Class 2-A -- SW Onslow 22, Greene Central 0

Published in Sports on November 14, 2004 2:02 AM

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JACKSONVILLE -- Southwest Onslow opened defense of its state championship Friday night with a 32-0 blowout of visiting Greene Central in the first round of the NCHSAA Class 2-A (small-school) playoffs.

The Stallions' defense carried much of the load, limiting the Rams to 40 total yards of offense and just five first downs on field muddied from a constant rain.

Southwest (11-1), the No. 3 seed ooverall as the champion of the East Central Conference, advances to face Clinton (9-2), which defeated Southeast Halifax, 21-20.

Greene Central, the No. 14 seed after finishing third in the Eastern Plains Conference, exited 6-6.

"Southwest Onslow has got an outstanding program. Coach Padgett and his staff do a great job," Greene Central head coach Jim Bob Bryant said. "We had a couple of chanced to put it in the end zone but didn't capitalize."

Southwest seniors Gary Middlebrooks and Andre Baxter made sure the Rams couldn't capitalize. The veteran duo delivered inspired play and punishing hits, with Middlebrooks accounting for a pair of touchdowns.

With Southwest already 10-0, the Stallion defense forced the Rams into a punting situation at their own 31. Junior Tyrone Arrington and Middlebrooks broke through the line with Arrington reaching out to block the punt. The ball bounced backwards toward the goal line and Middlebrooks picked it up and tumbled in for six points.

Middlebrooks added to Southwest's lead minutes later when he took a second-down handoff and burst straight up the middle for a 66-yard scoring romp. That made the score 25-0, which stood through the half.

While Middlebrooks was busy putting up points, Baxter had 11 sacks to go along with at least three tackles for loss and numerous assists.

Jason Sunday connected on a 24-yard field goal in the first quarter to open the scoring for Southwest, which tallied 304 yards of offense including 261 on the ground.

Greene Central 0 0 0 0 -- 0

Southwest Onslow 3 22 0 7 -- 32

First quarter

SW -- Sunday 24 FG

Second quarter

SW -- Williams 6 run (Sunday kick)

SW -- Middlebrooks recovered blocked punt in end zone (Hardison run)

SW -- Middlebrooks 66 run (Sunday kick)

Fourth quarter

SW -- Marshall 22 run (Humphrey kick)

G. Central SWOnslow

First downs 5 10

Rushes-yards 23-(-20) 38-261

Passing 60 43

Total yds 40 304

Comp-Att-Int 6-15-1 3-3-0

Fumbles-Lost 2-0 4-2

Penalties-Yds 1-1 4-20

Punts 8-25.4 1-34.0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Greene Central -- Price 5-26, Chris Hodges 5-7, Travis Rouse 4-(-15), Tim McNair 2-1, Tyson 2-(-1), J.J. Thompson 2-(-7), Cameron Shelton 2-(-25), Dreyan Willis 1-(-6). Southwest Onslow -- Hardison 15-85, Williams 7-42, Burney 6-25, Arrington 3-5, Marshall 3-28, Middlebrooks 1-66, Gore 1-5, Stanton 1-3, Hudson 1-2.

PASSING -- Greene Central -- Travis Rouse 6-15-1-60. Southwest Onslow -- Burney 3-3-0-43.

RECEIVING -- Greene Central -- Devon Smith 2-23, Dreyan Willis 2-22, Dashon Bynum 2-15. Southwest Onslow -- Stanford 2-14, Tobias 1-29.