THE INDIANS’ SERIES WINS
St. Stephens picked up its seventh all-time varsity football win on Friday over Hickory:
Year Result Site
1993 SS 21-7 Hickory
2008 SS 28-21 Hickory
2011 SS by forfeit Hickory
2014 SS 49-43 OT Hickory
2015 SS 48-45 SS
2017 SS 22-16 SS
2018 SS 28-21 Hickory
SOURCE: HobbsDailyReport.com research and files.
HobbsDailyReport.com
HICKORY – Xavian King ran for 130 yards and scored a game-winning touchdown with two minutes, 20 seconds to play on Friday night as St. Stephens High edged archrival Hickory 28-21 and beat the Red Tornadoes for the fourth time in five seasons.
The visiting Indians (4-7, 3-4) won for the seventh time in a 32-game series that began in 1977 and at HHS for the fourth time (see graphic).
Senior running back Xavian King, shown running in a game against Fred T. Foard, scored the winning touchdown for St. Stephens High against Hickory for the second straight season on Friday night./OBSERVER NEWS ENTERPRISE PHOTO
King, a senior running back, scored the winning TD against the Red Tornadoes for the second straight season (St. Stephens won 22-16 at home in 2017).
The game was tied at 21 until King scored on a 4-yard run and Luis Ugalde added a PAT for a seven-point Indians lead.
St. Stephens forced a turnover, an interception, after that en route to winning.
The Indians limited Hickory to fewer than 85 rushing yards and survived 250 passing yards by Hickory quarterback Bryce Stober.
The game was tied at 7 after one quarter with Stober’s 9-yard run giving Hickory (5-5, 3-3) an early lead that the Indians answered via a 25-yard scoring pass from quarterback Connor Williams to Zach Lee.
Stober threw 10 yards to Gage Lackey for the only score on the second quarter and Hickory led 14-7 at halftime.
With about eight minutes left in the third quarter, backup quarterback Zane McPherson threw 23 yards to Hayden Kerley and Ugalde’s PAT tied it 14-all.
A 1-yard TD run by Anthony Murphy came about six minutes later and a PAT by Harrison Boston had the Red Tornadoes out front 21-14.
St. Stephens tied it at 21 with 7:41 to play on a 6-yard pass from McPherson, who moved under center after an injured sidelined Williams, to Lee.
The Indians are in fifth place, a half-game back of Hickory, and the Red Tornadoes have one league game to go – a makeup date on Friday at Alexander Central.
St. Stephens isn’t expected to get into the state 3A playoffs – missing for the sixth time in seven seasons – and Hickory could miss them, win or lose, against Alexander Central.
If Alexander Central wins, St. Stephens and Hickory will tie for fourth at 3-4 but the Indians’ record (4-7) and other factors (MaxPreps rankings) make it unlikely the win on Friday will get St. Stephens a postseason bid.
If Hickory wins to finish fourth at 4-3, the Red Tornadoes would be in at least a wait-and-see as the pairings are developed. They got in last year, their first under head coach Russell Stone, and finished the season 6-6.
Notes
Hickory leads the all-time series 25-7… The Red Tornadoes won the first six meetings before the Indians won, then Hickory won 13 in a row before St. Stephens won again … St. Stephens’ seven series wins includes an after-the-fact forfeit victory in 2011 (inadvertent use of an ineligible player by HHS)… Since 2011, the series is 5-3 St. Stephens… Indians head coach Wayne Hicks is 23-45 after six years at St. Stephens… Stone will be in his 445th game (273-165-5) when HHS travels to Alexander Central.
