Lakewood turns back North Duplin in 2nd half

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on October 2, 2015 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

CALYPSO -- It was vintage North Duplin football.

The Rebels methodically moved the chains, chewed time off of the clock and finally punched the ball into the end zone just before halftime.

North Duplin head coach Hugh Martin couldn't have asked for a better start on a breezy, rainy night at H.E. Grubbs Field.

But the second half belonged to Lakewood.

Sparked by a teammate's absence, the Leopards rallied for a 21-7 victory and remained just one of two unbeaten teams in Carolina 1-A Conference play this season.

"To start out, we didn't have too much intensity," LHS quarterback Zack Tanner said. "Yesterday (Wednesday), we had a pretty good practice, then we got moved up (to play) today and the feeling just won't right. We came out in the second half, we all came together and said remember what we're doing this for."

Actually, it was who.

Lakewood senior Dillion Kinlock suffered a season-ending ACL injury and underwent surgery Thursday morning. Tanner reminded his teammates how much effort Kinlock puts into a game and that he needed to be rewarded with a win since he wasn't on the sideline.

Tanner directed three second-half scoring drives on four offensive series. William Moore and Carsell Bennett scored on short touchdown bursts of 2 and 8 yards, respectively. Bennett emerged as the Leopards' top rusher with 77 yards on 14 carries.

Jirah Cooper provided Lakewood's final dagger -- a 21-yard TD reception from Tanner with seven-plus minutes left in the fourth quarter.

"Jirah ran a good route, got open and I couldn't do anything but put the ball there," said Tanner, who completed just two passes on the night. "The line gave me plenty of time and the play was there. It had to be made.

"I had faith in him."

North Duplin (2-4 overall, 0-1 CC) controlled the tempo in the opening half. The Rebels' offense held the ball nearly 16 minutes. The defense forced a pair of three-and-out series and Quan Goodman recovered a fumble to stop another possession.

JP Payton provided the lone touchdown -- an 11-yard pass to Kenny Sheppard with 2.5 seconds before intermission.

"Offensively, we do want to control the clock, execute on the ground and there were several things that we did well," Martin said. "I thought defensively we did a whole lot of things well, so yes, we were real pleased with the first half."

But Martin's team came up empty-handed on three second-half possessions. An interception ended one series inside four-down territory and the Leopards forced a turnover on downs to halt a five-minute drive by the Rebels.

North Duplin amassed 121 yards of offense in the final two periods. However, the Rebels lost 85 yards in costly penalties -- including a block in the back that negated a touchdown and led to a player ejection.

"The second half, it wasn't a matter of anything any different except for we started making a few little mistakes here and there that started putting us behind the chains or giving them first downs and that's something we've got to eliminate," Martin said.

"We don't have the overall speed to recover from things when we don't do them exactly right. That's coaching and that's learning."

Emiliano Mora paced the Rebels' rushing attack with 121 yards -- one yard less than Lakewood's total offensive output on the ground. ND held a 226-150 edge in total yards and ran 59 plays compared to 36 for Lakewood.