HobbsDailyReport.com
HICKORY – They nearly wore out the scoreboard on Friday night at Hickory High’s Barger Stadium.
Combining for more than 1,000 yards of total offense, the West Caldwell at Hickory game was back-and-forth all night before the Red Tornadoes won 66-49 on Homecoming Night at HHS.
HICKORY 66
W. CALDWELL 49
Hickory quarterback Derrien Phillips threw for more than 300 yards and ran for 60 yards to spark the Red Tornadoes (5-4, 2-2 Northwestern 3A-4A) while Warriors quarterback Kaleb Dula had nearly 250 yards of total offense.
West Caldwell (5-3, 2-2) never led and trailed 31-7 at one point before rallying to get within 38-20 by halftime and later within four points.
The Warriors scored the first two touchdowns of the second half — on a pass from Dula to James Corburn and on a run by Jeremy Boyce — to close within 38-34 about halfway through the third quarter.
Hickory answered with two scores over the next five minutes – Phillips throwing to Antonio Parks for one and Izaak Millsaps adding a TD run – to widen the lead to 52-34.
There were four fourth-quarter scores, Taye Dula’s run for West Caldwell, then a long TD run by Jaekwon Station for Hickory. Those were followed by Dula’s short-yardage run that made it 59-49 with about six minutes to play, then Phillips hit Jaylin Harper for the game’s final score. That came in the final minute.
Phillips had another big game, tacking on to his unofficial totals of 700 rushing yards and 1,448 passing yards coming into the game.
Dula, who had a 300-yard rushing game the week before, ran for more than 180 yards against the Red Tornadoes.
Hickory gained an early 10-0 lead on Phillips’ run in the first quarter and on a 37-yard field goal by Harrison Boston, his longest of the season and second in the last three games.
Hickory gained nearly 580 yards and West Caldwell had nearly 475 in a game that also featured 21 penalties for 196 yards.
There were 58 points scored in the opening half and 57 scored in the second half.
Hickory moved to 6-1 against West Caldwell by winning, and the Red Tornadoes are part of a four-way tie for second place in the conference (with St. Stephens, Watauga and West Caldwell).
Next Friday, Hickory plays at South Caldwell in a 7:30 p.m. league game in Hudson, while West Caldwell is at home (7:30 p.m.) to face Freedom in a conference game.