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NORTHWESTERN 3A-4A ROUNDUP
Victory is actually 101st
for Freedom’s head coach
HobbsDailyReport.com
Wiping out an early deficit, Freedom High stormed past visiting St. Stephens 48-12 on Friday night to open the Northwestern 3A-4A football schedule.
LITTLE
The win gave the Patriots’ Luke Little his 101st victory as a head coach.
It was reported Little could reach No. 100 against the Indians but further research of his records indicate his 100th came Sept. 16 against Patton.
On Friday night, St. Stephens (2-3, 0-1) was up 12-8 in the second quarter before Freedom scored 40 straight points to go to 7-0 all-time against the Indians.
Freedom quarterback Jayden Birchfield ran for three scores and opened the Patriots’ lead to 32-12 in the third quarter.
Mekhi Spates, Curt Young and Chase Young each added a rushing score for the Patriots (4-2, 1-0).
Little, a second generation coach, improved to 13-5 since coming to Freedom. He is a former standout player at West Stanly High and his father, Mark, coached there twice – his second tenure was from 1989-2002 – and also at Clarkton, Whiteville and West Columbus.
Hickory 20, McDowell 14
The Red Tornadoes (1-5, 1-0) moved head coach Russell Stone within a victory of 275 for his career with a victory in Marion to start the Northwestern 3A-4A schedule.
Hickory led 3-0 after one quarter and 10-7 at the half, opening that lead to 20-7 in the third quarter.
No game details were available (story will be updated as soon as possible).
Hickory beat McDowell for the third straight time and has won 10 of 16 games against the Titans since 1980.
Stone, in his third year at HHS, is 12-16 there and his career record is 274-171-5.
Watauga 56, South Caldwell 12
The Pioneers (5-1, 1-0) had three players score twice or more as they rolled past the Spartans (3-3, 0-1) in Boone.
Running back Jaiden Bond scored three times on runs and finished with 168 rushing yards on eight carries. Running back Jake Watson ran for two TDs and quarterback Anderson Castle ran for two scores and passed for one.
Castle had 12 carries for 119 yards and was 6-of-8 passing for 105 yards.
Watauga outgained South Caldwell 510-153, beating the Spartans for the fourth straight time.
The winning team in this series has scored at least 48 points in five straight match-ups (46, 48, 63, 48, 56).
Avery Raynor completed 15 of 26 passes for 136 yards and was intercepted twice for South Caldwell.
The Spartans rushed for only 17 yards and have five turnovers (three of them fumbles).