The Rockingham County Patriots (6-5) run the same strikingly unconventional T offense as their NCFA parent, Greensboro. It's a swirl of syncopated cuts, pitches and dashes that exposes error-prone players but not necessarily those of limited ability. The quarterback who stares down his receivers or halfback who has a tendency to fumble will be uncovered as a fraud in the T; the efficient quarterback with a weak arm or steady runner who's a step slow, on the other hand, can look better in the T than they would in any other offense. And so what can be made of Coach Maury Machu's Rockingham County squad?
Jason Fisher, a seed who has started at times in his four years with Greensboro, racked up a miserable 48.8 quarterback rating in his four starts with the NCFA2 Patriots. His discipline rating is 68 and endurance is 37. Steve Centers, meanwhile, a sixth-year free agent retread with 66 discipline but 76 endurance, recorded a 80.1 quarterback rating in his first seven starts.
Seed Chad Webb averaged 2.7 yards per carry in his six games at HB1. Joseph Dodge, a true rookie who spent the first half of the season at HB2 and second at HB1, has emerged as the team's leading rusher, with 380 yards on 84 carries (4.5 per). He also has caught 16 passes for 71 yards. Veteran free agent Lamar Jefferson, promoted to HB2 after six weeks, has averaged 5.3 yards per on his 20 carries. The full-season FB1, Raymond Hoyle, has averaged 3.6 yards on 69 carries and proven to be a dependable blocker.
A couple of seventh-year free agents, WR1 Gordon Brown and WR2 Reed Shaft, have each caught 59 balls--Brown for 14.5 yards per reception, Reed for 10.0.
Perhaps the offensive line deserves the most credit for Rockingham County's offensive successes, and there's not seed one among C1 Nick Haslip, G1 Dave Hale, G2 Arthur Sanders, T1 Darby Cox and T2 Brian Harry.
Of course, the real story for the Patriots this NCFA2 season has been defense. Rockingham County is the top-rated pass defense and second-rated run defense in the league. Two of four seeds have excelled. LB1 Don Lee recorded 44 tackles, four sacks and an interception in his first 10 starts; CB1 Derrick Herrera, 33 tackles and an interception. (Charles Marti, a defensive tackle, and Fred Snow, a linebacker, were both benched at mid-season.)
The other defensive standouts have been free agents: DE2 Lucas Perry (27 tackls, eight sacks and one fumble recovery), DT1 Tony Williams (17 tackles, seven sacks and one fumble recovery), LB2 Bernardo Cox (49 tackles, two sacks and one fumble recovery), S2 Erik Stalker (40 tackles and one sack) and S1 Bobby Revell (54 tackles and two interceptions).
Stalker and Revell have also proven to be excellent return men. Stalker's average of 23.4 yards per kickoff return ranks second in NCFA2. Revell has run back punts at an 11.1 clip, and his returns of 33 and 32 yards keyed a
19-13 upset of the Person County Bees in Week 11.
You know what you're getting in K1 Jeff Flores--10 of 12 on field-goal attempts of 39 or fewer yards, four of eight at 40 to 49 yards and 0 of 3 on tries of 50 yards or more. Willie Logan, once one of the NCFA's top punters, has possibly re-emerged as a prospect with his performance with the NCFA2 Patriots (41.1 net average, fourth best in the league).
