NC high school football conference championships come down to wire. Up next: playoffs

Cardinal Gibbons sophomore quarterback Gannon Jones surpassed 300 passing yards while throwing for three touchdowns to lift the Crusaders to a 33-23 win over visiting Leesville Road and the school’s fourth consecutive conference championship.

Cardinal Gibbons (8-2, 5-0 Cap Six 4A Conference) has won 26 consecutive conference games. The Crusaders’ last league loss was to visiting Leesville Road on September 27, 2019. Both teams went on to play for state championships that fall.

Friday, Jones and fellow sophomore Aiden Smalls connected for two touchdowns, including a 16-yarder that opened the game’s scoring with 7:31 remaining in the first quarter. The sophomore tandem executed perfectly the team’s aggressive play-calling in the second quarter. With 5:59 on the clock, on fourth-and-6 in Crusaders’ territory, Jones, appearing as a pooch punter, heaved a 57-yard pass to Smalls to set up a 20-13 Cardinal Gibbons halftime lead.

The Pride took a 23-20 lead on a 40-yard field goal by Roan Naik with 3:44 left in the third quarter. Naik booted three field goals, the game-leading one preceded by 44- and 41-yarders.

Cardinal Gibbons senior Chip Coleman recovered a Leesville Road fumble at the Crusaders’ 26-yard line. One play later, Jones’ 74-yards touchdown pass to senior Chet Yardley put the Crusaders’ ahead to stay with 1:20 remaining in the third quarter.

Yardley bookended an amazing story that began with his game-winning touchdown catch on the same field versus Jordan in this fall’s August 18 home opener. Yardley’s effort Friday came shortly after the pregame ceremonies for which he was joined on the field by his father Jeff, a 1994 Cardinal Gibbons graduate.

Jeff Yardley — the school’s 1993-94 Male Athlete of the Year — captained the Crusaders’ first football team when the program was rejuvenated in the fall of 1992. The proud father donned his varsity letterman’s jacket for the pregame ceremony before watching his son make more family memories.

The Pride tied the score at 20 on Xavier Lewis’ 1-yard touchdown run with 7:23 remaining in the third quarter. Leesville Road (8-2, 4-1) managed to score points, though, after just one of Cardinal Gibbons’ three turnovers.

‘Battle of the blues’ stokes playoff fires

A Cleveland-Clayton playoffs rematch? Well, this possibility will be revealed by the N.C. Football Playoffs brackets to be published Saturday. Friday’s 33-31 Cleveland win stoked the fires for a reunion of these intra-town, blue-clad rivals, who thrilled a packed Nixon-Fowler Stadium with a dramatic, nip-and-tuck showcase that will be a challenge to surpass.

Cleveland quarterback Jackson Byrd heaved a 35-yard “jump ball” into the right end zone corner. Rams wide receiver Cameron Goins hauled in the winning touchdown pass as time expired.

Clayton (8-2, 6-1) quarterback Jonathon Montague had a role in all four Comets touchdowns — one passing to Cory Schmidlin (30-yard pass). Montague’s six-yard scoring run secured a 31-27 Clayton lead near the game’s two-minute mark.

Cleveland (10-0) scored twice on 72-yards big plays — one first quarter run by Tyson Stokes, and a fourth quarter “pass-and-catch” connection by Byrd and Jordan Gulley.

Conference winners

▪ Apex Friendship’s 16-15 win at Green Level assured the Patriots of the Southwest Wake 4A Conference’s No. 1 entrant standing in the state playoffs. Apex Friendship defeated Holly Springs, 26-21, on September 22 to secure the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Golden Hawks, also 6-1 in conference play. Holly Springs concluded its regular season with a 42-13 win at Panther Creek on Friday.

▪ Rolesville rendered all Friday’s other Northern Athletic 4A Conference games moot for championship considerations by winning 38-14 over Heritage. The Rams completed their five-games league slate undefeated, and the regular season 9-1 overall.

▪ Hillside prevailed 41-35 over visiting Jordan in the winner-take-all DC Six 4A conference game between the two unbeaten teams in league play. The Hornets, who began this season 1-4, have won five straight games.