Running back D.J. Murph (4) surveys what running room he has on Thursday night in Maiden High’s 43-40 victory over Newton-Conover at Gurley Stadium. Murph had 12 carries for 100 yards, helping Maiden win its fourth straight game in the 49-game series between Catawba County rivals./PHOTOS COURTESY OF OBSERVER NEWS ENTERPRISE
Blue Devils, after leading by 10 with 3 1/2 minutes
to go, need a touchdown in final 40 seconds to win
HobbsDailyReport.com
ANOTHER CLOSE ONE
The 10 games in the Maiden-Newton-Conover 49-game series decided by the fewest points:
Margin Year Final
1 1994 M 28-27
1 2000 M 21-20
2 1995 N-C 17-15
2 1999 M 14-12
3 2018 M 43-40
3 2017 M 30-27
5 1982 N-C 28-23
5 1983 N-C 12-7
5 1997 M 27-22
5 2016 M 33-28
SOURCE: HobbsDailyReport.com research and files.
NEWTON – Maiden High partially blocked a game-tying field goal attempt with 14.7 seconds to play on Thursday night, escaping Newton-Conover with a 43-40 victory in South Fork 2A football.
The key league game was moved up one night by the threat of rainy weather on Friday, and the result strengthened Maiden’s shot at making the state playoffs and made the prospects of that for Newton-Conover grow more dim.
The Blue Devils (7-3, 3-3) led 36-26 with three minutes, 31 seconds to play, and they were behind 40-36 with 2:12 to play after the Red Devils turned red-hot.
Brandon Johnson returned a kickoff 65 yards for a TD with 3:22 to play, and the Red Devils (4-6, 2-4) gained an onside kick recovery by Allan Shade at the Maiden 46 and then made it count.
After running back Allen Wilfong ran for 20 yards and Maiden had a 15-yard facemask penalty tacked on, Newton-Conover was at the Blue Devils’ 13.
On the next play, Wilfong ran 5 yards before he then scored on an 8-yard run. When Addison Hayes added the PAT, the Red Devils led 40-36 with 2:12 to play.
Maiden drove 60 yards for the go-ahead TD, getting first downs on a 14-yard rush by Caleb McDaniel, on a 13-yard McDaniel-to-Brennan James pass and on a 6-yard run by McDaniel for a first down at the Newton-Conover 22 with about 50 seconds to play.
After a Maiden timeout, McDaniel threw a short pass to Abernethy, who started the formation on the left side and shifted to the right side before the snap.
Kyjuan McClain of Newton-Conover (2) attempts to get away from Maiden defender Caleb McDaniel in Thursday night’s game in Newton. McClain caught nine passes for 109 yards, helping the Red Devils grab a late lead before falling 43-40 at Gurley Stadium.
As Abernethy came across, now right-to-left, McDaniel threw a short pass that Abernethy caught and scored on, with Casey Ly adding a PAT for a three-point lead with 39.8 seconds to play.
A flag was dropped on the scoring play but officials indicated it was inadvertent and that there was no penalty.
The Red Devils took the ensuing kickoff at their 35 and started a drive with an 18-yard completion from Justice Craig to Josh Nichols to the Maiden 47.
After a five-yard penalty against Maiden put the ball at the Maiden 42, Craig threw for seven yards to Nichols. On second-and-three at the Blue Devils’ 35, Craig connected with Kyjuan McClain for eight yards, leaving 14.7 seconds on the clock.
Newton-Conover head coach Steven Pack sent Hayes out at that point for a 44-yard field goal attempt that was partially blocked, rolling away to the left. That allowed the Blue Devils to get the ball at their 20 and take a knee to kill the clock.
Notes
The game — the 49th in a series that began in 1973 — was the second-highest in combined scoring behind a 62-39 win by Maiden at Gurley Stadium in 2011… Maiden has won four straight over the Red Devils and leads the series 27-21-1… Maiden, which lost eight of its first nine trips to Gurley Stadium, is now 11-14 there… Newton-Conover had 26 first downs and outgained Maiden 446-405… Wilfong ran 36 times for 241 yards and four TDs, including 169 yards in the second half… Craig threw for 184 yards but was intercepted three times, twice by James… McDaniel ran for 165 yards and threw for 113, starting as Bain Sipe — who injured his shoulder a week before — did not play… D.J. Murph added 100 rushing yards on 12 carries for Maiden… McClain had nine catches for 109 yards for the Red Devils.
Maiden 7 14 7 15—43
N-C 7 0 13 20—40
SCORING SUMMARY
First quarter
N-C—Allen Wilfong 1 run (Addison Hayes kick), 3:12
M—D.J. Murph 4 run (Casey Ly kick), 1:37
Second quarter
M—Dylan Abernethy 78 pass from Caleb McDaniel (Ly kick), 7:20
M—McDaniel 53 run (Ly kick), 3:09
Third quarter
N-C—Wilfong 18 run (Hayes kick), 9:47
M—McDaniel 13 run (Ly kick), 5:21
N-C—Kyjuan McClain 15 pass from Justice Craig (run failed), 51.4
Fourth quarter
N-C—Wilfong 2 run (run failed), 9:00
M—McDaniel 2 run (Abernethy run), 3:31
N-C—Brandon Johnson 65 kickoff return (Hayes kick), 3:22
N-C—Wilfong 8 run (Hayes kick), 2:12
M—Abernethy 22 pass from McDaniel (Ly kick), 39.8
M N-C
First downs 16 26
Rushes-yards 40-292 43-262
Passing 3-9-0 17-24-3
Passing yards 113 184
Total yards 405 446
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 9-80 7-72
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
Maiden: McDaniel 22-165, Lee Turner 3-5, Murph 12-100, Abernethy 2-23, Team 1-minus 1.
Newton-Conover: Wilfong 36-241, Craig 4-8, Allan Shade 3-13.
PASSING
Maiden: McDaniel 3-9-0 113.
Newton-Conover: Craig 17-24-3 184.
RECEIVING
Maiden: Abernethy 2-100, Brennan James 1-13.
Newton-Conover: Josh Nichols 3-34, Brandon Johnson 3-20, McClain 9-109, Kegan Covington 2-21.