Rebels claim road win over Gators

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on November 9, 2013 11:50 PM

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astevens@newsargus.com

SEVEN SPRINGS -- The first half started like a dream for North Duplin and felt more like a nightmare for Spring Creek.

The Rebels scored on four of their first five offensive possessions and capitalized on two Gators' turnovers in a 41-14 victory at "The Swamp" on Friday evening. It was the Carolina 1-A Conference regular-season finale for both teams.

Daron Goodman rushed for 148 yards and four touchdowns on 21 carries for North Duplin, which recovered an onside kick to the start the game. Goodman cashed in from four yards out and later scored on a 51-yard touchdown run.

A Spring Creek fumble led to quarterback James Britt's 23-yard touchdown early in the second quarter that pushed the lead to 21-0.

"We got the (onside) kick to start with," North Duplin head coach Hugh Martin said. "Offensively, I thought we did a lot of good things in the option game. I thought the offensive line was getting off well. The backs blocked well for each other, we just did a good job of doing the things we needed to do with our offense."

Britt made sound decisions in the option game all night. The Gators' defense took away inside runs, which allowed Britt to use his speed to get to the edge. He'd either turn upfield or pitch the ball.

The senior signal caller finished with 91 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.

"That's James reading the option and getting to (the edge)," Martin said. "We've got a couple of different ways that we run the option with him. But they were taking away the dive, and he was doing a good job of getting to the edge and keeping it or pitching it off of that.

"He's just grown so much this year."

The deficit swelled to 27-0 on J.P. Payton's 5-yard touchdown run with fewer than four minutes to play in the opening half. Payton contributed 96 yards on 13 carries.

North Duplin held a 225-9 advantage in yards in the first half and finished with a 369-148 edge in total offense.

The Rebels continued to execute their offense to precision in the second half. Goodman capped a 57-yard, third-quarter drive with a 1-yard run.

Moments after Spring Creek quarterback Tre Hammonds was ejected for a questionable personal foul penalty, the Gators got on the scoreboard. Anthony Russo's 46-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Hicks pulled Spring Creek to within 34-8.

Russo added a 48-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.

Spring Creek head coach Aaron Sanders said he received no explanation on why Hammonds was ejected. Due to N.C. High School Athletic Association rules, Hammonds must sit out the Gators' first-round state playoff game.

"I was really given no explanation," Sanders said. "I did not get an explanation for much of anything tonight. I actually had one official tell me Tre could play next week so we'll try to figure it out."