SOUTH FORK 2A ROUNDUP
West Lincoln snaps long losing streak against Bandys;
Lincolnton, Maiden grab victories in closing seconds
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Nick Bazzle got a double treat in a bittersweet outing on Friday night for his first-place North Lincoln High football team.
With many of his players from Newton-Conover’s 2008 state 2A title team there to watch, Bazzle guided North Lincoln to a 43-7 victory that gained the Knights sole possession of first place in the South Fork 2A.
BAZZLE
Bazzle, in his second year as head coach at North Lincoln, spent 24 years at Newton-Conover previously (19 as head coach) before moving on to Alexander Central and then – after a brief stint out of coaching – back to his native Lincoln County and to football.
In the same fashion he often did in 2008 – just let’em play, he said –Bazzle cut loose his Knights (8-1, 5-0) and they won for the eighth straight time.
A week ago, they pummeled Maiden 42-0, and they rapidly jumped on the Red Devils (7-3, 4-1), who sit alone in second place in the conference.
Running back Ty Williams led a 350-yard rushing effort by North Lincoln with 164 yards on 13 carries while running back Jake Soorus added eight carries for 136 yards.
North Lincoln gained 415 yards with Williams scoring on runs of 49, 9 and 10 yards and Soorus scoring on a 57-yard run.
Knights quarterback Landon Beard, who had 99 yards of total offense, ran 31 yards for a TD and threw 42 yards to Seth Whitley for another score.
The North Lincoln defense held running back Allen Wilfong to 22 yards on 13 carries and Allan Shade had 90 rushing yards on 14 carries and the Red Devils’ only score, a 1-yard run with about 5 ½ minutes to play.
The Knights scored twice in the final two minutes, 22 seconds of the first quarter, on Williams’ 49-yard run and Beard’s 31-yard run.
North Lincoln led 30-0 at the half.
The Knights have a one-game lead on Newton-Conover and they are at home on Friday night against Lincolnton and at Bandys on Nov. 8.
Newton-Conover plays Friday at Maiden and closes at home against East Lincoln.
Bazzle, a former star linebacker at East Lincoln in the late 1970s, is fast approaching 150 career coaching wins. If the Knights close with two regular season wins, he would have 149 heading into the first round of the state playoffs.
West Lincoln 27, Bandys 17
The Rebels (7-2, 3-2) wiped out an early nine-point deficit, rallying to snap an 11-game win streak in Butler Stadium and an 18-game losing streak to the Trojans (4-5, 1-4).
West Lincoln had not won at Bandys since 1988 (8-7) and had one win in the previous 22 battles.
On Friday night, the Rebels came back after Jesse Pope’s field goal gave the Trojans a 9-0 lead.
A long drive resulted in a 5-yard TD run by Grayson Barkley, and Mason Huitt’s 1-yard run put West Lincoln ahead.
Bandys returned the kickoff 90 yards for a TD and added a two-point conversion to lead 17-13.
The Rebels scored on a 3-yard run by Huitt to lead 19-17 at halftime.
The only score of the second half was a 4-yard run by Canon Bridges and he ran for two points.
Bridges led West Lincoln’s 337-yard rushing attack with 25 carries for 183 yards, and Xander Pendergass added 12 carries for 116 yards.
Harley Scronce led West Lincoln’s defense with eight tackles, two of those for lost yardage, Alex Hall had five tackles (as did Huitt and Samuel Duncan) and Pendergrass had three tackles, two assists and two interceptions.
West Lincoln is 11-38-1 against Bandys with its other three wins at Bandys coming in 1982, 1986 and 1988.
The Rebels play at East Lincoln on Friday night and Bandys, 1-5 in its last six games, goes to Lake Norman Charter.
Maiden 28, East Lincoln 26
Adrian Campos’ field goal in the dying seconds lifted the Blue Devils (6-3, 3-2) to a home victory over the Mustangs (7-2, 3-2), creating a three-way tie for third place (Maiden, East Lincoln, West Lincoln).
Campos converted with 2.5 seconds to play, after Maiden had a drive to the East Lincoln 14.
After quarterback Ethan Rhodes hit Carson Hanley for a 39-yard score and a two-point conversion failed, Maiden successfully converted an onside kick.
The kick went to Dylan Abernathy, who wrapped it up to set up a pass from Rhodes to him that carried to the Mustangs’ 14 and gave the Blue Devils a chance to win with a field goal.
East Lincoln had several leads in the game at 13-7, 20-13 and as much as 26-19.
Amarion Craig returned the opening kickoff 89 yards to put Maiden up early.
Running back Cole Barber scored on two run for East Lincoln’s first lead then Abernathy threw 5 yards to Brennan James for a 13-all tie.
The Mustangs led 20-13 after quarterback Justin Barnett threw 5 yards to Mikivi Phnix.
With six minutes to play, Rhodes threw 15 yards to Chris Morgan but Maiden missed the PAT and still trailed 20-19.
Barber’s 5-yard scoring run made it 26-19 before Rhodes hit Hanley to get the Blue Devils within a point.
Maiden has won three straight over East Lincoln and five of the Mustangs’ last seven visits to Maiden.
The Blue Devils are at home Friday night to battle Newton-Conover while East Lincoln is at home against West Lincoln.
Currently, Newton-Conover is alone in second place with East Lincoln, Maiden and West Lincoln tied for third.
If Maiden beats Newton-Conover, it would be tied for second place with the Red Devils and with the winner of West Lincoln at East Lincoln.
Lincolnton 40, Lake Norman Charter 37
The Wolves (3-6, 1-4) moved out of a last place tie with the visiting Knights, winning in the final seconds on a 40-yard TD pass from quarterback E.J. Manjarres to Deandra Smith.
The winning play came after the Knights (1-9, 0-5), who have never won a South Fork 2A game, scored to go ahead.
Lake Norman Charter had an early 14-0 lead via a fumble recovery TD and a pass.
The Wolves got the first points of their homecoming night when Tiaje Ross broke a 60-yard run to score and Diego Ramiro added a PAT.
The Knights led 14-13 after they blocked an extra point that followed a 2-yard scoring run by Amontre Finger.
Lake Norman Charter led 22-13 at halfime.
Finger’s TD pass to Dejarris Gash of 80 yards got Lincolnton closer, but the Knights still led 30-20 after three quarters.
The Wolves closed within 27-20 on a 20-yard TD pass by Manjarres to Smith.
Excecuting an on-side kick, the Wolves got the ball back and set up Manjarres throwing a TD pass that put Lincolnton ahead 34-30.
Lincolnton, tied with Bandys for sixth place, plays at league-leading North Lincoln on Friday night.
Lake Norman Charter is at home on Friday night, facing Bandys.