NORTHWESTERN FOOTHILLS 2A ROUNDUP
Hibriten shuts out West Iredell, wins conference championship
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Bryson Ratliff and Weston Fleming made Senior Night special for Patton High on Friday night.
Ratliff scored on a 4-yard run in the second overtime and Fleming converted on a two-point run that lifted the Panthers past visiting Bunker Hill 36-35 in Northwestern Foothills 2A football.
Patton (4-6, 3-3) shook up the standings on the same night that Hibriten won at West Iredell to wrap up a conference title.
Bunker Hill dropped into a tie with Draughn for second place, each at 4-2 in league games, and Patton and West Iredell are tied for fourth place.
Patton plays Friday at Hibriten while Bunker Hill plays West Caldwell at home.
If Draughn and Bunker Hill end up sharing second at 5-2, the Bears will get a higher seed via their 28-27 home win over the Wildcats.
On Friday night, the Panthers and Bears – who had won four straight games – headed into the second half tied 14-all.
Ratliff’s 3-yard TD run put Patton ahead 20-14 before the Bears tied it at 20 on a 42-yard pass from quarterback Carson Elder to Kaden Robinson.
The Panthers had the ball first in overtime and Ratliff scored on a 5-yard run and Fleming ran for two points.
Desmond Anderson caught his third TD pass of the game from Elder and Matt Garcia scored the two-point conversion to tie it again at 28.
The Bears got a 5-yard pass from Elder to Jay Abrams and Gracia’s PAT in the second overtime to lead 35-28.
Ratfliff’s 4-yard run made it 35-34 and Fleming scored his second conversion run of the season to win it.
The Panthers’ defense limited Bunker Hill to a yard on 17 carries but Elder went 18 of 31 for 203 yards with seven throws for 75 yards to Robinson.
Ratliff finished with 135 yards rushing on 25 carries and Fleming had 94 yards on 25 carries.
Bunker Hill, 6-49 in the previous five seasons, is likely to reach the postseason for the first time since 2013.
After earning a postseason bid in four straight seasons, Patton may well miss out this season even if it upsets Hibriten.
Hibriten 37, West Iredell 0
The Panthers (9-1, 6-0) wrapped up the Northwestern Foothills 2A title, storming to a 31-0 lead by halftime at West Iredell (5-5, 3-3).
Trey Piercy opened the scoring with a 2-yard TD run and Griffin Bryson kicked a 48-yard field goal about four minutes later for a 10-0 lead through the first quarter.
Noah Isbell (4-yard run), Taylib Howell (8-yard run) and Marcus Jones (36-yard pass from Daren Perry) added scores in the second quarter for Hibriten.
Jones had the only score of the second half, a 7-yard run with about nine minutes to play.
Hibriten is 23-2 in its last 25 games and 53-3 in its last 56 games.
The Panthers have won four straight conference titles and nine since 1979, and they will go to the state playoffs for the 18th consecutive season.
If Hibriten beats Patton in Lenoir on Friday, it will have 12 teams in school history that have won at least 10 games (14, 16, 14 in previous three seasons).
West Iredell’s final regular season game is Friday at Fred T. Foard. If the Warriors can’t get to .500, they will have a losing record for eight seasons in a row.
Draughn 48, West Caldwell 13
Draughn quarterback Braxton Cox moved with two of setting a single-season Burke County record for TD passes as the Wildcats (6-4, 4-2) rolled at West Caldwell (1-9, 1-5).
Cox completed 20 of 27 for 374 yards and five TDs, giving him 29 for the year. The county record is 30, shared by Freedom’s Jayden Birchfield in 2017 and Freedom’s Michael Helms in 2010.
Cox threw two scoring passes each to Khe-nai Banks and Nick Chrisco. Banks had five catches for 156 yards and Chrisco had seven for 112.
Running back Trent Corn added two rushing TDs and 99 yards.
Chrisco led the Draughn defense with two interceptions.
The Wildcats share second place with Bunker Hill and should earn their first state playoff bid since 2012. They were 1-10 last season and 5-28 in the previous three seasons.
Cox is nearing 2,300 passing yards this season.
Tigers-Cavs postponed
Inclement weather postponed the Fred T. Foard (1-8, 1-4) at East Burke (2-7, 1-4) game until Monday at 7:30 p.m.
The winner will be in sixth place and the loser will be tied for last with West Caldwell.
Foard finishes on Friday with a league game at home against West Iredell while East Burke closes by visiting Draughn.