The NCHSAA high school football season has kicked off, and Week 1 did not disappoint for Colts fans.
Cape Fear went to Andrews Road and steamrolled Pine Forest 44-0 in a contest that was over in the second quarter.
"It was a strong start in the first drive," Cape Fear head coach Jake Thomas said. "We were able to set the tone by coming out physically and punching it in for a touchdown."
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Thomas talked about how the Colts came off the bus for warm-ups and thought they seemed nervous just ahead of the game.
"I thought they looked a bit nervous coming off the bus, but once the first whistle blew, they proved me completely wrong," he said.
In the opening drive, Pine Forest was penalty-ridden, and Cape Fear took advantage, coming out strong with a series of scrambles by junior quarterback Geronimo Sanchez and a 20-yard, play-action pass to set up a great field position for the Colts, leading to a King Faison rushing score from 10 yards out.
In the Trojans' first series with the ball, the Colts' defensive intensity was there, and the Pine Forest penalties made things go from bad to worse.
While the Cape Fear offense handled business with six total touchdowns on the day, the Colts defense shined as well, getting a score of their own—a safety from linebacker, Will Wicklin to close out the first quarter up 16-0.
To kickstart the second quarter, the Trojans saw a bit of light with a third-down sack by 910Preps Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, Jontayvious Hill, to force the Colts to punt for the first time of the night.
As Pine Forest looked to capitalize on the Colts' first failed offensive series of the night, the Trojans fumbled on the very first play of the drive with a bad handoff from Ja'lynn Thomas to Jamari Jones that set the Colts up in the red zone for a 22-0 Cape Fear lead with 3:36 left before the half.
Cape Fear went into halftime comfortably at 30-0 after a 33-yard connection from Sanchez to Chosen Wynn to help close out the half.
Pine Forest fumbled six times in the game, three in each half, and lost four to Cape Fear.
It was more of the same for both teams in the second half. Cape Fear dominated, and Pine Forest struggled to find the answers on both sides of the football, giving up
Senior King Faison rushed for two scores on the night, and Sanchez collected three scores, one on the ground from 15 yards out, and two in the air, to begin his junior season.
"First and foremost, I want to give a shout-out to my O-line," Faison said. "Our defense picked up right where they left off last year, and put us in the right positions to score."
"Offensively, we set up some big plays all night, we were able to run the football really well, and we had some young receivers step up and make some plays for us, so that was a pleasant surprise," Thomas said.
As the Colts begin the season on a strong note, advancing to 1-0, they look to build on that momentum going into an open week next week to prep for the historic Battle of the Blues matchup against Terry Sanford on Sept. 6 with a 7 p.m. kickoff.
While the Colts were able to put up 44 unanswered points in the shutout, Thomas still sees improvements that can be made heading into the bye week.
"We made a lot of mistakes," he said. "In certain situations, we could've capitalized and left some points on the field, but I'm confident we'll fix those things before conference play."
Pine Forest (0-1) will reset and look to bounce back as they travel to Seventy-First to take on the NCHSAA 3A East champion Falcons for a 7:30 kickoff.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Sanchez, Faison combine for 5 touchdowns in Colts’ season-opening rout over Pine Forest
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