Watauga runs for more than 400 yards, wins for 4-0 start
Editor’s note: Game stories on Hickory and St. Stephens will be posted separately on the website.
HobbsDailyReport.com
Alexander Central High averaged 12.7 yards per carry and did not attempt a pass on Friday night, steamrolling host North Lincoln 56-24 as head coach Butch Carter picked up his 125th career victory.
Facing former Cougars head coach Nick Bazzle — in his first season at North Lincoln after sitting out two years after leaving Alexander Central — the Cougars (4-0) had 520 yards rushing.
Alexander Central stayed unbeaten by winning 54-26 on Friday night at North Lincoln, giving head coach Butch Carter his 125th career victory.
The victory pushed Carter’s record to 21-7 with Alexander Central (he is in his third season). The rest of his wins came as head football coach at South Caldwell.
Alexander Central’s rushing game was led by 178 yards on six carries and two scores from running back Steven Montgomery. Easton Rhoney added 121 yards on five carries and two scores and A.J. Miller, who ran 10 times for 72 yards, also ran for two TDs.
Miller had runs of 17 and 22 yards and Rhoney scored on a 22-yard run as Alexander Central went up 21-0.
After a 33-yard field goal by Christian DeLaney made it 21-3, Montgomery broke a run for 76 yards and a score. When Montgomery scored on a 48-yard run with 4:50 to go in the half, the Cougars led 35-10.
Rhoney’s 96-yard scoring run with 11:07 to play had Alexander Central ahead 56-17.
North Lincoln (1-2) had 244 yards of offense, led by 61 rushing yards on 11 carries by Clayton Cribb, and quarterback Landon Beard threw for 86 yards.
Jordan Brown led the Cougars’ defense with eight tackles, a sack and two of the tackles for lost yardage. Nick McNeely added seven tackles.
Allen Owen’s six tackles led the North Lincoln defense.
Bazzle, who has 130 career wins, was facing Alexander Central for the first time. He did not coach against the Cougars while he was head coach at Newton-Conover.
Alexander Central, after outscoring opponents 200-41 so far, is off on Friday night. The Cougars’ opener in the Northwestern 3A-4A is Sept. 21 in Taylorsville against West Caldwell.
North Lincoln has a non-league home game on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. against Bessemer City and starts its South Fork 2A schedule on Sept. 21 at home against West Lincoln.
Freedom 49, Patton 6
Freedom, sparked again by quarterback Jayden Birchfield, clobbered visiting Patton to win for the 11th time in 12 meetings.
Birchfield ran for a touchdown and threw for three more as the Patriots (3-1) beat Patton for the sixth time in the series.
BIRCHFIELD
Patton dropped to 2-2 after having won back-to-back games against R-S Central and McDowell under first-year head coach Jonathan Browning.
Birchfield, who last season threw for 286 yards in a win over Patton, opened Friday’s scoring with a 31-yard run.
After throwing for TDs to Jaxon McMahon and Christian Fox, the Patriots led 20-0 at the half.
A 2-yard TD run by Larry Luke extended the lead before Weston Fleming’s 5-yard run for Patton made it 26-6.
Birchfield threw 31 yards to Desmond Caldwell for a TD and Freedom’s other score was a 22-yard pass from Fox to Desmond Hedrick.
Freedom is idle on Friday and then plays at St. Stephens to open the Northwestern 3A-4A part of its schedule on Sept. 21.
Patton, which won nine games last season, goes for its third win on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at home, facing East Rutherford.
The Panthers’ opener in Northwestern Foothills 2A play is Sept. 21 at Fred T. Foard.
Hibriten 56, South Caldwell 12
The Panthers (4-0) ran their win streak to 20 straight games, beating the Spartans on the road as running back McKinley Witherspoon ran for three TDs.
Witherspoon scored on runs of 43, 51 and 29 yards – the last giving Hibriten a 37-point lead – as the Panthers ran their win streak in the series to three.
Hibriten has won seven of its last 11 battles with South Caldwell (0-3) and the series is now 21-20-1 in favor of the Spartans.
Quarterback Jaylen Scott ran for a TD and hit Skylin Thomas for a score to open the game (65 yards after a lost fumble by the Spartans).
Marqwone Jones added two rushing TDs for Hibriten.
For South Caldwell, quarterback Jason Martin twice hit Austin Raynor for TDs, the first for 48 yards in the first quarter and the other for 77 yards that got the Spartans within 28-12.
Hibriten had more than 300 yards on offense by halftime.
The Panthers, defending state 2AA champions (16-0) play at Newton-Conover on Friday at 7:30 p.m., and the begin defense of their Northwestern Foothills 2A title on Sept. 21 with a homecoming game against winless Bunker Hill.
South Caldwell is at home on Friday at 7:30 p.m. to face R-S Central and its first Northwestern 3A-4A game of the year is Sept. 21 at home against Watauga.
Watauga 43, Wilkes Central 14
The Pioneers (4-0) did not complete a pass, rushing for 423 yards, as they pounded the Eagles in North Wilkesboro.
Jaiden Bond ran for 178 yards on eight carries and Bryce Satterfield added 128 yards on 23 carries to lead Watauga.
The Pioneers led 14-7 at the half and broke the game open with a 15-point third quarter.
Satterfield ran 3 yards for a TD and Zach West’s 6-yard run put Watauga up 14-0 after one quarter.
Less than two minutes into the second half, Bond broke a run for 50 yards and a TD and Jackson Greene’s two-point conversion run extended Watauga’s lead to 22-7.
Sebastian Best had a TD run and Satterfield delivered scoring runs of 3 and 18 yards after Wilkes Central (1-3) had pulled within 22-14.
Josh Pack ran for 99 yards on 22 carries for Wilkes Central and quarterback Camden Wyatt went 6-for-15 for 115 yards.
Watauga handed head coach Ryan Habich his 97th career win and has an open date on Friday night. The Pioneers’ first Northwestern 3A-4A game is Sept. 21 at South Caldwell.
Mitchell County 41, McDowell 14
Mitchell County opened a 22-0 lead early en route to beating the visiting Titans (2-2) for the fifth straight time and eighth time in 10 games.
A 73-yard drive capped by a 29-yard TD run by quarterback Noah Pitman gave Mitchell County an early lead that it extended to 15-0 when running back Landon Miller ran 15 yards for a TD.
Pitman scored from the 1 next, after another three-and-out by the Titans, and it was 22-0.
Mitchell County (3-1) had 351 yards and all but 22 of that came on the ground. Pitman carried 16 times for 115 yards and Miller had 101 yards on 15 carries.
McDowell finished with 216 yards with quarterback Adam Randolph throwing for 88 yards.
The Titans are idle on Friday and start Northwestern 3A-4A play on Sept. 21 by going to Hickory.
Ashe County 47, West Caldwell 0
Quarterback Luke Hudler threw for 263 yards, completing 12 of 18 passes and four for TDs, and running back Timothy Peterson had three rushing TDs in a home victory by Ashe County.
Peterson carried 11 times for 264 yards to lead a 326-yard rushing attack while Austin Poe caught six passes for 173 yards and two scores.
Ashe County improved to 2-2.
West Caldwell (0-4) has now been outscored 195-6 this season.
The Warriors are idle on Friday before opening Northwestern 3A-4A play on Sept. 21 at Alexander Central.