CFNN Reporters AbbiKate Daughtry and Natalie Mitchell

After a devastating loss to 71st to break their winning streak last week, the Colts turned it around and struck big, taking down the Douglas Byrd Eagles 51-0 on Friday night. 

The Colts racked up 23 points in a very strong first quarter. The first to light up the board was King Faison with a 43 yd rushing TD run on the Colts opening drive. The Colt defense put the Eagles in reverse, following Faison’s touchdown with a score of their own, a safety for 2 points, giving the Colts a 9-0 lead. 

“It just shows how well my offensive line and full backs are executing to open gaps for me to burst through, and we work every day at practice to continuously increase the amount of yards we produce each game, ” said Faison, when reflecting on his path to being a 1000 yard rusher.

On the ensuing drive, sophomore running back Tai Phillips made a statement with a 34 yard run to give the Colts another touchdown, leaving them with a commanding 16-0 lead. The Colts refused to quit the scoring, especially for Faison, who once again ran the ball 10 yards to the endzone. The first quarter ended 23-0 in favor of the Colts.  

Faison wasn’t even close to being finished. He added a 4 yard rushing touchdown to give the Colts a 30 point lead. Junior Chosen Wynn read Senior QB Geronimo Sanchez like a book, and together their collaboration led to a 53 yard touchdown pass! Talk about throwing bombs on this fine Friday evening. 

Going into half time, the Colts were sitting in the Catbird Seat, ready to get some different names lighting up the board. 

As the third quarter began, the Colts sent in shifty sophomore slasher Landon Underwood to light up the board. And that he did! With a 19 yard rushing touchdown, he got the Colts to what was now a 44 point lead. 

Due to a forfeit at the JV level, the Colts were able to pull up several members of their JV team to get some varsity reps in the second half. Freshman JV running back Roderick Williams scored on a 2 yard run early in the 4th quarter. 

The Colt defense was stingy all night, only allowing the Eagles to cross the 50 yard line on their final drive. Cape Fear racked up multiple sacks and limited the Eagles to -10 total yards on the night. Marquan Footman, Anthony Carroway, Bryan Charles and Ayden Leonard all notched multiple sacks and tackles for loss. 

“We are just going to keep going hard in practice, and just go hard like always. We just practice like we play, and if the defense is good in practice, then we are going to be great in the game,” remarked defensive tackle Anthony Carroway. 

“It’s the willingness and the drive that makes me be all over the field to make a comeback from the last game. I took the mentality that we did lose and we needed to come back and be better as a team. Bringing back the mentality that we have to be stronger and better when we play Jack Britt, or any team,” said outside linebacker Aydin Leonard. 

Another memorable play from the 4th quarter came from junior defensive back Brandon Patton, who hauled in an interception from the Eagles end zone to wrap up the game and keep the Eagles from the stat sheet. 

“It definitely boosts the team morale, plays like that and turnovers by defensive backs,” Patton said of his interception. “[Defensive Backs] Coach Grates helps us put in a lot of work at practice, so you’ll definitely see a lot more big plays like that not just from me, but from other defensive backs as well like Kamari [Faison] and Damien Gary,” he added.

It looked like a complete game from the Colts in all three phases of the game: offense, defense, and special teams. It was a solid bounceback from their disappointing performance last week.  

“The big thing was really our mindset in the 71st game. I feel like we really weren’t as focused as we should’ve been before the game started, as 71st played one of their best games as well,” said Head Coach Jake Thomas. “With physicality, we just talked about being more physical at the point of attack. There were lineman things we needed to fix, so we fixed those. Making in game adjustments, football IQ is something our guys have to be better at. Seeing a little bit of a different formation than they saw at practice and being able to adjust that on the field in the game. So football IQ and making adjustments on the field is something we had to fix.”  

You will not want to miss this Friday’s game as it is THE Cape Fear homecoming game. The Colts will face the Jack Britt Buccaneers and play to rekindle their winning streak.