Wildcats maul Bears 70-13 in season opener

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BEAR CREEK —On paper the 2019 season opener between Chatham Central and annual gridiron power Eastern Randolph was a mismatch.

It played out that way on the field.

Eastern Randolph dominated for start to finish Monday night in Bear Creek in taking a lopsided 70-13 victory over Chatham Central in the season opener which had been put off for three days after storms came through the area last Friday.

The Wildcats went up 22-0 in the first before adding 35 in the second quarter with the game finishing with a running clock after halftime.

Chatham Central coach Sherman Howze felt his club did some good things despite the lopsided tally on the scoreboard.

“We competed hard from start to finish which shows the how tough our kids are,” said Howze. “Our guys didn’t drop their heads and competed.”

Howze was impressed with quarterback Michael Moore and running backs Riley Lagenor and Abad de la Sancha, as well as the defensive efforts of J’aaron Wise and Caleb Lytton.

“Riley ran very hard and Michael made some nice throws,” added Howze. “Our receivers like Brady Cannup, Tyler Oldham, Hunter Strickland and Michael Gurley had good games. And J’aaron and Caleb were all over the field defensively.”

Moore, was, Michael Moore. The junior is one of the top quarterbacks in the state and despite being harassed the entire contest by the likes of Erik Cheek, Elijah Patterson and James Locklear, Moore completed 13-of-30 passes for 156 yards.

Two of those went for scores with Moore connecting with Gurley on a 22-yard touchdown in the left corner of the end zone at the 8:59 mark of the opening period to cut the score to 22-6, and then on the final play of the game on another 22-yard scoring strike, this time to Cunnup in the right corner of the end zone. De la Sancha booted through the PAT to make the final 70-13.

Cunnup, a junior, closed a great game with three catches for 56 yards and a score and Hunter Strickland four catches for 60 yards.

Lagenor closed with 10 carries for 43 yards as the Bears closed with 220 yards of offense.

From there it was all Wildcats, however, who used 440 yards off total offense, including Cade Snotherly connecting on five-of-seven passes for 270 yards and four touchdowns to cruise to the win.

Eastern Randolph head coach Burton Cates was pleased with his teams efforts especially on a Monday night after the opening day of school.

“On a Monday night after the first day of school, anything can happen,” pointed out Cates. “I thought we handled it well as a team and staff, especially after not seeing them for two days. Sometimes you don’t know what to expect when that happens. But overall I thought we played pretty well.”

“Cade Snotherly played exceptionally well running the offense and Tavis McAdoo ran extremely hard. We didn’t have many penalties and our offensive line opened up some nice lanes for our backs. I think we only had 15 plays the entire first half.”

Seven of those plays resulted in touchdowns with Snotherly carrying for gains of 22 and 12 yards on the opening series of the contest before Tavis McAdoo pounded in from five yards out to send Eastern Randolph up 7-0 just with 10:31 left in the opening period.

After holding the Bears on the ensuing possession, Snotherly hooked up with slot J.B. Farrish on a 59-yard scoring strike before the Wildcats pounded in the two-point conversion to up the lead to 15-0 at the 5:30 mark.

On its next possession, Snotherly found McAdoo in the right flats on a screen pass. McAdoo hauled in what was a tipped ball by the Bears, and proceeded to weave his way 78 yards to paydirt for another one play drive for a score to up the lead to 22-0 near the end of the opening period.

Chatham Central closed the deficit to 22-6 early in the second but the Wildcats would erupt for 35 points to blow the game open at 57-6 at the intermission.

Snotherly sparked a 12-yard scoring run by McAdoo to push the lead to 29-6 with an 18 yard pass to McAdoo and a 29 yard strike to William Harris.

Snotherly would blast in from six yards out on a keeper to the left side on the next possession to extend the advantage to 36-6 before hooking up with Kaemen Marley on a 65-yard scoring connection moments later. Marley, who was held out for the opening period, took the stand up on the left sidelines, spun away from a CC defender, and easily outraced the defense to the end zone.

Things went from bad to worse for Chatham Central moments later when Farrish picked off a deflected Moore aerial and returned it 18 yards to pay dirt to give the Wildcats at 50-6 advantage with 2:52 left in the half.

Eastern Randolph would score one more time in the period when Snotherly found Marley in stride down the right sidelines for a 43 yard touchdown to make the score 57-6 at the break.

Marley, a junior who’s regarded as one of the top players in the state of North Carolina and has over 15 offers already from the likes of Florida, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, returned the second half kickoff 90 yards for a score.

Tavis McAdoo and Kaemen Marley provided three touchdowns each as visiting Eastern Randolph annihilated Chatham Central 70-13 in the non-league high school football opener for both teams Monday night.

McAdoo scored on runs of 5 and 12 yards for the Wildcats, while hauling in a 78-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Cade Snotherly in the game that was postponed from Friday night because of weather.

Marley caught 38- and 65-yard touchdown receptions from Snotherly and tacked on a 90-yard kickoff return for a score to extend the lead to 64-7.

Eastern Randolph would play the jayvees the entire second half and would score its final on a 13 yard plunge for Demetrius Thomas after Thomas combined with Stratton Barwick to move the Wildcats 63 yards on six plays. Thomas had a big 37 yard jaunt off the right side to key the march.

Cunnup would make a nice leaping stab of the rocket pass from Moore to end the contest with a touchdown for the Bears.

Chatham Central (0-1) will look to rebound this Friday night at 7:30 pm in Bear Creek when the Bears host the Atkins Camels out of Winston Salem in a non-conference game.

Eastern Randolph will host Rockingham County on Friday night.