Independence High ready to make noise in Meck Power 6

PRINCE YOUNG VIA X

Receiver Prince Young is one of Independence High's top playmakers. The 4-1 Patriots are third in The Post's Magnificent Seven rankings.

Independence High has been through its share of adversity five weeks into the season.

Last week, the Patriots rallied from a 20-12 hole in the third quarter to beat previous No. 3 Palisades 27-20 on the road. Independence, which moves up to third in this week’s rankings, got off to a 12-0 advantage before Palisades, rallied for the 20 unanswered points. The Patriots, though, had the final say with the final 15 points, capped by Jared Street’s 3-yard run with 3 minutes, 11 seconds left.

“Our kids are resilient,” Patriots coach D.J. McFadden said. “We’ve played good teams all nonconference, five weeks of it. We've been down in some of these games, so we just felt like, late in this game, when it got tight, that our experience in these games would come and take over. Credit to our kids, they kept playing. They've been down before. They've been on the road and down before. And we just stuck with it.”
Independence’s defense sparked the rally by shutting Palisades out in the fourth quarter. The Pumas had one final chance to force overtime, but the Patriots forced a turnover on downs to seal the win. 

“We would love to be balanced where we have a good offense and a good defense,” McFadden said. “Our defense has some players over there. We got some dudes over there, a lot of good seniors, and I would like to think we’re a little more mature on defense than on offense. 

“When we get in games like this, we do lean on our defense and our captains. … Making that big fourth down stop and holding them down at the end is not a surprise to us.”
With the nonconference portion of the schedule behind them, Independence has a week to prepare for the Meck Power Six 7A/8A opener against second-ranked West Charlotte. With Mallard Creek, Chambers and Butler also on the docket, every game will pose a top-level test.

“We’ve got to mature a little bit,” McFadden said. … “I think that’s going to be our focus during this bye week. And then, just like anything else, anything else we talk about every day, just showing up every day, going 1-0 and getting better. We’re going to keep chopping away at it and we’ll rest up.”

Hough on top of the Magnificent Seven

Hough and West Charlotte are still 1-2 in the Magnificent Seven rankings, while Independence moves up to the third spot this week.

The Huskies, the lone unbeaten team, have been first since the season’s first week while preseason No. 1 West Charlotte holds the runner-up spot for another week ahead of a Meck Power Six showdown against Mallard Creek.

New to the rankings for the second time this season is Ardrey Kell, which upset previous No. 6 Chambers.

This week’s rankings, with overall record and previous week’s ranking: 

1. Hough (5-0, first). The Huskies destroyed New Bern 63-15 to solidify them as not only the best team in Mecklenburg, but perhaps one of the best in North Carolina. Only question left is can they prove it in the postseason. Next game is West Mecklenburg at home.

2. West Charlotte (3-2, second). The Lions routed West Mecklenburg 55-0 to once again earn the unofficial by literal Best in the West title. What did the Hawks do to deserve such mistreatment? Next up for West Charlotte is a tougher test at Mallard Creek.

3. Independence (4-1, fourth). The Patriots rallied from a 20-12 hole to beat Palisades 27-20 in Mecklenburg’s best game of the week. They get the week off to prepare for West Charlotte on Oct. 3.

4. Mallard Creek (4-1, fifth). The Mavericks took down Cardinal Gibbons 20-16 to keep their good thing going. Now things are about to get serious with a home date against West Charlotte in what’s this week’s game of the week.

5. Palisades (3-2, third). The Pumas had Independence right where they wanted them before falling short 27-20. They’ll try to recover against Ardrey Kell, which won’t be an easy task.

6. Myers Park (4-1, seventh). The ponies were impressive against Charlotte Christian in a 24-6 win. They host Garinger Friday with a chance to add another pelt to an already impressive haul.

7. Ardrey Kell (3-2, unranked). The Knights’ 16-13 road win against Chambers was enough to push them into this week’s rankings and knock the Cougars out. AK is off this week to contemplate their Oct. 3 tangle against Palisades.

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