First Posted: 10/17/2014
ST. PAULS — The night started off well for the South Robeson football team.
An onside kick to start the game against St. Pauls took the Bulldogs by surprise and set the Mustangs in position to score the opening drive.
Unfortunately for the Mustangs, the good news ran out quickly. The Bulldogs stopped the Mustangs before reeling off 28 unanswered points in the first quarter on the way to a 54-14 win on homecoming at St. Pauls.
“We just played well, played like we practiced and the gameplan worked,” St. Pauls coach Trey Sasser said. “It all came together.”
The Mustangs generated a bit of first half excitement when they punched the ball into the endzone for the first score of the second half, making it 28-8.
Sasser said he was pleased with both the offense and defense stepping up and answering back to keep the momentum on their side.
“It was important on both sides,” Sasser said. “We want the offense to be able to answer it if an opponent gets a score and obviously you want the defense to continue to play well.”
The Bulldogs answered back with a pair of late touchdowns coming from the passing game, with Tim Billinger and Sayvon Sampson pulling in long touchdowns to build the halftime lead to 41-8.
For South Robeson, the offense was only able to show signs of life in bursts, with long touchdown runs by DeShawn Hamilton and Darrius Brown accounting for their only points.
The Mustangs had seven different players carry the ball out of the backfield, but saw the biggest performances come from freshman Darrius Brown and senior’s Angelo Brown and Cedric Sinclair, combining for nearly 150 yards on the ground.
South Robeson coach Clay Jernigan said it was important to see younger players like Brown stepping up on nights like this.
“They are a year away,” Jernigan said. “They will be more prepared for next year. Next year they will know what it’s about and they will be able to step into a leadership role as a junior instead of a senior.”
Sampson pulled in a 58 yard pass to end the first half, and said he knew it would be a touchdown as soon as he got to the corner.
“I tried to beat him to the outside,” Sampson said, “and as soon as I caught it and saw green I knew I was going to score.”
The Bulldogs were helped by a standout performance from quarterback Cody McKenna, who ran for two touchdowns and threw for three more, along with 284 yards passing and another 70 yards rushing.
Sasser said he was happy to see the offense gel together on what was their most successful offensive night of the season.
“(McKenna) played well, the receivers played well, the whole offense played well,” Sasser said. “As a unit I think with the running, bocking everything came together and that’s what happens when they all work together.”
Tim Billinger and Sayvon Sampson had big games for the receiving corp, with Sampson eclipsing the century mark in receiving before the first half came to a close.
The Bulldogs aren’t happy with just the lone win, and Sampson said they need to take this momentum into their game with South Columbus next week.
“We have to take this win into the next game,” he said. “We know South Columbus is going to be pretty good but we just have to stay focused and work hard.”
St. Pauls 54, South Robeson 14
SR 0 8 0 6 — 8
SP 28 13 7 6 — 54
1st Quarter
SP — Tim Billinger 85 punt return (Gustavo Rosas kick good)
SP — Cody McKenna 15 run (Gustavo Rosas kick good)
SP — Sayvon Sampson 61 pass from Cody McKenna (Gustavo Rosas kick good)
SP — Charles Spears 23 run (Gustavo Rosas kick good)
2nd Quarter
SR — DeShawn Hamilton 15 run (Cedric Sinclair run good)
SP — Tim Billinger 44 pass from Cody McKenna (Gustavo Rosas kick good)
SP — Sayvon Sampson 58 pass from Cody McKenna (Kick failed)
3rd Quarter
SP — Cody McKenna 1 run (Gustavo Rosas kick good)
4th Quarter
SR — Darrius Brown 46 run (run failed)
SP — Trey Thompson 3 run (kick failed)
Stats
Passing: SR – Kalvis Chavis 1-4-0-11 SP – Cody McKenna 9-16-1-285
Rushing: SR – Angelo Brown 13-49, Cedric Sinclair 11-49, Darrius Brown 6-45, Kalvis Chavis 8-30, DeShawn Hamilton 5-24, Tashad Douglas 8-17 SP – Cody McKenna 9-71, Trey Thompson 3-40, Charles Spears 2-35
Receiving: SR – Darrius Brown 1-11 SP – Sayvon Sampson 4-137, Tim Billinger 3-85, Charles Spears 1-29, Tre Johnson 1-33
