Mount Airy’s Ben Hinson heaves a pass as a Starmount defender closes in during a Week 1 game.
After winning a state title last December and reaching the Western Regional championship game a year earlier, not many people south of Holly Springs Road gave the Bears a chance against perennial juggernaut Thomasville two weeks ago. Those people were proven wrong.
Now coach Kelly Holder and the 3-0 Bears will take on another tough challenge in the 3A Parkwood Rebels (2-1 Southern Piedmont 3A/4A) out of Monroe, a group which Holder says will present Mount Airy with the most athletic team it has faced to date.
“We won’t see another team in the regular season that is that athletic,” Holder said. “So that’s obviously a focus. Now there will be other teams that do some things better than Parkwood, but they will not be as athletic.”
Holder agreed this season’s non-conference schedule, which has featured Starmount (2008 2A semifinalist), Thomasville (2008 1A state champion), Ashe County and now Parkwood, is one of the toughest the Bears have faced.
“The people that we scrimmage and the people that we play non-conference have got to be beneficial to us to play the way we want,” Holder said.
Parkwood’s key offensive threats are senior quarterback Maurice Leak (5-9, 160), tailback Kemp Lotharp (6-1, 190) and wide receiver Marcus Leak.
Mount Airy defensive coordinator Chris Johnson called the Rebels’ offensive scheme “balanced” and said Maurice Leak is both a capable passer and runner.
While the athleticisim of the Rebels is something Holder and company will be preparing for, Parkwood has an abundance of size (and skill) as well.
Holder pointed to the Rebels’ pair of defensive tackles, Trey Mobley (6-0, 290)
and Dustin Ruff (6-0, 265), and junior inside linebacker Chase Plyler (6-0, 200) as the shining example of what Parkwood will bring to the table.
He said it will be very important for the Bears’ offensive line to handle the Rebels’ rush for his team to be successful.
“They have two really good guys up front defensively and it’s going to be a challenge for us because we are small at the guard position,” he said. “And when I say small, I mean under 200 pounds. Last year we were small at 220, now we are small at 175 to 190. You’ve got to work around that. You can’t expect our guards to drive someone off the ball who weighs 250 pounds. Those are two good guys, and we haven’t seen two guys like that since we scrimmaged Newton Conover.”
In addition, Parkwood has a large and imposing offensive line. Anchored by three seniors, the Rebels boast a front five where no player weighs less than 240 pounds.
In its opening game, Parkwood defeated Piedmont 41-7 behind 173 yards and two touchdowns from Lotharp. A loss to Monroe preceded last week’s 45-0 victory over Cox Mill.
Last week, the Bears clicked on all cylinders, defeating Ashe County 52-7 in runaway fashion. Holder said he was pleased with the all-around showing from a week ago, but added there are a few areas he thinks the Bears can improve.
“I think are a couple things we need to be doing on offense and one thing that is going to be tough for us and that’s to be quick up front,” Holder said. “We need to be quicker and take better angles to help us get to those backside linebackers and those middle linebackers. Right now we are just not taking those angles that we need to, but we are getting better at it. I thought we played pretty solid last week. Defensively, we played really well; offensively, we played well at times and the kicking game was good. Overall, we played pretty solid, not a whole lot of penalties, and those are the things we have to continue to do against much better athletes like we are going to see.”
Holder said several players were sick during the week, but expected the players in question to be ready to go Friday.
Contact Thomas Smith at tsmith@mtairynews.com or 719-1920.
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