CHAPEL HILL, NC—After losing to Smith Middle School during a Wednesday scrimmage, Duke Football head coach David Cutcliffe expressed how proud he was of the team, saying “we fought hard and know what needs work.”
Before the match, Cutcliffe laid out their goals for the game. “We really wanna focus on our defense in this game. We know Johnson has gained a few inches since last season and has bulked up since hitting puberty. He will be a dominant force for their offense and we’re really gonna depend on our 300 pound running backs to slow him down.”
The game remained close in the first quarter, with Duke and Smith each holding their own. However, after an audible “get on em boy” from Johnson’s grandpa in the stands, the Blue Devils line of defense quickly seemed to crumble. By the end of the second quarter, Smith's second string was in the rotation and the score was 41-3.
During halftime, Cutcliffe and assistant coach Kirk Benedict reported hearing thunder and demanded the game be postponed until a later date.
“The conditions were obviously unsafe for our boys to continue in, and the refs weren’t calling anything” said Cutcilffe on the game, “But our boys did fight hard and I saw a lot of improvement from our U10 scrimmage a few weeks ago. And off the record, I think that Johnson kid got held back a year or two.”
We reached out to Johnson for a statement and were met with no response. However, the Fluke team did receive a call from an unknown number that included a “your mom”, “ligma”, “yeet”, and at least three voice cracks, leading us to assume this was Johnson denying our request.
