SILER CITY — Caleb Rogers and Drew Needham combined to rush for 132 yards and five touchdowns, while Luke Thomas connected on six-of-10 passes for 127 yards and a score, as playoff-bound Providence Grove tallied on all six of its first-half possessions to spoil Jordan-Matthews’ Senior Night by coasting to a 47-8 PAC 7 2A Conference victory Friday evening at Phil E. Senter Stadium in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Tying the school record for most wins in a season, the Patriots won their fourth straight outing, climbing to 8-3 overall and finishing 4-2 in the league standings to secure third place, while J-M ended up in sixth place after concluding 1-5 in the conference and 2-9 for the year.
With their sixth consecutive triumph over the Jets, the winners improved to 8-3 all-time against Jordan-Matthews in a series that began in 2009.
Rogers collected 73 yards on a dozen carries and registered TD runs of nine, two and 18 yards, while Needham picked up 59 yards on seven totes, including scoring dashes of two and one yards, as Providence Grove outgained its host 359-101 in total yardage.
Jacquez Thompson led J-M ground gainers with 41 yards on 16 lugs, whereas Jerrell Brooks carried six times for 35 yards and recorded the Jets’ lone touchdown.
Thompson failed to complete any of his five pass attempts and was intercepted once, while Calvin Schwartz was three-of-five throwing the ball for 27 yards.
Afterwards Patriots’ coach Calvin Brown related he was proud of his team’s effort coming off a bye week before its final regular-season contest.
“We challenged our players to get off to a good start and they responded by executing in the first half to put the game out of reach early like we needed to do,” said Brown. “The offensive line dominated up front and opened holes for the running backs, our quarterback did a good job finding his receivers and the defense played lights-out. While some people looked at us as being the surprise team in the conference this year, our guys knew at the start of the season just how good we could be and then went out and proved it.”
Jordan-Matthews coach Sam Spencer stated while he wished his seniors could have ended their high school career with a victory, he acknowledged Providence Grove was as good a team as his squad faced all season.
“They’re big, strong, physical and extremely well-coached,” related Spencer.
“I think we were outmanned between the tackles every game we played this year, including the two we won, he said. “We’ve been an edge team all season, and our opponents did a good job each week adjusting to that. Despite our record, I still view this as being a successful season, as we accomplished all three goals we set for ourselves at the outset. We beat Chatham Central, we re-established a JV program to put down a foundation for next year, and we finally won a conference game.”
After holding J-M to a three-and-out series on the Jets’ initial possession of the night, the Patriots marched 77 yards in five plays to seize a 7-0 advantage when Rogers capped the drive with a nine-yard burst up the middle before Bryan Villagomez kicked the point-after with 9:21 left in the opening quarter.
Three-and-a-half minutes later Providence Grove defensive back Cam Way intercepted a Thompson pass at his own 15 and streaked 85 yards down the far sideline to elevate the Patriots’ lead to 13-0.
Following another three-and-out Jets’ possession, Rogers’ 53-yard punt return to the Jordan-Matthews’ 13 set up a three-play scoring drive climaxed by Rogers darting the last two yards off left tackle prior to Villagomez adding the extra point to boost Providence Grove’s advantage to 20-0 with 3:30 remaining in the first period.
Starting their next series from their own 19, the Patriots traveled 81 yards in nine plays to increase their lead to 27-0 when Needham culminated the march with a two-yard dash up the middle before Villagomez split the uprights with 11:18 to go in the second stanza.
After Providence Grove’s Ronin Strucinski recovered the Patriots’ ensuing onside kickoff at the J-M 41, the visitors covered the distance to the end zone in eight plays, with the payoff coming on an 18-yard touchdown toss from Thomas to tight end Mason Collins to widen the spread to 33-0 with 8:33 left in the quarter.
Following Brooks Freeman’s recovery of another successful onside kickoff at the Jets’ 38, Providence Grove scored again six plays later on Needham’s one-yard plunge up the middle prior to Villagomez booting the point-after to extend the margin to 40-0 with 6:14 remaining until halftime.
Regaining possession of the pigskin at the Jordan-Matthews’ 39 with just over three-and-a-half minutes to go until the break, the Patriots struck pay dirt three plays later when Rogers sprinted the final 18 yards up the middle before Villagomez’s extra point with 2:44 left on the clock sent Providence Grove into intermission with a 47-0 advantage.
The only score of the second half came with just under six minutes to play as J-M moved 54 yards in nine plays against Patriot reserves to avoid a shutout when Jerrell Brooks finished off the drive by running wide left the last yard to the goal line prior to Schwartz completing a two-point conversion pass to wide receiver Stashad Newby.
Providence Grove will now travel to Ramseur next Friday night to face a familiar foe in PAC 7 2A runner-up Eastern Randolph (9-2), marking the third time the two schools will have been paired together in the opening round of the state playoffs. The Wildcats won both previous contests, in 2009 and 2012, and captured this year’s regular-season meeting 47-0.