Dominance was exhibited in Cape Fear’s football’s 42-0 win over Gray’s Creek on Friday night, Oct. 16, and it began with excessive defensive pressure.
The Colts had a great scoring outing from junior quarterback Tres Daughtry, who accounted for three total touchdowns, one passing and the other two on the ground.
Coming into a matchup against the Bears, Colts coach Jake Thomas wanted his team to finish games in the same way it started them — with the same intensity.
And on Friday night, the Colts delivered a second-half performance that turned a two-score game into a blowout in the opening minutes of the third quarter.
Thomas credited Cape Fear's collective effort in all three phases of the game, emphatically pointing to senior ATH Landon Underwood's 60-plus yard punt return for a touchdown in the third frame to open the lead up to 28 points.
"We always talk about all three phases playing well," Thomas said. "It's big plays in the kick return game and special teams. Our coverage was really good. Defensively, early in the game, I thought we bent a little bit and they gained some good yardage on first-down plays, but we found a way to get some stops."
The Colts' offense also found consistency in a multi-dimensional attack, helping sustain drives and keep pressure on Gray's Creek as Daughtry found Lyndon Greene for a 51-yard score on fourth-and-4, while running backs Darius Walker and Roderick Williams got their share of touchdowns on the night.
Cape Fear went into the break with a 14-0 lead and Thomas emphasized the halftime message of winning the first five minutes of the third quarter — and his Colts answered with three scores in the first six minutes of the third.
"We were able to get a stop on defense and then get another score, so that was huge to put us up 28, and things started rolling with momentum at that point," Thomas said. "I thought the first half was a little bit sloppy, but the second half, I thought we did a much better job of finishing."
Cape Fear (7-1, 3-0 TCC) will look to remain undefeated in league play on Friday, Oct. 23 against county rival Terry Sanford (3-5, 2-1 TCC), while Gray's Creek (4-4, 1-2 TCC) will host Purnell Swett. Both kickoffs are set for 7 p.m.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Cape Fear uses collective team effort to blow past Gray’s Creek