News-Record.com

Reidsville

Last season: 16-0, 5-0 North State 2-A (first place), 2-AA state champions

-The Rams were barely threatened last year in rolling to their 16th state championship and third in the last six years. The average score of their games was 48-12, and only twice did their opponents come within three touchdowns. As you can imagine, spring has now become a been-there-done-that time around the Rams' practice field. “I’ve been doing it so long,” head coach Jimmy Teague said, “it’s really not much different. You don’t want them to forget what happened ... but as far as preparation goes, we don't approach it any differently.”
-The Rams have a huge hole to fill with the graduation of running back Tayon Graves, who rushed for 2,173 yards and 45 TDs his senior year and 5,471 yards for his school-record career. Teague knows he probably won’t get that output again, but he thinks the duo of E.J. Foster and Aaron Easton should be good enough to keep the ball moving. Teague also said his team will do more passing this season and will look for different entries to the run, like through the quarterback and slot receiver. “We’ll have to be more balanced,” he said.
-Reidsville also lost leading wide receiver Kerry Hammock and tight end Mike Brown, who averaged almost 30 yards a catch, but the Rams do return one integral part of their offense: Three-year starting quarterback Ray Ray Butchee, who rolled up more than 2,000 yards passing, 800 yards rushing and 40 all-purpose touchdowns last year. “The thing he did best was become a leader,” Teague said of the state championship game MVP. “And he’s truly the leader of the offense this year.”
-Also returning as starters: Wide receiver Niko McGirt, who averaged 25.7 yards a catch, and two-way lineman Jazz Totten. Foster will once again play linebacker, where he recorded 108 tackles and 3.5 sacks last season.
-One more nice thing about winning big: The Rams were able to get their younger players ample playing time during blowouts last year. That's helped put them farther ahead going into this season.