HobbsDailyReport.com
OLIN – Outgaining North Iredell by nearly 400 yards on Thursday night created a romp for visiting Alexander Central High in varsity football.
The Cougars had 515 yards on just 48 plays and steamrolled the Red Raiders 46-0 to improve to 3-0 under head coach Butch Carter.
ALEX CENTRAL 46
NORTH IREDELL 0
Tevin Clark carried 15 times for 155 yards and a TD, and Devon Weiss gained 132 yards on nine carries — one for a TD — as the Cougars took a 20-0 lead by halftime.
Alexander Central’s defense limited North Iredell (0-3) to 53 rushing yards on 23 carries, 45 passing yards and 98 yards of offense.
The Cougars ran for 456 yards on 43 carries and scored in the opening three minutes when Kendall Flowers caught a 33-yard pass from quarterback Gunnar Anderson, who threw for 59 yards and two scores.
Weiss scored early in the second quarter on a 1-yard run and caught a two-point conversion pass from Anderson for a 14-0 lead.
About 3 ½ minutes later, Anderson ran 3 yards for a TD, and the Cougars were up 20-0.
In the first minute of the second half, Clark ran 38 yards for a TD and Anderson passed to A.J. Miller for two points and a 28-0 lead.
Anderson threw 26 yards to Jamison Benfield (his only catch of the night) for a TD with five minutes, 28 seconds left in the third quarter to make it 34-0.
Curtis Evans’ 41-yard interception return TD pushed the lead to 40-0, and Benfield had a 34-yard TD run with 8:46 to play for the game’s final score.
Jordan Brown led Alexander Central’s defense with nine tackles with Clark and Isaac Chapman each adding five. Brown’s night include 1 ½ tackles for lost yardage (minus-12) and he, Flowers and Marterion Howell each had a sack.
Darius Johnson’s 23 rushing yards on six carries led the Red Raiders’ offense and Jacob Welborn and Tyrus Turner each had five tackles for North Iredell.
The Red Raiders won the time of possession, keeping the ball for 25:43, but they had only eight first downs.
Alexander Central, 10-5 under Carter since he came to Taylorsville after a long tenure as head coach at South Caldwell, plays at home net Friday against North Lincoln. After a bye week (Sept. 15), the Cougars enter their Northwestern 3A-4A schedule by going to West Caldwell.