CHOCOWINITY — Lawrence Brown rushed for 128 yards and four touchdowns in Southside’s 59-0 trouncing of Lejeune. The Seahawks pounded the visiting Devil Pups on the ground with 383 rushing yards.

It took mere seconds for Southside to set the tone. Amari Peele took the opening kickoff 88 yards to the house. It gave his side the lead just 14 seconds into the contest. The defense built on the momentum by forcing a fumble, which was recovered by Josh Crance, on Lejeune’s first play from scrimmage.

It only took two plays for the Seahawks to convert that turnover into a touchdown. Brown ran nine yards to the end zone for his first of the game and the second touchdown in less than a minute.

Arguably more valuable than the points Brown put on the board is his lead-by-example mentality.

“He’s an outstanding athlete and a captain of our team,” said head coach Jeff Carrow. “We preach that. It’s ‘we’ over ‘me.’ He knows it’s team first. He’s gotten big yards this year … Especially in these closing weeks of the season, I need seniors to step up and lead by example.”

The end of the first half unfolded almost the same way. Matt Baxter rumbled 20 yards for a touchdown that put Southside ahead 40-0 with 35 seconds left until the break. Walker Main recovered a fumble on the next play to give the Seahawks an opportunity to strike again.

And that’s exactly what they did. As the clock expired, Brown rushed 28 yards for his fourth and final touchdown of the game.

Southside led 47-0 at halftime.

“We just had to get back to doing what we were doing,” Carrow said. “We had a tough game last week. We got back, had a solid week of practice and the guys answered the call. We got back to our fundamentals and doing what we do.”

The clock ran throughout the second half thanks to the overwhelming advantage.

Kevontae Little and Ronald Dennis put their mark on the match by rushing for touchdowns. Little punched one in from three yards out in the third quarter. Dennis scored his in the fourth from 14 yards out.

While the Seahawks’ offense took everything it wanted, the defense didn’t give up much to the Devil Pups. Lejeune amassed just 45 yards on the 30 plays it ran.

The defense made itself cozy in Lejeune’s backfield. The Seahawks had five tackles for a loss. The Devil Pups were already struggling to move the ball and losing yardage further limited their play calling.

“It’s tough. It doesn’t matter what offense you run,” Carrow said. “If you’re behind the eight ball and stuck with long yards, it’s tough to come back.”

They also shot themselves in the foot by getting whistled for seven penalties that set them back 50 yards. Four turnovers stalled Lejeune’s offense, too.

The lopsided score also allowed some younger players to get in-game experience. Those reps will be valuable in the not-too-distant future.

“They’ve busted their butts all year long,” Carrow said. “They played well when they got in … It was great to get experience with it. We had second and third-string guys get in the ball game. Hats off to Lejeune. They came ready to play and played hard all the way through.”

Brown led the offense with his 128 yards and four touchdowns on 15 carries. Baxter carried the ball seven times for 114 yards and a score. Little added 42 yards and a touchdown on five carries.

Johnny Sullivan left his mark with a 26-yard quarterback keeper for a touchdown in the second quarter.

The defense gave up just three first downs to Lejeune and was perfect on third down. Hunter Sparks led the unit with 4.5 tackles (four solo). Teddy Minor also had four tackles.