HobbsDailyReport.com
MOUNT AIRY – Patton High has its second football team to win nine games and its second state football playoff victory.
The Panthers (9-3, 10th seed) added that to their resume on Friday night, beating No. 7 North Surry 26-10 on Friday night to open the 2AA playoffs.
No. 10 PATTON 26
No. 7 NORTH SURRY 10
Patton will get a rematch with No. 2 Hibriten (12-0) next Friday in Lenoir in the second round.
Hibriten, which beat Patton 35-0 in their Northwestern Foothills 2A regular-season battle at Hibriten, advanced Friday with a first-round 56-7 home win over No. 15 Bandys.
Patton is playing its 10th season of varsity football.
At North Surry, Logan Shipley had two short yardage scoring runs, Ty Causby scored on a run and Mason Steppa hit Cody Davis for a score for Patton, making its fifth postseason appears and third under head coach Tom Eanes.
The Panthers’ scoring pass capped an 84-yard drive that took 12 plays.
Patton led 6-3 after one quarter, 13-10 at the half and built on that lead by holding the Greyhounds to only four second-half first downs.
North Surry finished 10-2, matching the school record for single-season wins set by its 1972 and 1998 teams.
Patton’s only previous postseason win came last season when it opened the 3A bracket with a 35-17 win at Forestview before being eliminated by Canton Pisgah in the second round on the road, 22-13.
Next Friday’s game will be Patton’s seventh in the state playoffs and third against Hibriten. Hibriten knocked Patton out in the first round in 2010 (42-0 at Hibriten) and in 2013 (41-0 at Hibriten).