Twins' engine drives Robeson

Updated: March 22, 2011 5:08PM

Robeson, the only Public League school to reach a state football final, has been toiling in anonymity this fall despite a 10-0 record.

The Raiders, led by twins Juwane and Duwane Pipkins, play at Cary-Grove in a second-round Class 6A playoff game at 1 p.m. today.

‘‘Those two kids are experienced and give us leadership,'' Robeson coach Fabray Collins said. ‘‘They ran the third and fourth legs of our 4x400 relay that finished sixth in the state.''

Juwane is the quarterback for an offense that Collins said is ‘‘80 percent passing, if it has to be.''

‘‘We know we can pass, but last week [Cary-Grove] played Hubbard, which ran the ball pretty well,'' Collins said. ‘‘What hurt them was turnovers, and we can't turn the ball over, either.''

‘‘We have a lot of weapons,'' Duwane Pipkins said. ‘‘We just have to come out and play. We know that football is different in the Public League. We don't have the numbers of players or coaches that these other schools [have]. But all of our guys can play.''

Duwane said he wants to play football in college and hopes to study engineering. While he has always played with Juwane, he thinks they may go to different schools.

‘‘I've been playing football since grammar school,'' Duwane Pipkins said. ‘‘This is fun. Getting Downstate in track showed us what we could do.''

‘‘Juwane is a little bigger,'' Collins said. ‘‘He plays quarterback, is our kick returner and a four-year varsity player. Duwane is a three-year varsity player. But these two kids can play.

‘‘I love this team. This team is good enough to do something [in the playoffs], but there is no big-name player and they haven't played to their potential yet. We have five linemen that didn't play last year, and they are learning to get off the ball. At this point, they are not new anymore. We need to pick up the level of play.''

Collins gets help from former Robeson standout Mickey Pruitt and former coach Roy Curry.

‘‘This is [Curry's] house, and he comes by all the time with words of wisdom,'' Collins said.

Collins was a linebacker for Southern Illinois' Division I-AA championship team in 1983, played with the 1987 Minnesota Vikings during the NFL strike, the World Football League with the New Jersey Knights and the Pittsburgh Gladiators of the Arena Football League.

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