GREENSBORO - Wilson Fike seemed like as worthy a second-round opponent as any for Dudley to host Friday night.
They weren't.
Dudley, the East's No. 2 seed, steamrolled the 10th-seeded Golden Demons, 46-0, on a brutally cold night at J.A. Tarpley Stadium to continue its state title defense in the NCHSAA 3-AA title.
Fike (9-4) had the potential to give the Panthers' defense fits. The Golden Demons entered averaging 32 points a game, led by 1,600-yard rusher Rashad Parker.
But Dudley's defensive unit lived up to its reputation, limiting Parker to 36 yards and Fike to 88 yards total.
"We've been working them all week about trying to stop this Wing-T offense," Dudley coach Steven Davis said. "You really have to pay attention to your assignments, and I thought we did a great job of that."
Dudley's defense had the game under control until the offense could get into a groove. The Panthers lost fumbles on their first two possessions, but the defense held the Golden Demons to 14 yards and one first down in the opening half.
The Panthers (13-0) had touchdown runs on four of their next five possessions to take a 30-0 lead at the half. Quarterback Ricky Lewis ran for three scores and had 206 yards rushing to lead a Panthers unit that had 415 yards on 31 attempts. Dudley attempted one pass.
The temperature stayed in the mid-20s, and the biting cold affected both teams' ability to hold onto the football. Dudley lost four fumbles, but the Panthers forced three, intercepted two passes and blocked a punt.
"The whole 'D' was great," said senior defensive lineman, Josh Jones who had an interception. "Coach (Davis) said to come off the ball and handle our business, and we did what we had to do."
Senior running back Fred Overby had 136 yards and two touchdowns, and J.R. Peterson added one touchdown and 64 yards.
The Panthers have now won 19 in a row. Dudley's last loss was a 14-7 setback to Western Alamance on Oct. 26, 2007.
Jones said the only way the Panthers will be happy is if the win streak reaches 22 games.
"It was a good team win, but we have a purpose here," he said. "Three more to go."
| Fike | Dudley | |
| First downs | 6 | 16 |
| Rushes-yards | 41-78 | 31-415 |
| Passing yards | 10 | 0 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 1-6-2 | 0-1-0 |
| Punts-average | 6-35.1 | 2-31 |
| Fumbles-lost | 3-3 | 5-4 |
| Penalties-yards | 3-30 | 6-30 |
| Fike | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 |
| Dudley | 16 | 14 | 16 | 0 | - | 46 |
D - J.R. Peterson 28 run (Peterson run)
D - Fred Overby 33 run (Major Bryant run)
D - Ricky Lewis 10 run (Overby run)
D - Lewis 29 run (run failed)
D - Overby 47 run (Bryant run)
D- Lewis 39 run (Bryant run)
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