Aside from the first six seconds, D.H. Conley’s football team played a complete game Friday.
The Vikings recovered from an early stumble against Ayden-Grifton to roll past the Chargers 42-14 in an intracounty matchup at Hollywood Crossroads.
“I’m proud of how hard our boys played,” D.H. Conley coach Nate Conner said. “Ayden jumped out on us quick. Two plays in a row and they’re up 8-0. It shocked us a little bit. I’m proud of the way we responded after that.”
The Chargers kicked off, but the Vikings let the kickoff go deep into their own territory without fielding it. Ayden-Grifton’s Damari Quinnerly pounced on the loose ball at the D.H. Conley 23.
On the next play, Chargers quarterback John Fields found running back EJ Ruffin on a wheel route down the left sideline and hit him in stride for a touchdown. Ruffin then successfully ran in the conversion to put Ayden-Grifton up 8-0 six seconds into the game.
“They put the ball in a great spot,” Conner said of the Chargers’ kickoff team. “They made a great play. We had a little bit of a miscommunication in the back end early in the game. Bad communication. Bad ‘my ball’ call.”
The Chargers (3-2) got the ball back and threatened to run away with the game early as Ruffin tore off a 27-yard run before quickly stalling and punting back to D.H. Conley.
The Vikings (3-2) answered with a 15-play, 93-yard drive, capped on a fourth-and-goal from the Chargers 2 in which quarterback Samari Cabell pitched the ball to Varries Basnight on an apparent jet sweep, who then pitched to Shammah Cabell going the other direction for a touchdown. Preston Hardin added the point-after attempt to close the gap to one.
“I think moving the ball down the field, relaxing and getting a score, settled that confidence a little bit,” Conner said. “Once we got that score, the defense had a lot of three-and-outs against a really good offense.”
D.H. Conley forced a three-and-out to get the ball back and scored another touchdown as Samari Cabell pushed his way into the end zone from a yard out to put the Vikings ahead.
Two play later, D.H. Conley’s Titus Gleisinger pounced on an Ayden-Grifton fumble to give the Vikings back the ball on the Chargers’ 22. Four plays later, Cabell scooped up a snap that was inadvertently rolled back to him in the shotgun and ran it into the end zone from nine yards out to give the Vikings a 22-8 edge.
After another three-and-out by D.H. Conley’s defense, Cabell and the offense drove down the field to set up a 36-yard field goal by Hardin, the Vikings’ fourth score in as many possessions, to give the Vikings a 25-8 advantage seconds before intermission.
“We were more efficient with the ball tonight,” Conner said. “I thought our quarterback did a wonderful job of taking what was there. We ran the ball when the box was right. Our quarterback knew when to tuck the ball and run to get the first down. He did a great job with that.”
On the second play from scrimmage in the second half following a pass completion by the Chargers, D.H. Conley’s Dallas Carmon scooped and scored on a 25-yard fumble recovery to keep the rout going.
Ayden-Grifton finished the game with five turnovers, including four lost fumbles.
“Got to protect that football,” Chargers coach Garrett Wingate said. “Turnovers. It’s a game of turnovers. We gave them essentially 21 points tonight. Just giving them to them. We’ve got to cut that stuff out.”
Wingate wasn’t brooding about the loss in its immediate aftermath, already processing it as a learning lesson for his Chargers, which saw their three-game win streak stopped.
“I told them that’s exactly what we needed,” he said. “We need to be pruned a little bit. We’d been doing good. You’re 3-1 and scoring 35 (points) a game, but how do you get better? You get pruned back a little bit and then you realize where your weaknesses are and how you can fix those going into the conference.”
For D.H. Conley, Samari Cabell finished 12-for-19 passing for 109 yards plus the two touchdowns on the ground. Shammah Cabell had six receptions for 59 yards. Elijah Taft rushed for 105 yards on 16 carries.
For Ayden-Grifton, Fields finished 10-for-17 passing for 117 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Ruffin was held to 45 yards rushing on nine carries.
Conner was proud of the way the Vikings responded to adversity, both the last two games prior to Friday that ended in losses and the opening seconds against Ayden-Grifton.
“That’s what we talk about all the time,” he said. “They trust what we do every week. We trust the process. We don’t let the scoreboard do those things. We came back working hard. Even though we lost those games, we did some really good things and we continue to grow and I’m proud of that.”
Both Ayden-Grifton and D.H. Conley have a bye next week prior to opening conference action. The Chargers will start Eastern Plains 2A/3A Conference play at home against Kinston on Oct. 3 followed by another home game against Beddingfield on Oct. 10.
“Number one, we focus on us,” Wingate said. “We focus on what we did wrong, which is turnovers. Ball security. Take care of that football. When we do good things, they’re good. We had some big plays tonight. But the fumbles and the turnovers got us back in the end.
“So we’ll focus on us this week, then we’ll focus on Kinston the week after.”
D.H. Conley will also be off next Friday and is scheduled to host White Oak on Oct. 3 to open Big Carolina 6A/7A Conference action.
Martin 38, Greene Central 14
The Rams were stunned by an opportunistic Gators team for their first loss of the season on Friday night in Snow Hill.
The visiting Gators used all three phases of the game to create the win, including an uncanny special teams performance by Chris Bell, but it was their stifling defense that ultimately kept the Rams at bay for good.
Martin out-dueled Greene Central in a busy first quarter and led 13-6. The Gators then stormed through the second quarter 8-0 and led 21-6 at halftime.
Martin carried the lead through most of the third quarter, but Greene Central grabbed momentum back in the final seconds when quarterback Josh Cetnar scored on a keeper and the Rams converted a 2-point play to pull within a touchdown at 21-14 at the end of the quarter.
But the fourth was all Martin, as the visitors kicked a field goal and scored two unanswered touchdowns to put the game away.
Chris Bell’s blocked punt recovery gave Martin an early 7-0 lead, but a Cetnar touchdown pass to Sam Avent pulled GC back to 7-6 after a failed conversion.
But Bell wasn’t finished. He returned another blocked punt later in the first to give the Gators a 13-6 edge. Just before halftime, Jordan Matthewson’s rushing score made it a 21-6 game at the half.
Middle Creek 45, J.H. Rose 28
The Rampants battled all the way back from a 28-7 on Friday at Middle Creek to tie the game 28-28, only to see the hosts storm the Rampants for 17 straight points to end the game convincingly.
Middle Creek led 28-20 late in the third quarter and was driving in the final seconds when Rose got a stop but jumped on a fourth-down play to set up a fourth-and-one.
The Mustangs were short and Rose celebrated a key stop heading into the final quarter in a one-score game.
A big catch and run by Jaleek Parson, whose long touchdown sparked the rally, carried Rose to the Middle Creek 9, but the Rampants turned the ball over on downs.
But Rose capped the comeback when, following a Parson defensive turnover, Javion Jordan charged 50 yards for the game-tying score by a 2-point conversion.
The Mustangs responded with an immediate touchdown with less than six minutes to play, however, silencing the comeback. Rose then lost the ball on the ensuing kickoff resulting in another Middle Creek score, and the Mustangs added a field goal for good measure.
Wilson Prep 38, Farmville Central 21
The Jags could not avoid becoming the first victim this season for previously winless Wilson Prep.
A low-scoring game early saw the Jaguars seize an early 8-0 lead, but Wilson Prep eroded that deficit with three unanswered scores that made it 22-15 following a second Farmville touchdown.
The teams traded scores for the rest of the game, but the Jaguars never were able to insert themselves back into contention.
Northern Nash 38, South Central 20
An early touchdown staked the Falcons a lead on Friday in Winterville, but the visitors from Northern Nash quickly evened things and then spent the night staying just one step ahead of the hosts.
A Jaylen Butts touchdown toss to Bobby Williams got South Central up and running, but Northern Nash countered with consecutive scores for a 14-7 lead. The Falcons stayed in the hunt and trailed just 17-14 at the half.
The teams went back and forth in the second half, but a Northern Nash TD in the fourth extended the lead and stifled any further comebacks.
West Craven 27, North Pitt 26
The Eagles outlasted the Panthers on Friday night in a wild finish.
A slow first half saw a scoreless first quarter, then a single score by West Craven in the second made it 6-0, and the teams traded scores after that until the Eagles built a 17-12 edge in the third.
North Pitt fell to 1-4 on the season.