The Stokes County Twins ended their NCFA2 season with a 17-13 win over the Rockingham County Patriots (6-6). That made it five wins in the last eight games for Stokes County, as Coach Casey Clark found traction after an 0-4 start.
He went through two NCFA-experienced quarterbacks (Brian Mueller and Bob "The Blob" Martin) before turning to unheralded Charles Kissane in Week 5. Kissane's passer rating through Week 11 was a middle-of-the-NCFA2-pack 77.1, but that represented a dramatic improvement over Mueller and Martin, as evidenced by the fact that Kissane's performance raised Stokes County's season passer rating to 70.1.
The lead ballcarrier at season's start was NCFA-experienced Kenneth Meeks. Then Clark turned to the Eddies: Eddie Bryant at fullback at Eddie Tanner at halfback. A couple of weeks later he shifted Tanner to FB1 and Bryant to HB1. Through 11 weeks, the Eddies ranked third and fourth in average yards per carry among 2's minimum qualifiers (Bryant 5.0 per, Tanner 4.7). Bryant recorded only one fumble in his 95 carries; Tanner, none in his 68.
At wide receiver, Clark had a Winston-Salem seed, Randy Olivarez, who did OK (28 receptions, 10.3 yards per catch, four touchdowns) before being demoted to the second team. True rookie Matthew Bates, one of NCFA's hottest offensive prospects entering Saturday's draft, gradually ascended--from WR5 to WR3 after two weeks, to WR2 after four and to WR1 after six. Bates had 33 catches for an average gain of 11.2 yards through 11 weeks, then he caught both of Kissane's touchdown passes in the season-ending win over Rockingham County to finish with six scores.
Also notable among the receivers were WR2 Paul Aplin (26 catches, 10.2 yards per catch), who was NCFA2's best kickoff returner (27.0, with an 80-yard longest effort), and TE1 Steve Birden (30, 8.9), who, though, showed a propensity for penalties at critical junctures in close games.
The offensive line gave up 10 sacks in the first two games, and Clark fired the whole unit, including seeded tackle Ronald Motter. The rest of the way, Stokes County opponents averaged 3.7 sacks per game. C1 Andre Hard was the standout of the group; the space he created in the middle of the line helped the Twins rank as NCFA2's fourth-best running team.
Neither of the Winston-Salem seeds at linebacker, Ray Levell or James Enriquez, held his job as a starter, but both in the secondary, Ryan Ohara and Peter Wagner, provided stability. Both had a couple of interceptions, and CB1 Ohara returned both of his for touchdowns. S1 Wagner added 67 tackles, two sacks and a fumble recovery; Ohara, 56 tackles and two fumble recoveries.
Clark, himself a former defensive lineman, found a couple of productive performers among his veteran free agents. DT1 Butch Brusse, a five-year man, had 23 tackles, nine sacks, two fumble recoveries and an interception; DT2 Eric Carney, a seven, had 24 tackles, 13 sacks and a fumble recovery.
Anthony Rockefeller, a four-year guy, moved up from LB4 to LB1 after the 0-4 start and responded with 43 tackles and one sack over the next seven games. In the close, season-closing win over Rockingham County, Rockefeller ended the Patriots' last two possessions by intercepting and then forcing a fumble from quarterback Steve Centers.
CB2 Carl Soto also put himself on NCFA supplemental-draft boards (40 tackles, an interception, a sack and three fumble recoveries through 11 weeks).
K1 David Douglass hit all but one of his extra-point attempts and five of five of the field-goal tries from inside 40 yards. He made six of eight from 40 to 49 and missed all three of any longer distance.
Jack Campbell was a disaster at P1 (34.6 gross average, one block) through six weeks. Orlando Hickman did fine from there on. The 43.3 gross average ranked seventh; the 41.3 net, second. Against Rockingham County, Hickman sailed punts out of bounds at the 15, 1 and 10 in the first half and at the 16 with 4:16 to play and Stokes County ahead by only 14-13.
