Tuesday, October 23, 2012 — After 10 grueling weeks of practices and games in the regular season, not even taking into account the hours spent in summer workouts and 7-on-7 scrimmages, the football team of Albemarle and South Stanly can finally focus on a game that many have had circled on their calendars or highlighted on their ICal programs for months.

The Bulldogs and the Rebel Bulls will face each other in the final game of the regular season. with a great deal on the line.

Each team earned road victories on Friday night in the Yadkin Valley Conference as the Bulldogs won easily at North Moore 56-0 and South Stanly won at South Davidson 63-6.

The win sets up a showdown in Norwood this Friday night for both the Stanly Cup, symbolic of the county championship, and a portion of the YVC championship.

Albemarle 56

North Moore 0

The Bulldogs’ final two games of the season, including Friday night’s game at North Moore, will be on the road.

Albemarle scored five rushing touchdowns in just 11 rushing attempts overall en route to an easy 56-0 win over the Mustangs.

Kevin McKinney led the rushing attack for the Bulldogs (9-1, 6-0 YVC) with 76 yards on four carries, three of which went for touchdowns.

Markez Brown added two touchdowns for Albemarle, one on the ground and another on a pass reception from quarterback Deon Christian. Christian was 7-of-9 through the air for 84 yards and two touchdowns, one to Brown and the other to Rodney Dumas.

Brown led in receiving yards with 38, along with two catches by Dumas for 15 yards.

Albemarle also got a 10-yard rushing touchdown from Bryan Blanton as well as a touchdown scored by Martinus Crump.

Several players for the Bulldogs had four tackles each to lead the “Oak Tree” defense in posting their third shutout of the season. Albemarle’s defense also picked off North Moore (0-9, 0-6) three times, with Blanton, Jaylyn Lilly and T.J. Howard delivering interceptions.

The Mustangs avoided giving up a sack to Albemarle as North Moore quarterback Kirby Lam-bert threw for 108 yards on 7-of-16 attempts. Landon Auman hauled in five catches for 95 yards.

The Bulldogs’ run defense put in a solid game Friday night as well, allowing a net total of -1 yards rushing to the Mustangs.

Friday night’s game at K.L. Young Stadium between host South Stanly and the visiting Bulldogs starts at 7:30 p.m.

A    21    14    14    7    56

NM    0    0    0    0    0

South Stanly 63

South Davidson 6

The Rebel Bulls needed a win at South Davidson to keep their hopes alive of claiming a share of the Yadkin Valley Conference regular-season championship and earning the chance to host more than just one game potentially in the state playoffs.

South Stanly Head Coach Tasker Fleming used the motivation of the effort that South displayed on Oct. 18, 1963 when South Stanly beat Anson County 87-27 in a game that set national records, saying that “they must have executed no matter whom they were playing against.”

The motivation worked from the game’s first play as Connor Ford took the opening kickoff 76 yards for a touchdown for the Rebel Bulls, which immediately set the tone as the Bulls easily took down the Wildcats 63-6.

Devante Hamilton had 108 yards and a touchdown on just seven carries, while fullback Anthony Sith added 40 yards on two carries with a touchdown.

Austin Smith also added a 75-yard touchdown run as the Bulls rushed just 16 times for 237 yards as the clock ran continuously for the better part of the game.

Russ Weiker threw two touchdown passes in the game, one to Juwan Johnson in the first quarter and the other to Jordan Starnes  with just over four minutes left in the first half.

Joston Horton provided more defensive points for South Stanly with a safety in the second quarter, while Austin Smith returned an errant South Davidson (1-9, 1-5) 36 yards for a touchdown.

Along with Ford’s kickoff return, Montrell Brewer returned a 41-yard punt for a touchdown as well.

“I like that our guys came out and played hard; they gave great effort and we had a lot of people contributing,” Fleming said, adding that the second and third string played just as hard as the starters.

SS    19    23    14    7    63

SD    0    0    0    6    6

SS – Connor Ford 76 kickoff return (kick failed), 11:40, 1st

SS – Juwan Johnson 29 pass from Russ Weiker (Barnardo Granados kick), 5:12, 1st

SS – Devante Hamilton 48 run (kick failed), 5:12, 1st

SS – Safety, 10:11, 2nd

SS – Anthony Smith 18 run (Granados kick), 9:15, 2nd

SS – Jordan Starnes 38 pass from Weiker (Granados kick), 4:04, 2nd

SS – Austin Smith 36 interception return (Granados kick), 2:28, 2nd

SS – Montrell Brewer 41 punt return (Granados kick), 8:57, 3rd

SS – Smith 75 run (Granados kick), 4:36, 3rd

SD – 6-yard TD run (kick failed), 7:16, 4th

SS – Malix Lomax 26 run (Granados kick), 2:12, 4th

Team Stats

    SS    SD

Rushing    16-237    43-98

Passing    24    67

C-A-I    5-11-2    2-4-0

Individual Statistics

Rushing: NS – Anthony Smith 2-40, TD; Hamilton 7-108, TD; Burris 1-20; J. Horton 2-15; Lomax 3-40, TD; Weiker 1-20; Austin Smith 1-75, TD.

Passing: NS – Weiker 2-4-0, 67 yds., 2 TD.

Receiving: SS – Johnson 1-29, TD; Starnes 1-38, TD.