HOPE MILLS — Aaron Graham returned a kickoff for a touchdown with less than four minutes remaining, making the difference as the St. Pauls football team beat South View 27-26 Friday in Hope Mills.
After Cristian Simmons’ 28-yard touchdown run and a 2-point conversion gave South View a 26-21 lead, Graham ran the ensuing kickoff back 70 yards for the game-deciding score.
St. Pauls (8-1, 3-1 Eastern Sandhills Conference) won with a late touchdown for the second straight week, following a 31-27 win over Westover.
“It makes us not just a competitive team but a dangerous team,” Bulldogs coach Mike Setzer said. “We’re the type of team you want to think about, we’re going to play you for four quarters, that’s the exciting thing about it.”
Malikah Locklear had two touchdown receptions from Antonio Arnold and Yoshua McBryde ran for a touchdown for the Bulldogs.
South View (5-4, 3-1 ESC) led 12-0 in the second quarter before the Bulldogs scored late in the second quarter to make it 12-7, and took a 13-12 lead with a third-quarter touchdown. South View went up 18-13, and held that lead at the end of the third quarter, before the Bulldogs took a 21-18 lead early in the final period.
“I thought we came out really well,” Setzer said. “(Offensive coordinator Eric Murphy), everybody did a good job, and we were able to possess the clock more. (Defensive coordinator Dominique Bridges) was able to come up with some big stops. … We bent but we didn’t break.”
St. Pauls finishes the regular season next week by hosting Douglas Byrd.
Red Springs drops close one at Whiteville
Two fourth-quarter touchdowns by Whiteville ended Red Springs’ chances at an upset in Friday’s Southeastern Athletic Conference matchup, as the Wolfpack earned a 33-28 win.
“We led all the way until the fourth quarter,” Red Springs coach Tim Ray said. “They took the lead and we took the lead right back. It was a pretty good game all the way to the end.”
Red Springs (3-6, 1-3 Southeastern) took a 20-19 lead when Bryan McCollum ran back a blocked punt for a touchdown late in the third quarter. Whiteville’s Sabeyhon Shipman scored a pair of rushing touchdowns to go up 33-20; Chase Boone ran for a touchdown for the Red Devils to trim the final margin to 33-28.
“The fourth quarter, they found success on some things, we countered it and had some success on some things,” Ray said. “We had a big turnover that gave them an extra drive there in the game, and we just didn’t capitalize on opportunities that we did have, on stuff we went over. We didn’t execute the way we should have.”
T.J. Ellerbe and Elijah Lowery each had receiving touchdowns from Boone for the Red Devils.
Red Springs led 7-0 after the first quarter. After Whiteville (7-2, 4-0 Southeastern) evened the score at 7-7, the teams swapped touchdowns before halftime, but due to a missed extra point by the Wolfpack the Red Devils had a 14-13 lead at the break. The Wolfpack took a 19-14 lead after a touchdown early in the third quarter before the blocked punt gave the Red Devils back the lead.
The close loss continued a theme for Red Springs, with five of the Red Devils’ six losses coming by one possession.
“We’re not off from where we need to be, we just have to finish in execution,” Ray said. “Even all the way until the last minute, we scored and we were down five with an onside kick, it wasn’t over. There’s a breakthrough we have to have as a team, especially going into the last game of the year, playoffs in front of us, stuff like that. Once we break through that glass, through that wall, we can be the team we’re supposed to be, we just have to really believe it.”
Red Springs hosts Fairmont to complete the regular season next week.
Golden Tornadoes fall at South Brunswick
The Fairmont football team struggled to take advantage of opportunities as the Golden Tornadoes took a 35-18 loss Friday at South Brunswick.
“We had the ball on the 10 three different times, didn’t score; on the one-foot line, didn’t score,” Fairmont coach Scott Loosemore said. “We actually scored the first touchdown of the game and got called back for a holding penalty, on a long pass to Tariq Leggett.”
After a scoreless first quarter, South Brunswick (6-3, 3-1 SAC) led Fairmont (1-8, 1-3 SAC) 14-0 at halftime and 21-0 at the end of the third. The Cougars stretched the lead to 28-0 early in the fourth before three fourth-quarter touchdowns by the Golden Tornadoes.
Traiil Mitchell ran for two touchdowns for Fairmont and Jamarion Brown ran for one.
The Golden Tornadoes play an in-county matchup next week at Red Springs to finish the regular season.
“Obviously we want to try to end the season on a good note,” Loosemore said. “It’s a big game for our kids, playing Red Springs. … It’d be nice to win one in Robeson County.”
