First Posted: 9/20/2013
LUMBERTON — Right before kickoff in Friday’s 34-0 loss to Hoggard, the Lumberton football team went through its traditional pregame ritual.
Sporting new all-black uniforms, the Pirates took a skull-and-crossbones flag, planted it near the 50-yard line and a cannon fired off as the team huddled for the last time before opening kickoff.
It was all downhill from there.
The Pirates defense got trampled by the Vikings’ run game and starting quarterback Josh Sheridan left the game due to an injury in the first half, which threw off the offense for the rest of the game.
“That’s not the way we wanted it to go,” said Lumberton coach Joe Salas. “Losing (Sheridan) so freaking early and having to go with our JV quarterback really hurt us, they ran some option stuff we weren’t expecting and we made adjustments late in the game. We’ve got to look at the film and find the bright spots.”
It’s the fifth straight loss for the Pirates, who fell in overtime last week at Seventy-First.
Hoggard simply came out running.
After forcing the Pirates into a three-and-out on the game’s opening drive, the Vikings gave the ball to Keevin Thompson and didn’t stop until halftime. He scored the first of his three touchdowns on the second play from scrimmage, gutting it up the middle for 38 yards.
“We needed to get off on a good foot there and I was proud of the way the guys came out and made some stops defensively and then scored some points,” said Hoggard coach Scott Braswell.
The plan of attack didn’t vary the rest of the game.
Hoggard had only eight pass attempts, instead getting ball movement from Thompson in the first half and Trevor Brown in the second, with the occasional run from quarterback Austin Schoenleber.
Thompson remained effective through halftime, finishing the first half with 136 yards on 18 carries. He scored all three of his team’s first-half touchdowns but only touched the ball once in the second half, on a two-yard run in the closing minutes.
Second half was the same plan, just a different player as Brown racked up 82 total yards, including a 38-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
Lumberton struggled with the loss of Sheridan, who hurt his collarbone late in the first quarter and was replaced by junior varsity quarterback Austin Foley.
Foley completed four passes, three for positive yardage, but his receivers had a handful of drops and he also threw three interceptions.
Lumberton instead had to rely on the run game, which put up 60 of the Pirates’ 88 yards. The majority of those came from halfback Rodney Henderson, who had 43 yards on 15 carries.
Sheridan’s status for next week is not clear, but Salas said he expects Foley to practice next week with the first-string.
Salas praised Foley for stepping up given the circumstances.
“You’re playing JV on Thursday and all of a sudden you’re the starting quarterback before the first quarter is over on Friday, so him manning up and getting in there and then making some fantastic reads early on and taking some pressure, he had some pretty good licks put on him and he bounced back,” Salas said.
South Robeson 44, Harrells Christian 12
HARRELLS— South Robeson got its third win of the season Friday, handling Harrells Christian 44-12 in the Mustangs’ final non-conference matchup.
Andrew Hill had 221 of the Mustangs’ 313 rushing yards and scored four touchdowns. Juan Ellerbe had 10 rushes for 69 yards and a touchdown.
“We imposed our will on the ground after they came out and hit us in the mouth on the opening drive,” South Robeson coach Stephen Roberson said. “It was a good team win and we’re happy to be 3-1.”
Reach sports editor Scott Schlaufman at [email protected] or at 910-272-6111. Follow him on Twitter @ScottySchlauf
Hoggard 34, Lumberton 0
Hoggard 10 14 10 0 — 34
Lumberton 0 0 0 0 — 0
Scoring summary
WH — Keevin Thompson 36 run (Landon Mays kick)
WH — Mays 26 field goal
WH — Thompson 5 run (Mays kick)
WH — Thompson 15 run (Mays kick)
WH — Trevor Brown 38 run (mays kick)
WH — Mays 40 field goal
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
PASSING — H — Austin Schoenleber 4-8, 24 yards; L — Josh Sheridan 1-3, 0 yards, Austin Foley 4-15, 28 yards, 3 int.
RUSHING — H — Keevin Thompson 19-138, Trevor Brown 16-82; L — Rodney Henderson 15-43.
RECEIVING — H — Brown 1-13; L — Mario Alonzo 2-25.
RECORDS — Hoggard 4-1, Lumberton 0-5.
