NORTHWESTERN FOOTHILLS 2A: W. Iredell keeps Draughn winless by scoring final 36 points

HobbsDailyReport.com

VALDESE – West Iredell High scored the game’s final 36 points on Friday night to turn back Draughn 45-20 in a Northwestern Foothills 2A opener for both teams at Draughn.

Draughn — still chasing head coach Chris Powell’s first win — opened a two-score lead in the first quarter and led 14-9 at the half and 20-9 after quarterback Braxton Cox scored on a third-quarter 1-yard run.

WEST IREDELL 45
DRAUGHN 20

West Iredell (3-3, 1-0) first closed the gap with a 65-yard kickoff return TD by Alex Lippard and two-point run by Emmanuel Long.

Long had a 7-yard TD run to put West Iredell up 24-20 heading to the final quarter. He scored on an 8-yard run in the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 30-20.

In the fourth quarter, quarterback Eli Kitchens threw 4 yards to Shawn Pearson and a 37-20 lead, and Kitchens broke a run for 34 yards and a score and threw a two-point conversion pass to Long for a 45-20 lead.

Long finished with 23 carries for 241 yards and Kitchens had eight rushes for 97 yards and hit six passes for 38 yards as West Iredell collected 381 yards on offense.

One of Long’s scores was a 99-yard run in the second quarter that got West Iredell within 14-9 by halftime.

For Draughn (0-6, 0-1), Cox went 24-for-48 for 309 yards and a TD – a 22-yard pass to Colton Singleton to open the game’s scoring – and he cleared 1,000 yards passing for the season (unofficially has 1,279).

Singleton caught seven passes for 101 yards for the Wildcats while Hunter Jensen had 81 yards on five receptions.

Cox also had 17 carries for 63 yards while Tyler McKinney, who had a 2-yard TD run in the opening quarter, had 27 rushing yards.

Draughn had 400 yards of total offense and three turnovers (one interception, two fumbles).

West Iredell, picking up career win No. 11 for head coach Monte Simmons, is at home Friday at 7:30 p.m. for a conference game against East Burke.

Draughn travels to Patton on Friday (7:30 p.m.) for a league game.

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