Southside outpaces Eagles

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on September 19, 2004 8:14 AM

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CHOCOWINITY -- Southside coach Dewayne Kellum was confident his hard-nosed defense would get a test at home against Rosewood on Friday night.

The Seahawk defense, allowing just 2.5 points per game in its first three contests, certainly got checked as the Eagles posted five touchdowns and over 400 yards of total offense.

Unfortunately for Rosewood, Southside's own offense proved plenty potent in a 48-33 win in a game delayed more than one hour and 30 minutes due to inclement weather. The delay occurred less than three minutes into the second quarter with the seventh-ranked Seahawks leading 22-7.

Three plays after the contest resumed, Southside tailback Bryan Haywood rushed for the third of his four rushing touchdowns with an 11-yard scamper to put his team up by 22 points. Late in the third quarter, Haywood capped a huge night by tacking on a 74-yard touchdown reception to give Southside a 42-19 lead.

The senior back finished with a whopping, 298 yards of offense -- including 201 on the ground on just eight carries. Four more Southside ball carriers had at least 29 yards rushing.

"We played better in the second half, but their trap hurt us a lot prior to the intermission," Rosewood coach Daniel Barrow said. "They've (Southside) got a lot of speed. There were a lot of occasions where we had 'em, but he just slipped through and kept going.

"We were where we were supposed to be, we just didn't make the play."

The Eagles (1-4) trailed most of the game, but continued to come up with big plays to answer Haywood and Southside.

Rosewood trimmed the margin to 42-25 early in the fourth with an eight-yard touchdown run by Derrick Bennett, who had 76 tough yards on 13 totes with two touchdowns. On the ensuing kickoff, the Eagles recovered an onside-kick and marched down to the Seahawk 10. A holding penalty pushed Rosewood back and the drive eventually ended with an interception.

Each team posted one more score in the shootout with the Eagles' final score coming on a seven-yard strike from Danny Langston to Dustin Overman in the last minute. Overman continued his impressive senior campaign with six catches for 138 yards with three touchdowns -- boosting his season touchdown total to six.

Langston, who had 190 yards through the air, found Overman over the middle for a 53-yard scoring connection midway through the first quarter for the Eagles first touchdown. On a 40-yard halfback pass from Bennett to Overman, the Eagles pulled to within 29-13 at the end of the first half.

Due to Southside's ability to strike quickly on its three second-half touchdowns and the Eagles' consistent ball-control offense, Rosewood ran 45 plays to the Seahawks 13 in the second half.

Before the remnants of Hurricane Ivan came rolling into Beaufort County, Southside took advantage of a blocked punt and a lost Rosewood fumble on a kick-off to jump out to a 22-7 lead after the first quarter.

The Eagles concluded their tough non-conference schedule and will entertain Class 1-A Carolina Conference foe Ayden-Grifton in their conference opener next Friday. Barrow believes the fight shown by his team down the stretch against Southside (4-0) should bode well.

"We continued to fight hard. We probably tested Southside as well as anybody has," Barrow said. "We've been tested about every way you can be tested. I don't think we can be better prepared. Our guys are intelligent and they know what is coming up."

Rosewood 7 6 6 14 -- 33

Southside 22 7 13 6 -- 48

First quarter

S -- Moore 5 run (kick failed), 9:05

RHS -- Overman 53 pass from Langston (Hietpas kick), 6:48

S -- Haywood 16 run (Chandler run), 0:32.4

S -- Haywood 26 run (Haywood run), 0:28.4

Second quarter

S -- Haywood 11 run (Adams kick), 8:38

RHS -- Overman 40 pass from Bennett (pass failed), 0:06.9

Third quarter

S -- Haywood 74 run (Adams kick), 7:46

RHS -- Bennett 17 run (run failed), 3:52

S -- Haywood 73 pass from Chandler (kick failed), 3:45

Fourth quarter

RHS -- Bennett 8 run (run failed), 9:08

S -- Benston 2 run (kick failed), 4:12

RHS -- Overman 7 pass from Langston (Langston run), 0:29.1

RHS Southside

First downs 18 13

Rushes-yds 43-179 34-332

Passing yds 230 118

Total yards 409 450

Att.-Comp.-Int. 29-12-1 7-3-0

Fumbles-lost 3-1 1-0

Punts-avg. 5-27.2 4-18.25

Penalties-yds. 5-35 9-57

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Rosewood -- Danny Langston 14-26; Montrell Horton 8-35; Derrick Bennett 13-76, 2 TD; James Ruesch 8-42. Southside -- Bryan Haywood 8-201, 4 TD; Stephon Moore 9-29; Robbie Lee Chandler 3-(-18); Raphael Marable 2-42; Javores King 2-0; Kelton Moore 4-42; Lion-O Benston 5-37, TD.

PASSING -- Rosewood -- Danny Langston 11-28-1 190, 2 TD; Derrick Bennett 1-1-0 40, TD. Southside -- Robbie Lee Chandler 3-7-0 118, TD.

RECEIVING -- Rosewood -- Dustin Overman 6-138, 3 TD; Kyle Grey 3-37; Stephen Tart 1-11; James Ruesch 2-44. Southside -- Bryan Haywood 2-97, TD; Clarence Baker 1-21.