Maiden can reach at least six wins for 56th time in
66-year history by beating North Lincoln on Friday
Editor’s note: The game summary, etc., for the Lincolnton at Bandys game is a separate (earlier) post on the website.
BAZZLE’S BEST YEARS
The years Nick Bazzle of North Lincoln High won or shared conference football titles while head coach at Newton-Conover:
Year/League Record Status
2000/SD-7 2A 12-3 Won title
2002/Midwest 2A 10-3 Shared title
2005/CVAC 2A-3A 10-3 Shared title
2006/CVAC 2A-3A 12-2 Shared title
2008/CVAC 2A-3A 15-1 Shared title
Note: Bazzle’s 2008 team won the state 2AA title.
SOURCE: HobbsDailyReport.com research and files.
HobbsDailyReport.com
DENVER, N.C. – Nick Bazzle has another high school football team in contention for a conference championship.
Bazzle, in his first year at North Lincoln and 18th as a head coach, has the Knights tied with Bandys for first place in the South Fork 2A after North Lincoln won 24-16 over East Lincoln on the road on Friday night.
BAZZLE
North Lincoln (5-2, 3-0) has a key conference game Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Maiden while East Lincoln (4-3, 2-1) — which shares third place with West Lincoln — goes to Bandys for a Friday 7:30 p.m. league game.
Bazzle, a former East Lincoln linebacker who has also been a head coach at Newton-Conover and Alexander Central, is vying for his sixth conference title (see Betcha Didn’t Know).
Running back Clayton Cribb led the Knights in their victory at East Lincoln, rushing 25 times for 106 yards and helping North Lincoln open a 21-0 lead by halftime.
Cribb started the scoring with a 3-yard run in the first quarter.
Quarterback Landon Beard, who ran for 65 yards, scored on a 2-yard run early in the second quarter and, about six minutes later, Daniel Carter ran 3 yards for a TD. Ian Fiore’s third PAT made it 21-0 at the half.
East Lincoln closed within 21-10 after two scores in the third quarter – a 54-yard pass from quarterback Chase Jones to Tavin Johnson and Ryan Shanklin’s 42-yard field goal.
Fiore hit a 26-yard field goal with 4:47 to play, extending North Lincoln’s lead to 24-10, and East Lincoln scored with 2:58 to play on a 2-yard run by Cole Barber, who led the Mustangs’ rushing with 31 yards on 11 carries.
Jones completed seven of 20 passes for 182 yards for East Lincoln and he has unofficially passed for 1,062 yards this season. Johnson had two catches for 88 yards and Mikivi Phinex had three catches for 80 yards in the loss.
West Lincoln 35, Newton-Conover 14
VALE – The Rebels ran for 430 yards, including 170 on 20 carries by Cannon Bridges and 138 on 11 carries by Brendon Ikard, as they beat the visiting Red Devils for only the fourth time since 1981.
Bridges — who had only 14 carries for 141 yards in the first six games — came up big while in the offensive lineup replacing Nakathon Phansook (94 carries for 646 yards). Phansook, slowed by an injury, played defense but had no offensive snaps.
West Lincoln (6-1, 2-1) next plays on Friday at 7:30 p.m., playing at Lincolnton, and the Red Devils (3-4, 1-2) will face visiting Lake Norman Charter on homecoming night at Gurley Stadium.
On Friday night, the Rebels led 28-0 at halftime, built on two TD passes by quarterback Seth Willis and TD runs of 1 and 67 yards by Xander Pendergrass, who finished with five carries for 86 yards.
Bridges scored on an 8-yard run in the third quarter – about three minutes after running back Allen Wilfong ran 1 yard for a Red Devils score. Wilfong had 58 yards rushing, pushing his season total (unofficially) to 841 yards.
The game’sfinal score came with 2:12 to play, a 42-yard TD pass from Brendan Barlow to Kyjan McClain, who now has (unofficially) 34 catches for 593 yards after seven receptions for 113 yards against the Rebels.
West Lincoln outgained Newton-Conover 459-230.
Barlow went 2-for-2 for 63 yards and the Red Devils’ Justice Craig went 12-for-26 for 94 yards. Craig, unofficially, is 173 shy of 1,000 passing yards this season.
West Lincoln’s only other wins over Newton-Conover in their 27 matchups since 1981 came in 2003 at West Lincoln (27-18), 2013 at Newton-Conover (48-19) and in 2016 at West Lincoln (24-21).
Maiden 39, Lake Norman Charter 14
HUNTERSVILLE – Caleb McDaniel ran for two scores and threw for another as Maiden snapped a two-game losing streak via its balanced offense that gained 551 yards.
The Blue Devils ran for 272 yards, led by McDaniel’s 102 on 13 carries, and threw for 279.
Quarterback Bain Sipe completed seven of 13 passes for 241 yards and two TDs, and McDaniel threw his only pass, of 31 yards, to Dylan Abernathy for a TD.
Maiden (5-2, 1-2) is at home Friday night at 7:30 p.m. to play North Lincoln, which shares first place in the South Fork 2A with Bandys.
Lake Norman Charter (2-5, 0-3) shares last place with Lincolnton and will play Friday at 7:30 p.m. in a league game at Newton-Conover.
A victory on Friday would give Maiden – in its 66th year of varsity football – at least six wins in 56 of those seasons.
On Friday night, Sipe hit Brennan James for a 48-yard TD to open the scoring in the first quarter.
Abernathy, who caught four passes for 109 yards, scored on a 56-yarder from Sipe that helped make it 21-0 at the half.
Lake Norman Charter quarterback Jeff Womack threw a 7-yard TD pass to Jeshon Coston (nine catches for 108 yards) to close the first-half scoring, leaving Maiden up 21-7.
McDaniel’s 8-yard TD run was the only score of the third quarter, and he scored on an 8-yard run in the fourth quarter to boost the Blue Devils’ lead to 33-7.
After Womack hit Will Watts for a 35-yard TD, Abernathy closed the scoring with his TD reception from McDaniel.
Womack completed 21 of 41 passes for 255 yards and has (unofficially) thrown for 686 yards in his last five games.
Sipe has thrown for 200 or more yards in five games this season for Maiden and unofficially has thrown for 1,533 yards.