How Terry Sanford football's Rashid Jones entered ‘playoff mode’ against South Brunswick

Rashid Jones lived up to his Twitter handle Friday night.

Jones, @Shiftyshid12 on Twitter, showed off his shiftiness and speed with three touchdowns in Terry Sanford football’s 56-36 win against South Brunswick in the first round of the NCHSAA state playoffs.

“I feel like that’s me,” Jones said with a smile. “You could clearly see that out here tonight.”

Before entering what the junior playmaker described as “playoff mode,” Jones had three touchdowns in the regular season.

“I had to step up and I had to have a big game tonight,” he said. “It’s amazing. I really don’t know how to describe it, I’m not gonna lie.”

Jones had a pair of catch-and-run touchdowns in a 42-point first half for the seventh-seeded Bulldogs (9-2). He added a rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter to put a bow on his sterling performance.

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Terry Sanford coach Bruce McClelland told Jones ahead of the playoff opener that he was capable of having a “big week."

“Now, I’m gonna have to say that every week,” McClelland said with a laugh.

The head coach likes Jones' Twitter handle, but he has another nickname for the versatile playmaker.

“I nicknamed him ‘Shid-o the burrito' − mainly because it rhymes − but he’s like Moe’s (Southwest Grill). You can put anything you want in that burrito – that’s Shid,” McClelland said.

“He can play running back, he’s fast, can catch the ball and he’ll block for you. It’s just a pleasure to have somebody like that have a great game, because he’s a great football player but he’s a million times better as a young man.”

Senior quarterback Dante Garcia, who had four passing touchdowns, described Jones’ performance as “electric.”

“He created so many big plays and we needed them really badly. He was our playmaker,” Garcia said. “He just blew past the roof of expectations. He reached for the sky and went crazy. It was just a great performance.”

Terry Sanford showed no signs of slowing down offensively against the 26th-seeded Cougars (5-6), but the Bulldogs struggled to slow down South Brunswick's offense.

Despite snagging three interceptions and logging two fumble recoveries, Terry Sanford gave up its most points in a game since a 39-28 loss to Cape Fear on Sept. 2.

“Offensively, we pretty much did what we wanted to do. We felt like we had an advantage,” McClelland said.

“Defensively, we’re playing multiple people in different positions. It’s catching up with us … we’ve gotta get better and get healthy. It felt like we got tired and lazy, a little bit. But they know what’s up. Monday, when we get here, we’ll have a long practice to get ready.”

Terry Sanford will try to keep it rolling against No. 10 Scotland (7-4) on Nov. 11 at Bill Yeager Field. The Scots earned a 42-35 win against Fike in the first round.

“I have a lot of respect for (Scotland coach Richard Bailey) and their program. … We’re gonna have to play much better than we played (Friday) and much more disciplined,” McClelland said.

“We’ll have to do some different things, because they’re not just gonna let us run free like we did (against South Brunswick).

Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached at rbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: How Terry Sanford football entered ‘playoff mode’ against South Brunswick