NORTHWESTERN 3A-4A ROUNDUP
South Caldwell running back Spencer Piercy (6) finds some running room on Friday night in the Spartans’ home game against Bandys. He had a game-high 145 yards rushing in a battle of unbeatens won 34-24 by Bandys./MICHELLE THOMPSON PHOTO
Kick by Patton sophomore only score in McDowell’s 3-0 loss
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Riding another big game by quarterback Jayden Birchfield, Freedom High overwhelmed visiting East Burke on Friday night in varsity football.
The Patriots won 56-7, picking up another Fat Friday win, and improved to 2-1 as Birchfield threw for 221 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another score.
East Burke (1-2) got its only score in the fourth quarter via a 4-yard pass from Brett Childers to Luke Coble.
Birchfield accounted for seven scores a week ago – six passing and one rushing – in a 60-14 victory at Draughn. The six TD throws are a Burke County single game record and he has 10 TD passes this season.
Unofficially, Birchfield already has 577 passing yards this season.
Freedom has won 10 straight Fat Friday games and leads the series 28-18.
Patton 3, McDowell 0
Sophomore Eliseo Rameriz’s 25-yard field goal with 1:27 left in the third quarter was the game’s only score.
The Panthers (1-2) held the Titans (1-2) to three first downs and 87 yards of offense, 56 of that rushing.
Running back Bryson Ratliff led Patton with 76 rushing yards while the Panthers’ defense limited McDowell to just three first downs and recovered two fumbles.
McDowell had only two plays of 10 or more yards and could not get its running game going. Quantavian Moore, who had 154 yards in a victory a week ago against East Burke, was held to 17 yards on 10 carries.
The Panthers beat the Titans for the second straight year in Marion. The endowment game was originally schedule at Patton but moved to Marion.
A year ago, in a 35-13 victory, Ratliff ran for 57 yards and three scores.
Newton-Conover 31, Hickory 6
Newton-Conover got in gear in the second half on Friday night and beat Hickory 31-6, winning at Barger Stadium for the fifth time in the last six visits.
The Red Devils (2-0) led 3-0 at halftime and got a 49-yard scoring pass from Justice Craig to Zane Redmond in the opening minutes of the second half to extend the lead.
Running back Allen Wilfong ran for a TD and more than 170 yards and Allan Shade added two rushing TDs for the Red Devils, who have 11 wins in their last 15 games against Hickory (0-3).
Newton-Conover and Hickory battled for the 30th time since 1980, and the Red Devils are 19-11 in those games.
Running back Cody Young had nearly 200 rushing yards in the loss for Hickory, which beat Newton-Conover 35-6 a year ago despite Wilfong’s 147 yards rushing.
Bandys 34, South Caldwell 24
The Trojans (3-0) remained unbeaten, handing the host Spartans their first loss, after two quick scores in the third quarter opened a 20-point lead.
Bandys led 13-8 at the half and scored on a 12-yard run by Malik Kennedy with 8:17 left in the third quarter, with a two-point conversion run by Isaiah Gilchrist stretching the lead to 21-8.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Spartans’ Isaiah Kirby fumbled at the end of a return and Chris Culliver recovered for Bandys at the South Caldwell 34. Five plays later, Quenten Maddox ran 3 yards for a TD and Jessie Pope’s PAT made it 28-8.
The Trojans led 34-14 when quarterback Parker DeHart intentionally ran out the back of the end zone, giving the Spartans a safety.
With 40.9 seconds to play, South Caldwell running back Spencer Piercy (20 carries for 145 yards) scored on a 12-yard run and caught a two-point conversion pass from Avery Raynor.
Bandys had 304 rushing yards and four players – Gilchrist (77), Hunter Jones (57), Culliver (56) and Joshua Williams (51) with at least 50 rushing yards.
The Trojans’ defense held South Caldwell (2-1) to 165 rushing yards.
Bandys improved to 20-9 in its last 29 games and s 15-2 since Tom Eanes became head coach.
Statesville 49, Alexander Central 35
The visiting Greyhounds (3-0) scored the final 28 points, erasing a 14-point deficit to beat the Cougars (2-1) in Taylorsville.
Alexander Central led 35-21 with 4 ½ minutes left in the third quarter after a 2-yard TD run by Dayente Calhoun.
About two minutes later, Chavion Smith scored on a 5-yard run for Statesville. The Greyhounds then tied it at 35 when Jasaiah Gathings scored on a 45-yard pass from Nebanyne Moore and Sam Bucker added a PAT.
With 7:36 to play, Zamari Stevenson’s 79-yard interception return put Statesville ahead and Caylon Imes scored on a 1-yard run about four minutes later.
Moore completed 16 of 21 passes for 237 yards as the Greyhounds overcame 184 yards rushing on 21 carries by the Cougars’ Steven Montgomery.
Gathings had six catches for 135 yards for Statesville.
Alexander Central ran for 333 yards.
Steven Myers sparked the Greyhounds’ defense with nine tackles and Quintin Blackmon added seven.
Colston Yount led Alexander Central with seven tackles and Ibarhim Boston had six, 1 ½ of those for lost yardage.
Alexander Central lost for only the sixth time in its last 27 games.
— Reported by Jonathan Watts, Alexander Central SID
Winston-Salem Reagan 63, Watauga 35
Quarterback Gabriel Hollingsworth had a hand in five scores to lead host Reagan past the Pioneers (2-1) in Winston-Salem.
He completed 11 of 13 passes for 132 yards and three TDs and ran five times for 88 yards with two scores as Reagan rolled up 474 yards of offense (342 rushing) and had 30 first downs.
Daniel Moyer Jr. led Reagan’s rushing game with 149 yards.
Jaiden Bond had two rushing scores for Watauga on five carries for 102 yards and Bryce Satterfield scored on a 44-yard run and had 14 carries for 116 yards.
Reagan led 35-15 at the half and added 21 points in the third quarter to lead 56-28.