CFNN Reporters AbbiKate Daughtry and Natalie Mitchell

Last Friday night, the Cape Fear Football team traveled down I-95 to take on the Lumberton Pirates in their first United 8 Conference game of the season. For the Colts, this game signified the beginning of “Phase 3” of their football season. The Colts scored early and often, thrashing the Pirates 42-6 to improve their record to 4-0 on the season.

“Coach Thomas has divided our season into four different ‘phases’,” said Assistant Coach Joe Grates. “The first phase is our preseason, where we focus on strength and conditioning, along with installing plays and schemes. Phase two is the first three games of the season, our non conference schedule. Phase three is the conference schedule, and phase four is the playoffs.”

Cape Fear kicked off to begin the contest. The Colts’ special teams weapon, Francisco Rodriguez, nearly kicked the ball through the uprights for his 14th touchback of the season. The defense took the field and made quick work of the young Pirate offense, as senior linebacker Bryan Charles sacked Lumberton’s Quarterback, causing a fumble, which was recovered by middle linebacker Will Wicklin.

This gave the offense the ball at the Lumberton 13 yard line. The Colts would score on the very next play, a 13 yard run by senior halfback King Faison. After a successful point after try by Rodriguez, Cape Fear took the lead 7-0 and never looked back.

“Our offensive line has really stepped up and made a big impact opening up the holes and getting to the next level to block down the field, and also our ability to have a 1-2-3 punch with Geronimo, Tai, and myself in the backfield,” said Faison after the game.

Another touchback from Rodriguez gave the ball to the Pirates on their own 20 yard line. Rodriguez would end up with 7 touchbacks for the evening. The Colts held the Pirates to a 3 and out on the next series, forcing a Lumberton punt from its own end zone.

This gave the ball back to the Colts on the Pirate 39 yard line. Cape Fear wasted no time scoring again, as Quarterback Geronimo Sanchez connected with senior Receiver Jack Edwards from 15 yards out. Sanchez would end the night completing 8 of 9 passes for 101 yards. Another successful PAT put the Colts on top 14-0 midway through the first quarter.

After yet another Rodriguez touchback, the Pirates took over at the 20 yard line. Lumberton’s offense showed some promise on the drive, as they were able to take advantage of several Colt penalties. The drive stalled at the Cape Fear 30 yard line, though, and the Pirates were forced to punt again. 

The ensuing Pirate punt was downed inside the Colts’ 1 yard line, forcing a long field ahead for the offense.  Sanchez and company were more than up for the challenge, as the junior sensation led Cape Fear on an eye popping 99 yard drive which was capped off by a 42 yard run by none other than King Faison. Faison would end the night with 118 yards on 8 carries for 2 scores. He also caught one pass for 32 yards.

Cape Fear forced two more punts from the Lumberton offense, setting themselves up for two field goal attempts as the second quarter clock ticked down. Rodriguez attempted a 50 yard field goal which had more than enough distance, but unfortunately sailed wide right of the goal post. 

The second attempt came with less than a minute to go before halftime. The kick was never attempted, though, as a bad snap forced a scramble situation and an incomplete pass as the half came to a close with the Colts up 21-0 at the break.

The second half brought more of the same, as Cape Fear took their opening drive of the second half down for another score on the back of Sanchez’ 15 yard touchdown run. 

“As a leader, you can’t talk about it, you have to be about it, you can’t tell other players what you expect and not do it,” said Sanchez.

The Colts would score again on another Sanchez run, along with a 32 yard score from sophomore speedster Tai Phillips. The addition of Phillips’ speed in the backfield has provided, as King Faison said,  a nice one-two-three punch for the Colts this season.

“My speed really kept the defense on their toes,” said Phillips. “I’m just happy to help the team. In the end, it doesn’t matter who gets credit. All that matters is that we win.”

Lumberton would finally strike paydirt with 4 minutes to go on the clock, as the Colt reserves were unable to keep the Pirates off the scoreboard.

This put the final tally at 42-6 in favor of the Colts. Cape Fear racked up 408 yards of total offense on the night, with 307 of those coming on the ground. The Colt defense held the Pirates to 88 total yards for the game to go along with a WHOPPING 10 sacks, putting an exclamation point on their U8 Conference opener. Special teams were also dominant, as the Colts blocked two punts and an extra point on the night to go along with Rodriguez’ 7 touchbacks on kickoffs.

Defensive standouts for the Colts were Aydin Leonard, who had two sacks, 11 tackles and a blocked punt, WIll Wicklin with 7 tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery, Dacori Davis with 6 tackles and 2 sacks, and Chris McDonald, who notched 6 tackles , including 2 tackles for loss.

“[The] Biggest thing we’ve got to improve on is playing a full 48 minutes. I think we’ve yet to put together all four quarters playing at a high level. We’ve played in spurts. We played the first quarter really well, third quarter really well; second and fourth is where we had a lapse, and the same thing happened the week before. Our big thing is to play at a high level, full force for all 48 minutes,” said Head Coach Jake Thomas.

As far as defense goes, Coach Thomas reflects, “The biggest thing is self-discipline. Too many dead ball penalties and jumping off sides. We have to do a better job of turning our ears off, watching the football, and moving on offensive movements.” 

The victory moved the Colts to 4-0 on the season for the first time since 2016 when they posted a 15-1 record and played for the state championship. You can come out and catch the Colts in action again this Thursday at home, where they face the 2-2 Purnell Swett Rams in their second conference game of the season.