Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009

Carolina Forest leaving past behind

Team thinking playoffs a year after disappointing season

Seven minutes.

That's how long it took to see there is something happening with Carolina Forest football.

During a mid-week practice leading up to tonight's game against West Florence, Panthers coach Drew Hummel instructed his players the session was over. The team wanted nothing to do with it.

The full-contact scrimmage had just seen a long offensive pass play when someone from the defensive side of the ball yelled out, "We can't end on that."

It promptly drew a response from offensive players.

"You want one more?" one said, before turning to his teammates. 'Let's give it to them.'"

It turned into an extra several minutes on the practice field in which the offense and defense took full-pad, full-speed shots at each other. It was a sharp change for a team that just a year ago couldn't get off the practice field fast enough while it suffered through an 0-11 season.

"It was just that competition," senior Ronnie Moses said. "When you've got that level of competition, it makes everybody want to go harder. That's what makes us a team."

That team has the possibility of doing the unthinkable in the last two weeks of the season. With wins over 0-9 West Florence tonight at home and at Conway next week, the Panthers can guarantee themselves the third playoff spot from Region VI-AAAA.

Although not all parts of this 3-6 season have been glorious - a 49-0 loss to Myrtle Beach in its second game, for instance - Carolina Forest is primed for the postseason.

This is the same group that was outscored by an average of 35 points per game last year.

"Last year, going into some games, a lot of players knew we weren't going to have a chance," senior Marlon Horton said. "We didn't have older guys. We didn't really have that much leadership. Now this year, we've got leadership. And our younger guys have heart. No one's scared to play."

Change for the best

To even get into the postseason conversation, the Panthers first had to make a change that had some looking at Hummel like he was nuts.

Carolina Forest entered the season with Horton at quarterback after he threw for 1,501 yards and nine touchdowns and led the team with 392 rushing yards as a junior. But having Horton confined to the quarterback position was actually hurting the Panthers.

He was too skilled at other positions on the field, especially on defense. So after five games, Hummel decided it was time to pull the trigger.

The Panthers inserted fresh-faced sophomore Robert Gray, a 6-foot-3 pocket passer who wasn't even on the preseason varsity depth chart. It freed up Horton to play in the secondary, where he has recorded three interceptions since the switch, as well as into a scat-back position on offense.

Now, Horton rarely gets off the field, increasing his play total from about 45 per game to around 80. From the players' perspective, letting Horton do a little bit of everything made perfect sense.

"He has everything an athlete needs," Gray said. "He can catch; he can throw; he can run; he can hit. He's strong. He's just an athlete."

It didn't take Horton long to factor back into the offensive scheme. In Gray's first start - a 10-7 win over Socastee on Sept. 28 - Horton caught a 20-yard touchdown pass off a slant route in the opening quarter.

Throwing any warm body behind center to free up Horton wasn't going to work, though. But in his four starts, the 15-year-old Gray has proven he's not any old quarterback. He's already thrown for 1,169 yards and seven touchdowns while completing 56.1 percent of his passes. He's been picked just twice.

Gray has also gone from a quarterback who relies too much on his physical gifts into one Hummel will revolve his team around for the next two-plus seasons.

"He came in not knowing the system," said Moses, who is the area's leading receiver with 685 yards on 54 catches. "He didn't know what routes everyone was running. He was just looking and throwing. I think his development has come a long way. His arm is getting stronger by the day. He's getting more accurate."

It's taken just four starts for others to notice, too. When Hummel took a quick peek through his mail on Wednesday afternoon, he lifted a stack of letters addressed to Gray from college football coaches. The most notable was at least five from Duke. There were also ones from Illinois and Cincinnati, among others.

Needless to say, Gray has done enough with his time on varsity to make an impression.

Postseason dream

If the last two games of the season go Carolina Forest's way, the Panthers won't have to worry about the rest of the teams in the region. They'll earn their first Class AAAA playoff berth.

"We control our own destiny, which makes it even better," Hummel said. "We don't have to hope for something to happen. If we do our business, we're in. That's a good feeling for them."

Of course, winning is easier said than done. Carolina Forest has never beaten Conway.

A single loss in the final two would make the Panthers need some positive results in other region games. Either way, the postseason scenarios are something the players are starting to get comfortable with.

"The turnaround this year is huge," Horton said. "Just to come from 0-11 to be fighting and to have a spot in the playoffs would be so much."

Hummel considers tonight's game the first week of the playoffs. If the Panthers win, they get to advance to next week. Win there, and Carolina Forest gets to enter the third week of its postseason - aka, the opening round of the Class AAAA playoffs.

But whatever works, Hummel and Co. will take it.

Because for every victory the Panthers accrue this season, they get a little further away from that 0-11 mark.

"They did not like what happened last year. It was embarrassing to them," Hummel said. "When you can as a football team see the light at the end of the tunnel, that's all you can ask of your team."