Editor’s note: For current junior varsity football standings, see earlier post by doing a search for HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
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St. Stephens High finished its junior varsity football schedule on Thursday night by beating visiting Hickory 26-20 in overtime to end the year with two straight wins, four in the last five games and an 8-2 overall record.
Sophomore fullback Sullivan Johnson ran 14 times for 130 yards and a touchdown, sophomore tailback Alex Brown added 19 carries for 93 yards and a TD and sophomore tight end Zane McPherson caught a TD pass and had a game-winning TD run for the Indians.
McPherson moved under center after St. Stephens’ starting quarterback was injured.
Sophomore lineman Randal Lyons led the Indians on defense with 11 tackles. Johnson, a linebacker, added five tackles, freshman lineman Nick Guy had four tackles and an assist and sophomore safety Omar Orozco stopped a Hickory drive with an interception.
The Indians stopped the Red Tornadoes on four downs in overtime, setting up the chance to win by the St. Stephens offense.
St. Stephens went 4-2 in the Northwestern 3A-4A and will finish tied for second in the league with South Caldwell.
Alexander Central (8-0, 5-0) will win the league title regardless of the outcome of Monday’s regular-season finale against McDowell in Taylorsville.
The Indians’ losses were 20-18 at home to McDowell and 50-14 at Alexander Central.
Alexander Central 58, South Caldwell 6 (Thursday)
Daniel Morgan and Dayente Calhoun combined for 222 rushing yards on 13 carries and scored five TDs as the Cougars rolled in Hudson.
Alexander Central outgained the Spartans 407-105, holding them to 84 rushing yards on 33 carries.
Nick Evehart had 17 carries for 66 yards and a TD for South Caldwell (5-5, 4-2), which will end up tied for second place with St. Stephens.
Ibrahm Boston had eight tackles – 3 ½ for lost yardage – to spark the Alexander Central defense. Tanner Abernathy had five tackles and Cameron Lackey and Chase Bostian each added four for the Cougars.
Gabe Berrientos and John Robert Boyd led South Caldwell with four tackles each.
Calhoun opened the scoring with a 4-yard TD run with four minutes, 51 seconds left in the first quarter. He later added a 33-yard scoring run.
Morgan ran 20, 22 and 11 yards for TDs, the last just 51 seconds before the half.
A 6-yard pass from quarterback Lance Justice to Josh Abernathy with no time on the clock gave Alexander Central a 46-0 lead at halftime.
The Cougars play at home against McDowell on Monday night in a makeup game to end the season.
South Fork 2A
The conference does not recognize or issue trophies for junior varsity football, but the race will come down to a Monday night makeup game, Maiden at North Lincoln.
North Lincoln beat Bandys 28-6 on Thursday night, leaving the Trojans at 9-1, 6-1.
Maiden and North Lincoln are each 5-1 in the league so the Monday winner will share the top spot with the Trojans
Maiden got in position to potentially tie for a title by beating Lincolnton 44-28 on Thursday at Lincolnton.
Bandys beat Maiden 16-14 at Maiden on Sept. 20 in the first league game of the year.
Northwestern Foothills 2A
Hibriten beat Patton 50-24 on Thursday night to wrap up a conference title. The Panthers finished 6-0 in the Northwestern Foothills 2A and 9-1 overall.
Hibriten finishes a game up on second-place Bunker Hill (5-5, 5-1) via beating the Bears 27-18 at Bunker Hill on Sept. 20 to open the conference schedule.
Patton (3-7, 3-3) finishes in third place.
The Panthers’ loss this season was 42-36 in a season-opening home battle with Concord Robinson.
West Iredell has one non-league game to go, against North Iredell on Tuesday.
Northwestern 3A-4A
Alexander Central (8-0, 5-0) has wrapped up the conference championship but has a finale to play Monday against McDowell in Taylorsville.
St. Stephens and South Caldwell share second place, each 4-2 in the league, and McDowell (5-4, 3-2 needs a win to tie Watauga for fourth place.
West Caldwell did not field a team this season and Alexander Central, Freedom, McDowell and Watauga did not find a substitute opponents for those playing dates.