HobbsDailyReport.com
NEWTON – Newton-Conover High scored 32 first-half points on Friday night en route to a 39-21 home victory over East Lincoln that netted a second-place finish in South Fork 2A varsity football.
NEW.-CONOVER 39
EAST LINCOLN 21
The Red Devils (9-2, 6-1) finished a game behind Maiden in the conference race. Their only losses are two unbeaten teams, Hibriten by one point and Maiden by three.
With quarterback Shamar Baker again leading the offense, Newton-Conover scored 18 points in the first quarter and 14 more in the second quarter to open a 32-7 lead by halftime.
BEAM
East Lincoln (6-5, 5-2), finishing in third place in the league, scored 14 points in the third quarter to pull within 32-21 before Baker widened the Red Devils’ lead with a 1-yard scoring run in the game’s final three minutes.
The Mustangs limited Newton-Conover to fewer than 90 rushing yards but Baker threw for nearly 250 by completing 21 of his 28 throws.
Baker had first-quarter scoring throws to Jaheim Mullen and Kyjuan McClain and hit each of those players for scores in the second quarter as well.
Mullen had eight catches for 140 yards.
Running back Chandler Jones led the Mustangs with a 100-yard rushing game and quarterback Chase Jones threw for more than 180 yards.
East Lincoln had about 340 yards of total offense to the Red Devils’ 334.
Newton-Conover played its third consecutive game with running back Tylor Stinson in the lineup. He is suspended for violating a team rule, school officials have said, but his playing status for the remainder of the season has not been publically addressed.
The win put Newton-Conover up 9-8 in the last 17 battles with the Mustangs, who had won six straight in the series and three straight in Gurley Stadium prior to Friday’s game.
The 28th win in 46 games for Matt Beam as head coach at Newton-Conover gives the Red Devils 22 teams with at least nine wins since 1984 and their first since Brint Russell coached them to a 9-4 record and share of a league title in his first season (2012).