ASHEVILLE — After going 9-4 and reaching the third round of the NCHSAA playoffs last season, Reynolds football retooled its offense.
The Rockets added IMG Academy junior transfer quarterback Ely Hamrick, while senior running back Max Guest was slated to return from a right foot injury to add to last season’s breakout stars like juniors Tyvon Patterson and Jayden Smith.
But in what was expected to be the debut of Reynolds’ new high powered offense Friday, it floundered, failing to score a touchdown in a 19-13 loss to West Forsyth at R.L. Dalton Stadium.
“We had a lot of chances to take the lead and win the ballgame and we just didn’t,” Reynolds coach Shane Laws said. “We’ve got a lot of really good players on the offensive side of the ball, and we’ve got to play better.”
Both Guest and Hamrick showed frustration in the offense’s performance, specifically themselves. Reynolds gained 176 yards and settled for two field goals offensively. The lone touchdown came on a blocked punt by Lincoln Rogers to cap off the game’s first drive.
“We should be scoring 30 points a game with the people we have,” Guest said. “Not even just me. … It’s not acceptable.”
Reynolds had a chance to score to open the third quarter on a drive that marched 66 yards downfield before stalling out. After Guest was stuffed inside the 10-yard line, the Rockets settled for a field goal to trail by three points rather than taking the lead.
Trailing by six points near the end of the game, the Rockets had a chance at a two-minute drill. After Hamrick picked up a first down on a 25-yard scramble to cross midfield, the offense couldn’t gather itself when trying to spike the ball. Reynolds was flagged multiple times for false starts and ended the game attempting to convert a fourth-and-48.
“We didn’t execute offensively,” Laws said. “There were lots of things — I’m not going to put it all on the offensive side of the ball, but the glaring thing is execution offensively.”
Despite its struggles, the offense showed flashes of what it expects to be this season. Guest rushed 13 times for 72 yards, including several powerful first-down rushes, and had a long kickoff return in the second half. Hamrick was 13-for-28 for 90 yards.
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Laws chalked some of the team’s struggles up to the game being the first of the season against a talented West Forsyth team, adding that the Titans were making the plays Reynolds’ wasn’t.
“There were just some things we need to fix going into the rest of the season,” Hamrick said. “We’ll definitely get it fixed by next week.”
Evan Gerike is the high school sports reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Email him at egerike@citizentimes.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @EvanGerike. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Reynolds’ offense struggles, falls short to West Forsyth 19-13
