Before Patrick Stokes made the 11-mile trek from Eastern Alamance to Williams, the Bulldogs had not won a high school football playoff game since 2011.
In two seasons at his alma mater, Stokes has led Williams to two wins in as many years, including a first-round NCHSAA Class 3A playoff victory over crosstown rival Western Alamance on Friday.
After a tight first half, the Bulldogs showed themselves to be the better team in the final two quarters, pulling away for a 34-20 victory at Burlington Memorial Stadium.
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“Our kids have shown up with a lot of perseverance, it’s one of our core values,” Stokes said. “All year long, regardless of the situation or the moment we’re in, they found a way to come out on top and they did again tonight.”
After overcoming Western, in a week’s time the Bulldogs (8-3) will head cross-county to face another conference rival, No. 2 seed Eastern Alamance (10-1). Earlier this season, the Bulldogs suffered a three-point loss against the Eagles.
“We’ve just got to get back on Eastern again,” said Cam’Ron Jones, Williams’ leading receiver. “That really hurt us. Next week, we’ll practice hard, play hard. We’ve just got to get Eastern back.”
Despite holding the underdog moniker due to their seeding, the Bulldogs will head into Friday with a legitimate chance to make the round of 16. That 20-17 victory over Williams was Eastern’s narrowest victory of the season.
Williams won last year’s matchup by 21 points and Stokes knows the Eagles well. After graduating from Elon, he spent 17 years as a member of Eastern’s staff.
“We’ll play who’s up next, we look at what they run on offense and defense,” Stokes said. “Obviously there’s a rivalry between Williams and Eastern Alamance, between me and the staff. But those guys do a great job at it and we’ll do the best we can to get out there and win.”
On Friday, the Bulldogs continued a trend they have maintained all season: domination on the defensive side of the ball.
Williams has only allowed one opponent to score more than 21 points. Against Western, the Bulldogs made two consecutive red-zone stands in the second and third quarters to keep the game under their control.
“That veteran leadership, starting with the anchor with the linebackers and the defensive front,” Stokes said. “I’m really proud of those guys.”
Against an Eastern Alamance group that has relied on a dominant run game this season, the Bulldogs’ front seven will have to show up on Friday to keep the run going.
Senior linebacker Caleb Fogleman said the Bulldogs mentality moving into next week is simple.
“Dialed in, no joking around, just straight business,” he said.
Despite Williams’ success on Friday, a few truths remain. Next Friday’s contest will take place in front of a raucous away crowd and the Bulldogs lost to the Eagles earlier this season.
But to hear Stokes tell it – as he stood on the field among a postgame crowd of community members and students – Friday’s win shows something special about this year’s Bulldogs.
“Back to the value that we talked about with perseverance being one of our core values, it’s also preparing for the game and not taking it lightly,” Stokes said. “(Western) is going to execute at a high level and you’ve got to match it and find ways throughout the game to overcome it.”
This article originally appeared on Times-News: Williams football beats one rival in NC high school playoffs. Now it gets another.
