North Duplin turns back Hobbton

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on November 2, 2013 11:30 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

CALYPSO -- Is North Duplin back on track?

Head coach Hugh Martin certainly hopes so.

Daron Goodman rushed for 99 yards and backfield mate Emiliano Mora delivered two touchdowns during the Rebels' 35-13 victory over Carolina 1-A Conference foe Hobbton on a rainy Friday evening at H.E. Grubbs Field.

North Duplin (3-7 overall, 1-4 CC) halted a seven-game losing streak and more than likely secured its 15th consecutive trip to the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs.

"I thought we played very hard," Rebels head coach Hugh Martin said. "I was primarily pleased with our defensive tackling. We worked real hard last week on fundamental things, even tackling on Thursday when we usually go in our shorts.

"We had some outstanding plays tonight, individuals making tackles when they had to be made."

The Rebels' defense coaxed the Wildcats into four turnovers, which led to 14 points. North Duplin logged three quarterback sacks and 12 stops overall behind the line of scrimmage.

Hobbton's anemic offense collected just 3 yards in the opening half and produced 26 through three quarters of play. The Wildcats posted two fourth-quarter touchdowns against the Rebels' second-string defense, and finished with 180 yards -- all on the ground.

North Duplin's ball-control offense worked on short fields during most of the 48-minute affair. The Rebels started six drives inside Wildcat territory, including the 10- and 7-yard lines in the first half.

One possession ended on a fumble.

The other short-yardage march resulted in a 2-yard touchdown run by Mora with 10:11 remaining before halftime. That gave the Rebels a 14-0 advantage after Mora had scored from 25 yards out midway through the first period.

"We still had some turnovers, but not as many as we have been experiencing here lately," Martin said. "We're a ball-control team (and) we have to execute all the little things well to be successful. We had a couple of reads here and there that were bad (and) had a penalty here and there.

"But overall it was better than the simple mistakes we had been prone to making earlier."

Rebels quarterback James Britt connected with JP Payton on a fourth-down, 25-yard TD strike with 99 seconds left in the second quarter.

Goodman supplied a 17-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and Britt called his own number on a 9-yard scoring jaunt late in the same period. Tyler Potter's fourth-down quarterback sack helped set up the Rebels' final TD of the game.

North Duplin had 268 yards of total offense.