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REIDSVILLE -- Reidsville senior Tayon Graves readily admits that his cousin from Southern Guilford has a half a step on him when racing the 100 or 200 meters during track season.

William Graves showed great explosion to give the Storm a surprising early lead Monday night at Community Stadium. But it was Tayon's Rams who would overwhelm Southern with their overall team speed by night's end.

The 46-14 victory, in a game postponed from Friday, sealed the North State 2-A Conference title and demonstrated why the Rams (10-0, 4-0) will enter the state playoffs Nov. 9 as the team to beat in their subdivided classification.

"They're a state championship team," said William Graves, who rushed for 177 yards. "We battled with them, but we made big mistakes and they capitalized off of them."

Southern (7-3, 3-1) will try to bounce back in this short week to win at Eastern Guilford and secure a high seed and at least a couple of home playoff dates.

"They've kind of answered the challenge all year long," Storm coach Darryl Brown said. "I have no doubt they'll be ready to play come Friday."

They simply didn't have enough answers for Reidsville's offensive weaponry or its defensive pass rush. Tayon Graves rushed for 230 yards and raced to scores of 49, 69 and five yards. He went over 1,000 yards for the third straight season. QB Ray Ray Butchee added three short TD plunges.

Butchee also fumbled the ball away twice. But Southern was unable to make hay.

William Graves, a 5-foot-9, 170-pound senior, struck on the game's first offensive play, taking a handoff and turning the corner for a 67-yard TD run.

"Tayon was looking inside," he said of his cousin at linebacker. "I saw him bounce in. I just bounced it outside and turned it on."

The Rams' Graves responded with his own breakaway run, and Reidsville made it 21-7 on the first quarter's last play.

Darren Garcia scooped up a fumble and went 62 yards to give the Storm a good shot at closing the gap. But Antonio Martin was intercepted one play later.

The Southern QB was picked off again just before halftime when he underthrew Tykeam Dawkins at the left pylon.

Reidsville struck twice to open the third quarter, and that was that."

"I feel like we have the best offense in the state," Tayon Graves said. "We practice against the best offense in the state. That's nothing but good for the whole team."

No argument from Southern.

"Their speed is just unbelievable, how fast they are at every position," Brown said. "They're so fast up front on the defensive line. It makes it so hard to get anything going."

Contact Jeff Carlton at 373-7065 or jcarlton@news-record.com

Southern Reidsville
First downs 8 15
Rushes-yards 37-129 43-367
Passing yards 32 91
Comp-Att-Int 3-12-2 4-5-0
Punts-average 5-31.0 2-34.5
Fumbles-lost 3-2 3-2
Penalties-yards 1-15 5-32

Southern Guilford 7 0 7 0 -- 14
Reidsville 21 0 19 6 -- 46

SG -- William Graves 67 run (Spencer Grace kick)

R -- Tayon Graves 49 run (James Scheer kick)

R -- Ray Ray Butchee 1 run (kick failed)

R -- Butchee 1 run (Marion Roach pass from Butchee)

R -- T. Graves 69 run (Scheer kick)

R -- T. Graves 5 run (kick blocked)

SG -- Darren Garcia 9 pass from Antonio Martin (Grace kick)

R -- Butchee 2 run (pass failed)

R -- Damien Lee recovered fumble in end zone (kick failed)