Back from 0-3: Myers Park weathers the storm, passes big test Friday vs Ardrey Kell

It was early September, and storm clouds were gathering for Myers Park High’s football team.

The once-powerful Mustangs had gone 5-17 the past two years and had high hopes under new head coach Chris James of turning things around.

But here it was … Labor Day weekend, and Myers Park was 0-3.

“We had lost close games and were making young-team mistakes,” James said. “We were close.”

James and his assistants challenged the Mustangs … don’t go out-of-bounds if you’re trying to run out the clock … don’t jump offsides … remember how you did things in practice.

James circled the Sept. 8 game against Richmond Senior as the time to make a statement.

“That was our Super Bowl,” he said.

Myers Park crushed the visiting Raiders 47-14, launching a four-game winning streak that continued with Friday’s 36-12 win over Ardrey Kell.

“We have 31 seniors on this team, but most hadn’t played a lot of meaningful football before this season,” said James, who served as an assistant at Independence, Porter Ridge and Charlotte Latin before coming to Myers Park.

Three tough weeks

He said the first three weeks of the season were difficult.

The Mustangs gave up a last-minute touchdown in their opener at Memorial Stadium, losing 40-37 to Charlotte Christian. Then came a 13-10 loss to powerhouse Hough. That was followed by a 34-33 loss at Sun Valley, a game in which the Mustangs’ game-winning field goal try was blocked on the final play.

Those three teams have a combined record of 16-3.

“We were winning all three of those games at halftime,” James said. “It was a matter of learning how to close it out.”

He knew his players had doubts after those first three games.

“At 0-3, it’s easy to question, ‘Why? We’re doing all the things we learned in practice, so why are we 0-3?’ ”

James and his staff, led by coordinators Anthony Boone (a former Duke quarterback who heads the offense) and Ian Cooper (defense), kept stressing to their players to do the little things.

“Practice, practice, practice,” said James, a former Gardner-Webb quarterback who is Dean of Students at Myers Park.

Eventually, it worked.

The Mustangs ran over Richmond Senior, then posted a 24-7 victory over a Marvin Ridge team that James said “is a genuine playoff team.”

Myers Park trounced Palisades 44-0 two weeks ago in its conference opener, then was idle last week.

Thompson steps up

One key for the Mustangs, according to their head coach, has been the play of senior quarterback Wendell Thompson.

“His numbers won’t pop out at you,” James said, “But he can control the game. The work that he and Coach Boone have done makes a big difference. He’s played at a really high level.”

Thompson has passed for 1,038 yards and 15 touchdowns, with receivers Jahari McDonald and Miles Baucom as his favorite targets.

Ardrey Kell comes to Myers Park with a three-game winning streak and two straight shutouts.

“I always tell my guys that ‘the next game is the biggest game,’ ” James said. “But this game really is big.”

He said Ardrey Kell, coached by Greg Jachym, always plays solid football and has become a consistent winner, often without big-name players.

“It’s a real challenge to face a team like Ardrey Kell,” he said.

Knights’ quarterback Gavin Adams has similar numbers as Thompson (1,002 passing yards and 12 touchdowns).

And James mentioned the play of Ardrey Kell’s dynamic three-way player, Chancellor Bryant, who has rushed for four touchdowns, caught two passes for scores, returned two interceptions for touchdowns, and nearly scored twice on punt returns.

“Man, he is a threat all over the field,” James said of Bryant.

Ardrey Kell beat the Mustangs 43-12 last fall, but Myers Park won four in a row against the Knights before that.