CHOCOWINITY — Down five with six minutes to go, head coach Jeff Carrow and the Southside Seahawks did not deviate from their initial game plan, sticking to their signature ground-and-pound offense to wear down the opposing front seven.

Riding its trio of backs operating in the wing-T offense, Southside secured its first win of the season Friday night on a game-winning, fourth-quarter drive, capped off by an acrobatic quarterback sneak from Johnny Sullivan.

“The guys learned how to finish tonight,” Carrow said. “We still had too many mistakes. We got within the three-yard line twice and couldn’t get it in, but we made it happen when it counted. I’m proud of them for finishing the ballgame, offensively and defensively.”

Juniors Matthew Baxter, Dylan Lewis and Lawrence Brown alternated handoffs and quickly moved the Seahawks up the field early in the first quarter. Baxter and Brown both recorded a pair of 20-plus-yard runs on the first drive, as Southside found the end zone in less than four minutes to go up 8-0.

However, it took just three minutes and five plays for Rosewood to answer. After a few short runs, sophomore quarterback Cameron Helt connected with senior wide out Quan Joyner on a 49-yard passing play to tie the game at eight and silence the crowd.

Then, the same mistakes that plagued Southside in the opener against North Duplin began to reemerge. After an unsuccessful drive with 1:43 left in the first, the long snapper fired the snap over the head of punter Will Mumford, placing the Eagles on the 20-yard line. On the first play of Rosewood’s final drive of the quarter, Mike Woodard ran it in for a touchdown.

In the second quarter, it was Rosewood with an early error. A fumble by the running back put the Seahawks in excellent field position. Once again, Baxter, Brown and Lewis powered their way up the field, but this time, Rosewood pulled off a successful goal-line stand.

“Again, we still need to eliminate mistakes,” Carrow said. “We need to learn how to finish when we’re inside the red zone there. We’re moving the ball inside the 20s, but you have to put it in.”

Helt quickly shifted all the momentum in the Eagles favor. After two false starts that pushed his team to the one-inch line, the Rosewood quarterback aired one out to Joyner, who came down with the football and ran it 99 yards for the touchdown.

Down 21-8, Southside would not let the score get out of reach. More ground-and-pound from Baxter and Brown resulted in a quick touchdown. Southside would end the Eagles’ last drive with an interception and head into the locker room down 21-16.

A collection of blunders in the third-quarter put Southside on its back and threatened to balloon the lead. A fumble by Lewis was erased after a stand by the Seahawks defense, but the Eagles upgraded their initial field position after a punt that deflected off the returner was recovered. Again, the Southside defense answered the call, forcing a fumble in the red zone to emerge from the third quarter unscathed.

Both teams continued to trade drives to start the fourth, including another goal-line stand by the Eagles defense.

But with 7:40 remaining in the game, Carrow watched as his team received the ball on their own 43-yard line. On the first play, Baxter found a seam and cut up the field for a 30-yard gain. After a couple more runs and a personal foul, again, Southside found itself on the one-yard line. This time, however, Sullivan propelled himself over the defensive line and into the end zone, giving the Seahawks a 24-21 lead with 6:20 left.

“Lawrence is a great kid and a hard runner,” Carrow said. “He did a great job blocking for Matthew Baxter, which allowed us to run our jet a little better and get it outside.”

The Southside defense played perfect football over the final minutes of the game. A costly holding penalty put the end zone out of reach for Rosewood, which turned the ball over on downs with less than two minutes left to seal the Southside victory.

“We’ve grown so much from last year,” Carrow said. “We fell back last week and North Duplin got the better of us in the second half. This week, being down at the half, the guys were able to answer the call over and over again, not breaking defensively there at the end.”

Brown finished with 134 yards on 21 carries, while Baxter notched 108 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries.

The Seahawks will look to carry their momentum into next Friday’s game against cross-county rival Northside.

 

WASHINGTON 42, TARBORO 7

The Pam Pack used their run game to lock up its first win of the season on the road against one of Class 1-A’s top teams. The Vikings and Pack came out in the first quarter flat on offense and strong on defense, until Washington’s standout running back Markel Spencer broke the score open with a two-yard touchdown.

In what head coach Sport Sawyer called “a great team effort,” the Pam Pack broke the game open with an efficient second quarter — Spencer notching his second and third TDs and Clinton Pope breaking through with a dynamic 30-yard score.

Up 28-0 at the half, Washington’s 200-meter dash state champion, Stepfon Rodman, found his way into the back of the end zone twice in the second half, as one, fourth-quarter TD was all Tarboro could muster against the Pack defense.

 

NORTHSIDE 44, NORTH DUPLIN 27

Offensive production from head coach Keith Boyd’s customary playmakers and a couple of defensive scores were the difference in Northside’s home opener.

On the back of tailback Rockne Butler, the Panthers offense was firing on all cylinders, jumping out to a 14-0 lead in the first and owning most of the possession. The Rebels responded with a score in the second quarter, but were unable to stop Northside’s running game in the third, as Boyd’s offense tacked on another three scores, including a fumble Butler recovered and returned 16 yards and an onside kick Dalton Etheridge ran back.

“We still couldn’t get that total intensity back we had in the first quarter,” Boyd said. “We played as good as we could play. We kind of ebb and flowed after that.”

Northside tacked on another score in the fourth to lock up its second victory of the season. The Panthers host Southside next Friday.