Regular Season Ends This Friday – Southern Lee Visits Lee County – Everything You Need to Know

Staff Report

Southern Lee will visit Lee County this Friday night and the teams will battle for the 17^th time since Southern Lee opened its doors in the early 2000’s.   Lee County has dominated this series except for a couple of short stretches and the Yellow Jackets should be favored this Friday night.   Below are the game information notes from WFJA & WWGP Sports as we get ready for our final regular season broadcast this Friday night.  

Teams: Southern Lee (1-8, 0-5) at Lee County (6-3, 2-3)

Game Time: This Friday at 7:30 at Paul Gay Stadium on the Lee County campus

Air Time: Game broadcast will begin at 6:30 with the Coach’s Show, 7:00 live pre-game from the field, and kickoff at 7:30.

Station Info: The Lee County broadcast will air on WFJA Sports 105.5 FM and the Southern Lee broadcast will air on WWGP Sports 95.1 FM & 1050 AM.

Series History

• Lee County leads the series 11-5.   This series was at 6-5 after the 2016 season, but the Yellow Jackets have won the last 5 in a row.
• Lee County won the 1^st meeting in 2006 by a 56-33 score, but the Cavaliers held their only lead in this series after winning in 2007 & 2008.  Lee County would win 5 straight from 2009 thru 2013 – before Don Simon would lead Southern Lee to 3 straight wins from 2014 thru 2016.
• Coaches with winning records in the series – Burton Cates (LeeCo) 6-3 from 2009-2017, Don Simon 3-1 (SLee) from 2013-2016, Steve Burdeau (LeeCo) 4-0 from 2018-present.

Leading Players

Lee County Offense

• RB BJ Brown – 1743 rush yards, 193.7 YPG, 17 TDs, 5^th Leading Rusher in NC
• QB Mark Schlesinger – 1102 pass yards, 60% comp rate, 7 TDs passing
• Kendal Morris – 34 catches, 486 yards

Lee County Defense

• LB JoJo Jennings – 4-year starter with 78 tackles on the season.  Seven tackles for loss.  Maxpreps Freshman All-America team
• LB Isaiah McKendall – Yellow Jackets 2^nd leading tackler with 55 stops
• LB Anthony Battle & DB Kendal Morris with 3 interceptions each

Southern Lee Offense

• RB Tyrice Douglas – 655 rush yards at 6.1 YPC, 8 TDs
• QB Robbie Sims – 717 yards passing at 46% and 4 TDs

Southern Lee Defense

• LB Mike Tate-Blanks – Cavs leading tackler with 64 stops on the season
• LB Jorderian Hamilton – 2^nd leading tackler with 40 tackles thru 9 games
• DB Dylan Greene and DB Jaylin Scruggs lead the Cavs with two interceptions each

This & That

Southern Lee has their backs against the wall on this one as the Cavaliers have struggled to put points on the scoreboard during the 2022 season.   The Cavaliers have been outmanned all year in terms of number of players on the roster and especially undersized against the 2000+ student schools in the Sandhills 3A/4A Conference.  This week, the Cavs will be undersized in comparison to Lee County, but not quite the difference it was against Hoke, Pinecrest, Richmond & Scotland.

Southern Lee has given up 38.0 ppg throughout the season and Lee County comes in averaging 38.0 ppg as well.   Lee County shouldn’t have problems scoring if they can take care of the ball and spread out the Cavaliers.  Lee County’s defense has given up 38 ppg in their last 3 games against Pinecrest, Richmond, and Scotland – but have given up only 13.0 ppg against their other 6 opponents.

Can Southern Lee Win?

Yes…they can.  They beat Lee County in 2015 when Lee County was 8-2 and SLee 4-6.  Records won’t mean much this coming Friday night.  Turnovers and mistakes have led to upsets in this series several times before – and I guess why we play the game.  Things will have to go perfect for the Cavs to win and sustaining drives to keep BJ Brown and the Jacket offense off the field will be key.  Southern Lee turned the ball over 7 times last week against Union Pines…they can’t afford any this Friday night.

Can Lee County Win?

Yes…and they should.  Look for Lee County to control the line-of-scrimmage and let BJ Brown do his thing.  Lee has plenty of other weapons to spread out the Cavalier defense and if Lee can take care of the ball, Lee should control this game.  The Lee defense has shown some holes lately and will need to show their form of the first 6 weeks this coming Friday night.   Taking care of business with no mistakes should be enough for the Yellow Jackets…but footballs sometimes bounce funny, passes get dropped and turnovers happen.  

Our Call

Although we know that anything can happen and upsets do occur, we feel Lee County will win this one and go to the playoffs at 7-3.   The Yellow Jacket players not only have the rival game on their minds but are also looking to improve their seeding for the post season.   Southern Lee players know this is their last game and the Cav Seniors would like nothing more than to win at Lee County in their final game.   But unless Lee County turns it over, we like the Jackets chances this Friday night.

****************************************************************

Don’t forget to tune in to either broadcast this Friday night!!!   Mike Fowler & Austin Thomas will bring you the Cavalier broadcast on WWGP Sports at 95.1 Fm/1050 AM and Jon Hockaday and Keith Womack will be on WFJA Sports 105.5 FM with the Yellow Jacket broadcast.

We remind you to go to www.gofan.com to purchase your ticket if you plan on attending the game.   Show your ticket on your phone as you go through the gate!

To Listen On-Line…..go to www.wfjawwgpradio.com.   Click on “Listen Live” and then click on WFJA or WWGP to listen to the game.   Enjoy!