HobbsDailyReport.com
CATAWBA – Ja’Tay Culliver made sure something that’s been happening since 1993 didn’t skip a beat on Friday night.
Culliver, playing quarterback for Bandys High, accounted for five touchdowns as the Trojans ran their varsity football series win streak over West Lincoln to 17 straight, prevailing 35-23 at Butler Stadium.
BANDYS 35
WEST LINCOLN 23
Bandys (3-6, 1-4 South Fork 2A) began the win streak in 1993 with a home victory.
On Friday night, the Trojans jumped to a 21-0 lead by halftime behind Culliver. He rushed 16 and 85 yards in the first half for scores on Homecoming Night and threw a 30-yard TD pass to Mason Lineberger.
The Rebels (3-6, 1-4) rallied in the second half, but Culliver had his third rushing TD – a run of 25 yards late in the fourth quarter – to give the Trojans some breathing room.
Culliver would have had five TDs, but his 37-yard run in the first quarter was wiped out by a personal foul penalty.
West Lincoln scored on its first second-half possession on a 4-yard run by running back Nakathon Phansook and Brendan Ikard ran for two points to get the Rebels within 21-8.
After recovering the ensuing onside kick, West Lincoln scored on a 10-yard run by Seth Willis and Ikard again ran the two-point conversion to make it 21-16 late in the third quarter.
Bandys pushed the lead back to two scores with a rushing TD, and then Culliver’s fourth rushing TD of the night pushed the Trojans ahead by 10 points.
Willis hit Nathan Beam with a late TD pass for West Lincoln, which lost its fourth straight game.
The Bandys defense twice stopped the Rebels after they’d put together long drives, ending one of them on downs and forcing a fumble at the goal-line on the other.
Bandys beat the Rebels for the 11th straight time in Butler Stadium. West Lincoln’s last win at Bandys was in 1988 and its last win overall was at home, 28-24 in 1992.
The Trojans are 8-23 in their last 31 games, and the Rebels are 16-27 in their last 43 games.
Both teams have two conference games left. Bandys travels to Lake Norman Charter next Friday at 7:30 p.m. and is at home on Nov. 3 against North Lincoln. West Lincoln plays at East Lincoln next Friday at 7:30 p.m., then closes the regular season at home against Lake Norman Charter.