Cary High Falls to Speedy Rams in Home Opener
The Cary High School varsity football team faced off against the Cleveland Rams in their 2022 season opener at home, last night. The Rams proved too much for Cary.
The Rams jumped out to a quick start, scoring on their first possession.
After Cary punted to end its initial drive, setting up Cleveland’s first score, the Imps fumbled on their second drive, giving Cleveland another opportunity. However, the Cary defense was able to stop the Rams, getting a big play on third down from JoJo Williams, breaking up a pass that would have given Cleveland a new set of downs.
Cary took over on downs after stopping the Rams’ 4th down attempt, but couldn’t move the ball, resulting in another punt. On the Rams’ first play of their next drive, Cary suffered the first of many injuries on the night, when Darish Jacobs made a tackle and appeared to hurt his wrist.
The Rams drove down the field and scored another touchdown on a 4th down quarterback keeper, topping off the scoring drive with a fake kick on their extra point attempt, resulting in a pass and catch for the two point conversion.
From there, the game went from bad to worse, as the Cleveland Rams regained possession after successfully executing an onside kick. They scored another touchdown on their first play of the drive, opening up a 22-0 lead with 22 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Rams were able to put more points on the board while limiting the Cary offense, taking a 39-0 lead into the half.
During halftime, the Cary High School Band took the field to perform for the crowd.
The second half started off well for the Cary Imps as they stopped Cleveland’s first drive and JoJo Williams broke a long run on the ensuing play.
The jolt of momentum for Cary was short lived, as they were hampered by more injuries and turnovers.
While there were a few bright spots on the evening, like two long touchdown runs from Williams, Cary wasn’t able to keep pace with the Cleveland Rams speedy and powerful offense, dropping the season opener 55-12.
More images from the night:
One piece of the story has fallen in to place, as we asked police whether Ian Delauder had interaction with the Cary Fire Department (first to arrive on the scene) or the Cary Police Department prior to the self-inflicted gunshot wound. Sergeant Alexander told us, “In listening to radio traffic, it is believed that Mr. Delauder suffered his gunshot wound after the arrival of the fire department. We do not know the timing of his wound in relation to the arrival of police officers. He did not have an interaction with the police.”