The Reidsville Rams have secured a spot in the state championship game for the seventh time in the past eight years, earning the title of “Football Capital of North Carolina.”

The number one ranked team, Reidsville, easily defeated their long-standing rival Shelby in the 2A West regional final on Friday with a 49-14 victory.

Reidsville and Shelby have a combined total of 29 N.C. High School Athletic Association championships, making them football powerhouses. Their streak of consecutive state title appearances dates back to 2012, and it will continue this year.

The seventh-ranked team, Shelby (11-4), had a winning streak of 11 games after starting off 0-3. However, they were overwhelmed by quarterback Al Lee’s fast-paced passing attack, which resulted in five touchdown passes, during the 2A West final.

In the first half, Lee completed two passes to the large tight end Kendre Harrison for a total of four catches and 80 yards. In the second half, he threw two passes to Que’Shyne Flippen, who caught six passes for a total of 89 yards. Lee also made a throw to Dionte Neal in the second quarter. Overall, Lee had a successful game with 22 completions out of 29 attempts, resulting in 319 passing yards. Additionally, Cam’Ron Jones contributed five catches for 109 yards.

Combine this with the Rams’ Johnniyus Sharpe making two interceptions and Aidan Mansfield recovering a fumbled punt, resulting in a challenging evening for the Golden Lions.

Two of Shelby’s points were earned through touchdown passes from Lan Farmer, one of which was a long throw to Izay Bridges who broke a tackle and sprinted to the end zone. The other was a late pass to Eli Falls, who managed to keep his feet inbounds and barely made it over the line in the corner.

On Saturday at 3 p.m., undefeated Clinton will play against Reidsville (14-1) at N.C. State’s Carter-Finley Stadium. Both teams were the highest-ranked in their divisions of the bracket.

Scoring Summary

At the 8:59 mark, Reidsville scored a 25-yard touchdown on a pass from Al Lee to Kendre Harrison, and the extra point was good. This puts Reidsville in the lead with a score of 7-0.

At 4:42 in the game, Aidan Mansfield scored a 2-yard touchdown run for Reidsville, followed by a successful extra point. This puts Reidsville in the lead with a score of 14-0.

At the 10:27 mark, Reidsville scored a 6-yard touchdown with a pass from Al Lee to Dionte Neal, giving them a 21-0 lead.

Kendre Harrison from Al Lee caught a 32-yard TD pass for Reidsville, bringing the score to 28-0 after a successful XP. It happened with 44.5 minutes left in the game.

Shelby scored a touchdown with a 42-yard pass from Lan Farmer to Izay Bridges, and the extra point was successful. This puts Reidsville in the lead with a score of 28-7 and 10:17 remaining in the game.

Reidsville scores a 32-yard touchdown pass to Que’Shyne Flippen from Al Lee and successfully makes the extra point, bringing their lead to 35-7 with 9:01 remaining.

Reidsville scores a 1-yard touchdown run by Paul Widerman, with an extra point successfully kicked. This puts Reidsville ahead with a score of 42-7, with 32.1 seconds remaining.

Shelby’s Lan Farmer threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Eli Falls, resulting in a score of 42-14 with 9:55 remaining. The extra point was successful.

Reidsville scores again with a 40-yard touchdown pass from Al Lee to Que’Shyne Flippen. The extra point is good, bringing their lead to 49-14 with 3:59 remaining.

Source: highschoolot.com