North Duplin earns share of Carolina 1-A Conference title

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on November 5, 2006 2:01 AM

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CALYPSO -- Michael Schilling ran for a game-high 152 yards on 29 carries and scored four touchdowns Friday night as the Rebels rolled to a 35-0 win over visiting Spring Creek.

The victory secured the Rebels (8-2, 4-1) a share of the Carolina 1-A Conference championship after Ayden-Grifton (8-3, 4-1) knocked off North Johnston (7-4, 4-1) to force the three-way tie at the top.

"I thought going into the year we would be improved," said first-year head coach Hugh Martin, as his Rebels rallied from a 3-8 campaign in 2005. "I'm pleased and proud how well we did and the work the kids did in the weight room."

North Duplin finished the game with 407 yards total offense. Junior quarterback Doug Lloyd used five different receivers and connected on 10-of-14 throws for 166 yards and a touchdown.

The Rebels, however, got off to a slow start against the Gators and the game was scoreless until Schilling scored his first touchdown on a 4-yard run just before the first period ended. Spring Creek played tough defensively to start the game, but could not get anything going offensively and was forced to punt on its first two possessions.

The Gators were held to just 37 yards on the ground in the game and allowed the talented and balanced North Duplin offense to wear down the defense.

Spring Creek's offense finally began to show signs of life in the second quarter as Ronnie Butler hit Alex Dunmire on a 21-yard halfback pass that gave the Gators a first down on the North Duplin 40. The drive, however, stalled and Spring Creek had to punt for the third time.

The Rebels scored again on a nine-play, 85-yard drive. Lloyd threw a perfect spiral 34 yards to a streaking Ryan Killette for the touchdown and the Rebels led 14-0.

Dunmire returned the ensuing kickoff to the North Duplin 47 and Spring Creek made an effort to seize the momentum.

Dunmire caught a 20-yard pass from quarterback Emmanuel Hinton that gave the Gators a first down on the Rebel 30.

Another Hinton-to-Dunmore pass covered 20 yards, but a hard tackle forced a fumble and North Duplin recovered at its own 10.

"We are not the type of team that can make mistakes and stay in the game,"said Spring Creek coach Roy Whitfield. "I thought our effort was better tonight than Monday night, I was especially pleased with Alex Dunmire's performance, I wish I had 30 more like him."

The game quickly unraveled in the last two minutes of the third quarter for the Gators as North Duplin scored two more touchdowns.

Schilling ran 4 yards for a score and Spring Creek fumbled the ensuing kickoff. The Rebels had the ball again at the Spring Creek 29.

North Duplin needed just three plays to go ahead 28-0. Schilling capped the drive with a 15 yard scamper for his third touchdown run of the night.

Spring Creek (3-8, 1-4) threatened again in the fourth quarter before losing another fumble at the Rebel 1.

North Duplin finished off the scoring on another Schilling short touchdown run midway through the final period.

Emmanuel Hinton accounted for 71 total offensive yards for the Gators, rushing for 32 and passing for 39. Dunmire caught three passes for 61 yards.

"North Duplin is a talented, well-coached team," said Whitfield "I wish them well in the playoffs."

The only negative on the night for North Duplin was 12 penalties for 100 yards.

"We really hurt ourselves with penalties," Martin said. "We will work on that in practice and try to eliminate them as we head into the playoffs."