news-record.com

SILER CITY — Reidsville quarterback Lavert Butchee admitted that he was depressed after the first half, but he turned it around in the second half.

Butchee completed two key passes and then powered all of his 5-foot-6 frame into the end zone from one yard out with 22 seconds remaining to lead the Rams (7-0, 2-0 Mid-State 2-A) to a 7-3 come-from-behind victory over Jordan-Matthews in Siler City.

Reidsville, No. 1 in the News & Record Top 10, has now won 55 straight games, the longest active streak in the country.

“I was hanging my head at halftime,” Butchee said. “My teammates told me to keep my head up and be the leader and that’s what I did. The winning streak is always on your mind. Some of the guys that graduated last year were there at halftime, saying don’t lose.”

Trailing 3-0, the Rams took over after a short punt at the Jordan-Matthews’ 33. After a sack, Butchee rolled left and completed a 17-yard pass to Justin Stewart.

Running back William Welch looked like he would score on a quick pass out of the backfield, but he was stopped just inside the 2. Butchee was stuffed on first down, but kept driving on second down to reach the goal and the Rams began to celebrate.

“We’ve got this streak because we do take it one game at a time,” said Reidsville coach Doug Robertson. “We definitely needed all 48 minutes tonight. We just wanted to be in position at the end of the game to make a play and we made one more play than they did.”

The usually potent Reidsville offense was held in check by a determined Jordan-Matthews defense in the first half. The Rams had three yards of total offense and punted the ball four times.

The Jets were moving the ball on the ground, but used a 48-yard pass play to get them in scoring position.

The Reidsville defense refused to let the Jets into the end zone. After a 5-yard penalty, the Rams sacked Jordan-Matthews quarterback Dylan Bounds for a 9-yard loss.

“This is the best football team we have played all year and it took a great game from us to win it,” Robertson said. “I thought we did what we wanted to do on defense. We made our mistakes, but our kids fought through it.”

It looked like the Jets would score, but running back Derek Jones fumbled at the 1-yard line the ball rolled through the end zone for a touchback.

Two plays later, Reidsville quarterback Lavert Butchee attempted a pass near the sideline and it was intercepted by Jalen Wiley at the 30-yard line and returned to the 14.

The Jets could only gain 2 yards and had to settle for a 28-yard field goal by Eric Gomez, giving Jordan-Matthews a 3-0 lead at halftime.

JM – Eric Gomez 28 FG

R – Lavert Butchee 1 run (Mitchell Cobb kick)