North Lincoln reaches 10 wins in a
season for second time in school history
HobbsDailyReport.com
BAZZLE’S BREAKDOWN
Nick Bazzle, in his first season as head football coach at North Lincoln High, has coached a team to the third round of the state playoffs for the sixth time in his 18 seasons as a head coach:
Year School Third round result
*2000 Newton-Con. N-C 39, N. Rowan 15
2006 Newton-Con. Reidsville 30, N-C 29
2007 Newton-Con. E. Linc 23, N-C 17, OT
*2008 Newton-Con. N-C 44, M. Herit. 23
*2009 Newton-Con. N-C 35, E. Lincoln 14
2018 N. Lincoln N. Lincoln at Shelby
*–N-C played for a state championship, losing in 2000 and 2009 and winning 2008.
SOURCE: HobbsDailyReport.com research and files
LINCOLNTON – North Lincoln wiped out an early deficit, scoring 19 unanswered points, en route to a 38-13 victory over visiting East Lincoln on Friday night in the second round of the state 2AA football playoffs.
The eighth-seeded Knights (10-3) advance to face No. 4 Shelby (10-3) on the road in a third-round game on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. Shelby beat No. 5 Ashe County 45-26 at Shelby on Friday to advance.
East Lincoln, a No. 16 seed coming off an upset victory at No. 1 Canton Pisgah, led 7-0 early after Justin Barnett connected on a 60-yard pass to Sidney Dollar,
The Knights got within 7-6 on a 2-yard TD run by Jake Soorus and led 12-7 with about 1 ½ minutes left in the opening quarter after quarterback Landon Beard threw 27 yards to Sam Brady for a TD.
North Lincoln extended the lead to 19-7 on a 4-yard run by Clayton Cribb.
The Mustangs pulled within six points on a 1-yard scoring run by Cole Barber.
Just before halftime, Beard threw 27 yards to Daniel Carter for a TD to extend the Knights’ lead to 26-13.
North Lincoln added a 22-yard field goal by Christian Delaney and a safety in the third quarter.
Soorus’ 18-yard run provided the Knights with their final score and they moved to the third round for the first time in school history.
Cribb ran for 147 yards on 210 carries and Beard, completing six of eight passes, threw for 100 yards and two scores.
North Lincoln has reached 10 wins for the second time in its 16-year history (10-4 in 2007) under new head coach Nick Bazzle, an East Lincoln graduate.
Bazzle, whose coaching tenure includes Newton-Conover and Alexander Central, goes into the Shelby game at 139-88 in 18 seasons as a head coach, and he’ll go up against Shelby for the first time.
This is the sixth team of his career to reach the third round; the other five were at Newton-Conover (2000, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009).
Friday night’s winner goes on the road Dec. 7 for the West 2AA final, playing at No. 3 Bandys (12-1) or No. 2 Hibriten (13-0).
The state 2AA title game is the next weekend at N.C. State, with No. 5 Hertford County (7-5), No. 1 Ledford (12-1), No. 3 North Davidson (11-2) and No. 2 Southwest Edgecombe (11-2) still alive in the East 2AA bracket.
