By By KEVIN TRAVIS and Brian Haines
Sports Editor and sports writer
CHOCOWINITY — The Southside Seahawks have been able to savor the taste of victory for the past two weeks.
Southside picked up a 25-0 win over Pamlico in the first Fossil Bowl two weeks ago, coming on a night when the team honored former fallen Seahawk star, Neal Whitney. It was a sweet win, and a rare win — just the team’s second in the last three years.
Coach David Hines and his Hawks (1-2) will look for their first two-game winning streak since the 2006 season when they invade Columbia tonight to battle the Wildcats (1-1). Columbia was a part of that winning streak three years ago. Southside beat Northside 27-8 on Nov. 3 of that year, then followed that up with a 42-34 victory over Columbia.
While Southside was idle last week, the Wildcats suffered a 28-6 loss to Jamesville.
“They’re strong up front,” Hines said of the Wildcats. “They’re short on kids, but they’re not short on intensity. We’ll have to play hard from the get-go to set the pace.
“Our biggest hope is that we can wear them down.
“I think we’re ready to play. The guys have been itching to get back on the field.”
Sophomore quarterback Terrill Moore leads the Seahawks on the ground with 190 yards rushing and four scores. Lonnie Williams (143 yards rushing) and Marcus Oneal (123 yards rushing) have each scored a touchdown on the ground.
Of Moore’s 13 completions, seven have gone to senior Willie Ruffin (99 yards receiving).
Defensively, Southside’s tackle leaders are Johnnie Pender (30 tackles), Greg Crisp (27 tackles) and James Jones (27 tackles). Jones was voted the Red Zone Player of the Week after recording 14 tackles in the win over Pamlico.
Southside is back on the road next week when it plays at Camden. The Seahawks return home Oct. 2 against Manteo.
Northside to battle Roanoke
Two former Atlantic Conference foes will get a chance to collide tonight as newly anointed Four Rivers Conference members as Northside hits the road to take on Roanoke.
The Panthers (1-2) are coming off a bye week and previously dropped a tough game to 3-A Washington their last time out.
Northside will look to bounce back against a fellow 1-A rival tonight, however, due to some scheduling quirks, this game will not count towards either teams’ conference record. The two teams will put their conference record on the line later on this season when they play again.
Northside coach Keith Boyd said that his team has used its time off to work on the basics.
“We just came out and worked on the fundamentals,” Boyd said. “We worked a lot on blocking, and taking on blocks.”
Boyd said the key to being successful tonight is for his team to be able dictate tempo.
“We have to control the clock,” Boyd said. “We have to do a better job on defense and tackle better.”
Redskins coach Brian Paschal, whose team is 0-3, said that this season has been a learning experience for his young squad.
“We have stressed to our guys all along that this is going to be a growing process,” Paschal said. “We just have to take the growing pains as we move up. We have a lot of talented kids who have just not played football before.”
The Redskins’ skipper said that for his team to be competitive tonight it must do a better job of holding on to the football.
“Turning the ball over has been our biggest problem,” Paschal said. “We have been turning it over too often, so we will see what happens. If we can protect the ball then I think we will be much better off.”
Tigers put unbeaten streak on line
Coach Asim McGill has his Williamston Tigers in midseason form already. The Tigers, 3-0, put their unbeaten streak on the line when they pay a visit to North Pitt tonight.
Williamston, last year’s Class 1-A state runners-up, were off last week. In its previous two games, the Tigers outscored Roanoke and Edenton-Holmes by a combined 72-0.
The Panthers (2-2), a member of the Class 2-A Eastern Plains Conference, are coming off a 16-12 victory over D.H. Conley.
The Tigers are back on the road next week at Manteo. Williamston returns home Oct. 2 to face Camden.
In the Tideland Conference, the Mattamuskeet Lakers and Creswell Tigers will be entertaining conference rivals this evening.
The Lakers (1-0), which posted a 14-0 win over Cape Hatteras in their season-opener last week, take on the Jamesville Bullets (1-1). Jamesville squared its mark last week with a 28-6 nod over Columbia.
The Creswell Tigers (2-0), off last week, take on the winless Cape Hatteras Hurricanes (0-3). The Hurricanes have been outscored 118-0 this year.
In next week’s Tideland action, Jamesville plays host to Creswell and Mattamuskeet pays a visit to Columbia.