GREENSBORO

If you prefer your Football under a roof and on a carpet, stay away from Dudley High School tonight.

If you like Football’s “in-the-grasp” rule, television timeouts, “Hi, moms!” and Gatorade showers for coaches, skip tonight’s clash between Dudley and Ragsdale in the third round of the 3-AA state Football playoffs.

Because the Dudley defense that will be on display tonight is not for the faint, the weak, the soft. It is not for players who prefer to run out of bounds, not for guys who cannot rise from a pounding. Quite the contrary. The Panthers’ defense hangs their helmets on hitting and toughness as much as Xs and Os.

In other words, this Dudley defense is the same as it ever was. Which is to say intimidating.

“I’d like to think our defense is one of the things we’re known for,” Dudley coach Steve Davis said. “We come at you and we don’t let up. Our guys pride themselves on playing to the last whistle.”

Just like their offensive brethren, defensive players love to wrap themselves in statistics: Interceptions per game, quarterback sacks and so on. But ultimately, like their offensive teammates, a defense is also defined by points - how well they keep their opponents out of the end zone.

And nobody’s been more tight-fisted in the Triad this season than Dudley. The Panthers are 13-0, shutting out their opponents in six of those games.

No wonder, then, that tonight’s clash of two 13-0 teams will likely be determined by how well Ragsdale handles itself against one of the state’s best defensive units.

“Almost any adjective that’s positive applies to them,” Ragsdale coach Tommy Norwood said. “They’ve probably got one of the best defenses in the state.”

Dudley has had a few good defensive units in recent years - last season’s state championship team comes to mind - but senior safety Joshua Jones isn’t about to measure his team against last year’s.

“We may have better numbers, but last year’s team won a state championship,” Jones said. “If we win one of our own this year then I might say we’re a better team, but not yet.”

Davis has seen his share of good defenses at Dudley. He believes this one is special.

“Certainly as a team, I don’t think any of them played better than this group,” he said. “They fly around and play together as a group better than any I’ve coached.”

Davis isn’t just the Panthers’ head coach. He doubles as the team’s defensive coordinator. And while he likes to claim as much interest in his offense as he does his defense, the truth eventually reveals itself if you look hard enough.

“Offense wins GAMES. Defense wins CHAMPIONSHIPS.”

So reads the sign on a shelf in Davis’ office. It leans against dusty game tapes from seasons past, a Football bromide older than the tapes themselves, but one Davis’ teenage players have bought into.

Every summer Davis offers the same suggestion to Dudley freshmen and rookies.

“If they don’t want to hit, I tell them they might want to try offense,” he said. “You’ve got to be hard-nosed to play defense for me.”

Dudley’s defense starts in the trenches, where seniors Chris Neal, Josh Jones and Kelton Sheppard have controlled the line of scrimmage in every game this season. Once teams quickly realize they can’t run the ball, they look to the air. But the Panthers have two of the best safeties in the state: Quan Nevels and David Anderson.

“It’s a great defense because if somebody is having an off night, the other guys can pick him up,” said Jones.

Neal and his defensive teammates don’t mind if the Panthers’ offense gets all the attention. “We get our satisfaction from hitting guys on the field,” he said.

Contact Robert Bell at 373-7055 or robert.bell@news-record.com

Dudley will showcase its unforgiving defense against Ragsdale’s offense

Terms & Conditions Privacy

Copyright © 2008 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.