Sports - October 2003

Rebels square off against Golden Lions

Published October10, 2003

By JOHN MARK BROOKS, Staff Writer

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The West Lincoln Rebels will have their hands full as they square off against the Shelby Golden Lions.

 The Rebels are coming off their first Midwest 2A conference win ever as they beat Newton Conover making their homecoming a special affair.

However, this week due to injuries and academic casualties the Rebels will have the cards stacked against them. Head coach Butch Parker doesn’t make any excuses but believes it will be tough with five injured players.

Parker doesn’t know how the game will turn out, but knows the cards are stacked against him.

“First of all, a book mobile and a red cross bus is how we’re gonna show up. That’s how we’ll arrive in Shelby. Freshman quarterback Taylor Woodie dislocated a finger in practice. It was a freak injury where the bone actually came through the skin,” he said.

There are several players who will play for the Rebels that are not 100%.

 “Will (Tallent) is about 50 percent with a deep thigh bruise. Joey Briggs and Daniel Soto are both coming off injuries and are both limited to defense. Even if we weren’t injured it would be a tremendous challenge,” he said.

The Rebels will tab Brent Gates the starter at quarterback with Brandon Auten possibly seeing some playing time behind the center as well.

Cornerback Cale Farmer has a partial ACL tear, but insists on playing out his senior year. His coach supports him, but will pull him if he feels like it’s in Farmer’s best interest.

“He’s gonna try to play through it and finish the season. We talked to the doctor and his parents agreed and he’s gonna try it since it’s his last year so we are going to try and let him,” Parker said.

Parker has no allusions about the level of competition his team is facing this week.

“We’re playing one of the 10 best teams in North Carolina. They are so explosive offensively. They have five people who can score any time they touch the ball. So we’ve prepared our kids and been realistic,” he said.

To stay in the game against the Golden Lions the Rebels will need the defense to step up to the challenge, Parker said.

“We have to have a monumental effort from our defense to try and keep it close and then possibly win it in the end,” he said.

The coach would like to see West Lincoln become a well-established football program as Shelby is known for.

“They are loaded with tradition. They are a competitive, intense football team that is extremely well-coached, so that’s where we want to be,” he said.

To combat the discrepancy between the Golden Lions and Rebels’ speed West Lincoln will look to have a ball control attack.

“We have to run the football and take some time off the clock. Their defense is just laced with speed so that presents a big problem for us. We don’t think we can run the ball around the ends so we have to run the ball straight at them. We need to run some miss directions and the short passing game is what we’ll have to do.

Parker believes that part of the Golden Lions’ success comes from quality depth, recalling that the main performer in the East Rutherford game wasn’t even a starter.

 “The fullback, Tavarus Jolley, scored five touchdowns last week and he was the backup. A senior got hurt in front of him and he stepped it up against the Cavaliers,” he said.

No matter where he is on the football field or what side of the ball he is playing, Van Eskridge will be a threat. Parker raves abouthis ability.

“He’s one of the best defensive secondary players in the state of North Carolina. He also plays tailback on offense and is just a tremendous athlete. He’s absolutely smoking when he runs,” he said.

Parker said that part of Shelby’s success comes from the strength of schedule that they play.

 “They beat Bandys and are not shy who they’ll play. They lost to Freedom, but beat Crest in non-conference. They also played South Point in a scrimmage so they aren’t afraid of anybody. They take their lumps early and learn from them for later on in the season,” he said.

The coach wants his team gain an education Friday regardless of what may happen.

“We need to learn from playing a team like Shelby. It’s imperative that regardless of the result we come out of that game and learn from it. When that happens it will be a testament of how much our players have grown as football players and as young men,” he said.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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