LUMBERTON — In a must-win game for Hoke County and Lumberton, the Bucks stormed out of Alton G. Brooks Stadium with a 35-7 victory.
The victory puts Hoke (7-1, 1-1) back in the mix for an automatic berth into the state playoffs, while Lumberton heads into the meat of its Southeastern Conference schedule — Richmond and Scotland — winless in two outings.
Despite the win, running back Detrez Newsome was limited to 92 yards on 21 carries, but did find the end zone three times. It was the second straight game Newsome failed to go over the 100-yard mark after rushing for nearly 1,400 yards in six nonconference games. The senior was held to 39 by Richmond’s defense in Hoke’s conference opener.
While the Pirates were focusing their attention on Newsome, Buck quarterback Geoffrey Thompson broke out for a game-high 193 yards and a touchdown.
For the game, Hoke rolled up 390 yards of total offense — 338 on the ground — while Lumberton managed 165 yards of offense. The Pirates scored the game’s initial touchdown when Daniel Robinson ran in from 10 yards out, but two turnovers doomed their chances against the visitors.
“It’s frustrating, you know, we do good things and we hurt ourselves,” Lumberton coach Mike Brill said. “The kids played hard.”
Hoke will welcome Scotland to Raz Autry Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Friday, while Lumberton will play host to Richmond.
SCOTLAND 34, PINECREST 11
SOUTHERN PINES — Scotland continued to look good in attempting to defend its Southeastern Conference championship following a 34-11 victory over Pinecrest.
The Fighting Scots jumped out to a 20-0 first-quarter lead and never looked back in improving to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in SEC play. The Patriots fall to the .500 mark on the season and in the league at 4-4 and 1-1, respectively.
Scotland had five different players record a rushing touchdown against Pinecrest. Tre Thomas opened the scoring with a 7-yard run before Jalen McLean and Josh McPhatter added touchdown runs of their own in the first 12 minutes. Jaylend Ratliffe had a 18-yard scamper for the Fighting Scots final points of the night. In between, linebacker Artemis Robinson had a 54-yard scoring run on a fake punt.
For the game, the Fighting Scots finished with 305 rushing yards led by McPhatter, who had a team-high 75 yards.
Jackson Maples booted a 36-yard field goal and Dwayne Simpson tacked on a touchdown run for Pinecrest.
Scotland will travel to Hoke County at 7:30 p.m. Friday, while Pinecrest will visit “Big Mo” Stadium to battle Purnell Swett.
— Sports editor Shawn Stinson can be reached at 910-997-3111, ext. 14, or by email at sstinson@heartlandpublications.com.
Post a Comment
