Long of the Titans said. “I mean we went out there playing hard, but at the end of the game they just outplayed us, I guess.

“We weren’t really running what we were supposed to running on offense. And at the end of the day, we just fell on the short end of the stick.”

Long was held to 87 yards rushing on 16 carries and no touchdowns after having 204 yards on 28 carries and two touchdowns against Mount Tabor in the previous game.

“I don’t think they were doing anything differently defensively,” Long said. “When I was running the ball, I was seeing holes. I don’t really know. I think that, like the last game against Tabor, having (around) 500 rushing yards really brought pressure like, ‘We’re going to keep running the ball.'”

As for the Bobcats, they knew the significance of the victory, defeating West Forsyth for the first time as a member of the conference. And, the icing on the cake was defeating the Titans on their Homecoming.

“We’re just happy to go 1-0 this week. That’s the CPC. Every week’s going to be a dogfight,” Coach Antwon Stevenson of Glenn said. “I didn’t look ahead to this one. Once we got to this week, of course our focus was on West. I mean, the guys just played a heck of a game.”

The win puts Glenn ahead of the other seven teams in the conference with less than a month left in the regular season. The first of those four remaining games is Friday when it plays host to Reynolds (2-4, 1-2).

“We still have four left,” Stevenson said. “It’s just going to be a dogfight. It’s going to be a dogfight every week. And the guys understand that. They’re going to enjoy this weekend and get back to work come Monday.”

Glenn took the opening kickoff against West Forsyth and started possession at its own 26-yard line. Eight plays later, Chaney Fitzgerald scampered in for a 4-yard touchdown run with 9:02 left in the first quarter to help Glenn take a 7-0 lead.

West Forsyth answered later in the first quarter after quarterback Chris Van Kleeck took a few steps forward, ducked just in front of the offensive line, and fired a 55-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Bralen Morris with 3:07 left to help knot the score at 7-7.

“We (bit on the fake). I tell our guys all the time, they practice too,” Stevenson said. “They know it’s one of those things where they’re going to come up with some plays to get themselves down the field. I mean it was just one of those things where it was a great play call, great timing. That’s just what it was.”

The Titans took over on their ensuing possession from its own 6 with 10.4 seconds left in the first quarter. The Titans went on a methodical drive and 13 plays later, Van Kleeck threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Morris with 6:16 left in the second quarter to give West Forsyth a 13-7 lead. However, Alejandro Morillon’s try for the extra point was blocked.

Van Kleeck was 5-for-16 passing with one interception and 72 yards.

“If they beat us throwing the ball the hats off to them,” Stevenson said. “But we knew we had to with the caliber players they have back there (running backs Long and Mack David). We knew we had to stop the run.”

West Forsyth’s long drive didn’t faze Glenn, and Glenn took possession at its own 20 with 6:16 left in the second quarter. Glenn went on a 14-play, 80-yard drive, and Fitzgerald scored on a 14-yard run with 1:49 left in the second quarter to help knot the game at 13-13. Elisabeth Dykes tacked on the kick for extra point to give Glenn a 14-13, a lead it didn’t relinquish.

“We didn’t execute well tonight,” Long said. “We didn’t execute as good as we’ve been playing, but it is what it is. Everybody can’t win them all.”

On the ensuing possession, Van Kleeck was intercepted by AJ Coverdale at the Titans 38-yard line with 4:20 left in the third quarter. The Bobcats went on a 13-play drive and scored after quarterback Camden Coleman, who hadn’t played since the first game of the season after injuring his shoulder against Lee County, threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Levine Smith with 11:39 left in the fourth quarter to give the Bobcats a 20-13 lead.

“Not knowing if (Coleman) was going to go the whole game early on, it was just one of those things in which the game plan was not for him as much,” Stevenson said. “But he let us know that he was ready to go. And of course, we just rolled with it.”

Ahead seven points after the touchdown pass, Stevenson elected to go for two points to try and put the Bobcats ahead by two scores. The strategy worked and Fitzgerald scored on a run to extend the Bobcats’ lead to 22-13.

“I talked to the guys about that at halftime, That was the plan. We stopped them, we go down and score, and we’re going to be right back on the ball,” Stevenson said. “We had the play (two-point conversion) already lined up. I think we caught them off-guard. and we were able to get that two-point conversion.

“That was huge. I think that changed their play-calling, as far as trying to move down the field with them being a running team. Having to throw the ball a little more, having a little sense of urgency.”

Neither team was able to mount any offense through much of the fourth quarter, but Brandon Sutton of Glenn fumbled the ball and West Forsyth recovered with less than 5 minutes remaining. West Forsyth turned the ball over on downs after Van Kleeck was stopped for a 2-yard loss. On the next possession, Van Kleeck was intercepted by Zion Dixon to seal the win for Glenn. Van Kleeck finished 5-of-16 passing for 68 yards and one interception.

Glenn finished with 342 total yards, and West Forsyth had 211 yards.

“If we would’ve gotten the ball back in time, I think we could’ve capitalized and scored, and maybe gotten a field goal or something,” Long said. “We’ve got the leg to kick a field goal, but like I said, we didn’t really execute well tonight. We didn’t execute as well as well as we’ve been playing, but it is what it is. Everybody can’t win them all.”

It gets no easier for West Forsyth this week when it plays host to rival Reagan (3-3, 2-1) on Friday night. Reagan, coached by former West Forsyth player Josh McGee, hammered Davie County (4-2, 1-2) 52-14 last week in Pfafftown. West Forsyth defeated Reagan 28-25 on April 2 in Pfafftown during the spring season.

“We ain’t going to let this affect us every week,” Long said. “So tonight, and maybe (this past Saturday), but on Monday we’ll get back (to it). We don’t really look at losses like that affect us. We lost to Weddington. Weddington was a far much better team than Glenn. I’m telling you right now.”

Reagan has a dynamic offense led by senior quarterback Kam Hill. Hill was 22-of-30 passing against Davie County for 475 yards and three touchdowns. Receiver Vincent Wilkins of Reagan caught nine passes from Hill for 240 yards, including two 80-yard touchdown passes. Also, receiver Montrell Jones caught six passes for 122 yards and a touchdown. Not to be outdone, running back Jonn Gullette had 179 yards rushing on 21 carries and two touchdowns.

“If we play our part, we should’ve won,” Long said of the Glenn game. “But unfortunately, Glenn had a good offense. Glenn had a good defense. They have some good coaches over there, so they came (out of) the game with the upper hand tonight. So, kudos to Glenn, but we’ve got to do better next week.”