Weekend football digest

By Staff Reports
Published in Sports on August 31, 2013 11:46 PM

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DUDLEY -- Jalen Bennett and DJ Graham each returned a turnover for defensive touchdowns, and Southern Wayne snapped an eight-game skid with a 48-14 triumph over Smithfield-Selma at the Doyle Whitfield Athletic Complex on Friday evening.

Bennett logged a one-handed pick six resulted in a 95-yard touchdown gallop on the Spartans' first possession of the second half. Graham's 35-yard fumble return capped the Saints' scoring in the final period.

"We played together as a team tonight and made big plays in critical situations," third-year SW head coach David Lee said. "My assistant coaches did a great job preparing the kids this week, and the kids came out with something to prove after last week."

AJ Williams led the Saints' rushing attack with 139 yards. Xzavier Pearsall provided 67 yards and scored TDs on runs of 30, 7 and 5 yards.

Marquise Baldwin provided 46 yards and a first-quarter TD, while Tyaire Allen rambled for 23 yards. Quarterback Jacob Hollingsworth completed 5 of 11 passes for 41 yards, and converted a 60-yard bootleg run into the Saints' second TD of the night.

Southern Wayne tallied 34 second-half points.

"Overall, I am pleased with the improvement from last week to this week," Lee said. "We understand that we have a lot of work to do before traveling to Goldsboro next Friday. They really stuck it to us last year, so we will need to be focused at practice this week and improve our defense."

C.B. Aycock 16,

Greene Central 14

* SNOW HILL -- Charles B. Aycock is 2-0 in the Steve Brooks era.

Jacob Harrison booted the game-winning field goal with 25.1 seconds remaining in the Golden Falcons' come-from-behind, 16-14 win over Greene Central at the James R. Fulghum Athletic Complex on Friday evening.

Harrison's 21-yard field goal was set up by TJ Morrow's 36-yard completion to Michael Eutsey as Morrow escaped heavy pressure on a fourth-and-6 play in the closing minute.

Morrow finished the game with 225 yards of total offense -- 160 passing and 65 rushing.

Neil Clark's three-yard plunge tied the game at 7-7 with 6:05 left in the third quarter. The Rams moved back in front 14-7, only to see Aycock pull within 14-13 with six minutes left in regulation.

Rosewood 41, Southside 24

* Rosewood launched its 2013 home campaign with a shootout-style 41-24 triumph over Chocowinity Southside at Branch Pope Field.

Jamari McGown rushed for 160 yards and two touchdowns, and caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jacob Sasser. The Eagles amassed more than 400 yards against a Seahawks defense that was playing just three days after a Monday loss to North Duplin.

Brett Jones rushed for a touchdown. Mike Woodard found the end zone twice on a rushing TD and a passing TD.

The Eagles rose to 1-1 overall.

James Kenan 19,

Wallace-Rose Hill 18

* WARSAW -- James Kenan did not score an offensive touchdown during the final 29-plus minutes of regulation and squeaked by county archrival Wallace-Rose Hill, 19-18, on Friday evening.

Dominique Barnes rushed for a first-quarter touchdown and threw a 25-yard scoring pass to Antonio Smith with just under six minutes remaining before halftime. Max Hernandez converted his second PAT to make it 13-0.

Wallace-Rose Hill (1-1 overall) answered with back-to-back touchdowns within a three-minute span, and closed the gap to 13-12 by intermission. The Dogs took an 18-13 lead barely four minutes into the third quarter until the Tigers' JaQuan Williams answered with a 90-yard kickoff return.

Neither team scored the remainder of the game.

The Tigers (2-0) stuffed the Bulldogs on two extra-point conversions and Kevon Miller blocked a second-quarter PAT. Tyler Pugh sparked the defense with nine stops, while Marcelias Sutton provided six tackles.

Wallace-Rose Hill limited James Kenan to 227 yards of total offense. Williams churned out 67 yards on seven carries, while Sutton piled up 40 yards on 13 totes. Barnes completed four passes for 87 yards, and threw two picks.

Lejeune 46,

Spring Creek 7

* JACKSONVILLE -- It was the night the lights went out on base.

Just five minutes after stepping off of the bus Friday evening, players from Spring Creek and Lejeune heard a loud pop as a transformer blew on a light pole.

The teams agreed to start the game an hour early and Lejeune immediately seized a 26-7 lead through two quarters. After a two-hour delay to replace the transformer, the Devilpups pitched a second-half shutout and claimed a 46-7 victory.

"I'm not making any excuses because both teams had to go through the same struggles," SC head coach Aaron Sanders said. "(But) from the get-go, we didn't come out ready to play and we're just going to have do a better job of that, which I think our kids are capable of doing."

Tre Hammonds' 56-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Hicks accounted for the Gators' lone score. Hammonds completed 2 of 5 passes for 68 yards. Senior Anthony Russo placed the ground attack with 76 yards on 24 totes.

Lejeune owned a 369-144 edge in total offense.