Turnovers doom Southern Wayne against Wallace-Rose Hill

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on August 27, 2006 2:15 AM

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DUDLEY -- Wallace-Rose Hill ran and passed for 417 yards of total offense and defeated Southern Wayne 54-12 in the Saints home opener at Doyle Whitfield Athletic Complex Friday night.

The Bulldogs returned the entire offensive backfield from their N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-AA (large school) state runner-up team, including two 1,000-yard rushers.

Southern Wayne needed to match its offensive performance in last week's 49-40 win over West Craven to keep up with the high-scoring Bulldogs. But on this night, the Wallace-Rose Hill defense was almost as good as its offense.

"We had a tough time tonight against a very good football team," said Southern Wayne head coach Bob Warren. "They have a lot of good players and they presented some match up problems for us."

The Saints began the game as if they were going to pick up where they left off last week. They picked up three first downs on their initial series and moved quickly into Bulldog territory.

With Wallace Rose Hill keying on the Southern Wayne star running back Anthony Council, Saints fullback Kelvin Flow dashed 19 yards up the middle on the game's first play from scrimmage after the opening kickoff.

Quarterback Michael Holland found tight end Scott Holloman over the middle on a 13-yard pass play for another Saints first down. Council had two nice runs as Southern Wayne moved across midfield before having to punt the ball away.

The Bulldogs scored quickly as quarterback Andrew Bowden hooked up with Jerome Irving on a 40-yard pass play to give Wallace-Rose Hill a 6-0 lead late in the first quarter.

The Saints could not find the offensive consistency they needed to keep the ball away from the Bulldogs. Southern Wayne fumbled the ball away three times and the Bulldogs did not surrender a turnover all evening.

On the first play of the second quarter, Chris Andrews scored again for the Bulldogs on a 24-yard run. Just two minutes later, Bowden hit Jerome Irving on a 14-yard pass, which boosted the Wallace-Rose Hill lead to 20-0.

The Saints finally got on the scoreboard midway through the second quarter. With Southern Wayne facing third-and-21 at its own 45-yard line, Holland threw down the right sideline to running back Alex Aldridge.

Aldridge caught the ball in a crowd at the Wallace 30-yard line and ran past three Bulldog defenders to the goal line pulling the Saints within two touchdowns.

Southern Wayne's defense then stopped Wallace-Rose Hill on a short fourth-down play at the 48. Just two plays later, the Saints gave the ball back to the Bulldogs with their second fumble of the game.

Wallace-Rose Hill dashed any hopes Southern Wayne had of making a comeback by scoring two more touchdowns in the final three minutes of the first half.

The Bulldogs added three more rushing touchdowns in the third quarter to build their lead to 54-6 before Saints backup quarterback Jordan Williams scored the final Southern Wayne touchdown on a one-yard run in the fourth quarter.

"Our guys played hard and did not give up," said Warren. "A few times we had something going and then had some turnovers, but that's football. They created those turnovers."

Southern Wayne (1-1) and Wallace-Rose Hill (1-0) each play home games next week. The Saints welcome long-time rival Wilmington Hoggard to Dudley, while the Bulldogs tangle with Clinton -- the defending NCHSAA 2-A (small-school) state champion.