Rosewood shines in front of Hall of Fame inductees

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on October 31, 2004 2:01 AM

• Print
• Email

On a Friday night where Rosewood High School inducted eight individuals into its first Hall of Fame class, the Eagle offense put up a performance not soon to be forgotten by their faithful.

Rosewood senior quarterback Danny Langston threw for 164 yards on an efficient 12-of-18 passing with a career-best, four-touchdown performance. Meanwhile, the balanced Eagle running game put three backs over 50 yards and accounted for two touchdowns in a 43-24 win against North Duplin at Branch Pope Field.

The victory was Rosewood's third straight over the Rebels.

After falling behind 8-0 after the first quarter, Rose-wood outscored its conference rival 29-0 during an 18-minute stretch in the second and third quarter to take control of the game. During the run, the Eagles' Jeff McCumber picked off a pass before the Rosewood defense forced three straight punts to assist the offense.

"The defense played very well. Offensively, we were able to mix up the run and the pass and I thought as the game went on we got a little stronger and got some momentum," Rosewood coach Daniel Barrow said. "I reminded the boys again at halftime that there wouldn't be anything easy about this football game."

The Eagles (5-5 overall) improved to 4-1 and remain one game behind unbeaten Ayden-Grifton for first-place in the Class 1-A Carolina Conference with one game left at Princeton next Friday. The Rebels (2-8, 1-4 Carolina) face Spring Creek in Calypso to conclude the regular season.

Rosewood drew even at 8-8 early in the second quarter when Langston capped an 11-play drive with a one-yard strike to tight end Kyle Grey, who finished with a career-high 81 yards receiving with seven catches.

Two plays after McCumber's interception gave Rosewood the ball at the Rebel 43, Langston connected with Dustin Overman near the 25. Overman juked one defender near the left sideline, then dashed the rest of the way for the first of his two touchdowns. Brandon Hietpas' extra point gave the Eagles a 15-8 lead with just under nine minutes left in the second quarter.

The margin stood until halftime.

Keyed by stout rushing by Ronnie Butler and James Ruesch and three completions by Langston, the Eagles wasted no time in the second half. On its first eight plays of the third quarter, Rosewood gained 97 yards and scored twice to go up 29-8 midway through the third.

Butler rushed for 105 yards, while Ruesch and Derrick Bennett gained over 50 yards on the ground with one touchdown each. Bennett added a 22-yard touchdown reception from Langston over the middle late in the third quarter to answer a North Duplin touchdown.

Langston now has an area-high 24 touchdown passes on the season.

"I feel comfortable with every receiver we have on our team. Our offensive line did a great job," Langston said. "I just try to run the plays that coach Barrow calls."

The Rebels, a team riddled with late-season injuries, cut Rosewood's lead to 29-16 late in the third quarter, then 36-24 with just over five minutes left in the game -- both on touchdown runs by quarterback Brad Lloyd, who bounced off of a first-half leg injury to finish the game. Lloyd had a team-high 94 yards rushing on 18 carries and was four-for-15 passing for 58 yards with an 18-yard touchdown in the first quarter to Matt Braswell to put North Duplin on the board.

Early in the fourth quarter, Rosewood's Markus Brunson recovered a Rebel fumble 23 yards behind the line of scrimmage to halt a scoring chance as North Duplin never managed to get within one possession of the Eagles. North Duplin put the ball on the ground five times, losing one fumble.

Overman boosted his total to an area-best 12 touchdown receptions with a nine-yard grab early in the fourth quarter.

"They (Rosewood) did a real good job. We made mistakes because of what they were doing," North Duplin coach John Avent said. "We were unable to consistently make plays offensively. Their offense was able to find our spots and weaknesses."

Both teams were perfect on point-after attempts and two-point conversions. Rosewood's Brandon Hietpas made five extra points, while Langston completed a two-point conversion pass to Overman. Lloyd had three successful two-point conversions.

Brunson finished with three assists, three sacks and one fumble recovery for the Eagle defense, while Anthony Holland had eight tackles and a pass deflection.

At halftime, Edward "Tank" Davis, John L. Deans, Ted Holmes, Clark Hood, Cathy Ellis Jarrell, Chuck Lucas, Branch Pope and David Simmons were inducted into the Rosewood Hall of Fame.

North Duplin 8 0 8 8 -- 24

Rosewood 0 15 21 7 -- 43

First quarter

ND -- Braswell 18 pass from B. Lloyd (Armwood pass from B.Lloyd), 2:58

Second quarter

RHS -- Grey 1 pass from Langston (Overman pass from Langston), 10:56

RHS -- Overman 43 pass from Langston (Hietpas kick), 8:40

Third quarter

RHS -- Overman 9 pass from Langston (Hietpas kick), 10:30

RHS -- Ja. Ruesch 5 run (Hietpas kick), 6:10

ND -- B. Lloyd 5 run (Braswell pass from B. Lloyd), 3:47

RHS -- Bennett 22 pass from Langston (Hietpas kick), :44

Fourth quarter

ND -- B. Lloyd 37 run (Armwood pass from B. Lloyd), 5:25

RHS -- Bennett 3 run (Hietpas kick), 1:33

ND RHS

First downs 13 17

Rushes-yds. 32-163 45-217

Passing yds. 58 164

Total yards 221 381

Att.-Comp.-Int. 15-4-1 18-12-0

Fumbles-lost 5-1 4-0

Punts-avg. 5-36 3-30.7

Penalties-yds. 4-45 7-45

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- North Duplin -- Brad Lloyd 18-94, 2 TD; Montreal Garner 10-73; Doug Lloyd 3-(-6); Bucky McCarty 1-2. Rosewood -- Ronnie Butler 18-105; Derrick Bennett 11-58, TD; James Ruesch 9-54, TD; Danny Langston 5-(-8); Eddie Huerta 1-0; Justin Allen 1-0.

PASSING -- North Duplin -- Brad Lloyd 4-15-1 58, TD; Doug Lloyd 0-1-0 0. Rosewood -- Danny Langston 12-18-0 164, 4 TD.

RECEIVING -- North Duplin -- Matt Braswell 2-39, TD; Doug Lloyd 3-29. Rosewood -- Kyle Grey 7-81, TD; Dustin Overman 2-52, 2 TD; Ronnie Butler 1-4; James Ruesch 1-6; Derrick Bennett 1-22, TD.