Sports - November 2003

Forgettable night for East and North

Published November 3, 2003

By JOHN MARK BROOKS, Staff Writer

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It was a forgettable night for both North Lincoln and East Lincoln Friday. The teams were outscored by a combined total of 125-14.

The Knights fell to the Cherryville Ironmen 63-7 while the Mustangs fell to the South Point Red Raiders 62-7.

 Kenneth Harris, a 6’4” wideout, continued to rewrite the record books for the Ironmen.

Harris caught nine passes for a new single-game Gaston County record of 232 yards. The previous best mark was Mark Newton’s 225 yard effort in 1986. The tall, rangy receiver also had three touchdowns on the night. He now has 62 catches, 1,261 yards and 16 touchdowns on the season.

Head coach Lonnie Custer was impressed by Harris’ play.

“He’s just a dominant athlete, he made some great catches. We were out-athleted. He’s 6’4” and can run the way he can run. We had kids in position to make plays, but his athleticism just gave him the edge,” he said.

Cherryville’s  quarterback Ben Lastra also broke a record for most yards in a single season. The 5’11” 164 pound quarterback now has over 1,600 yards on the season breaking the old mark of Kent Bowen who had 1,592 in 1998.

Lastra, 15-22 with 292 yards on the night, threw seven touchdowns as Cherryville scored on eight of 10 possessions in the first half for a 49-0 lead. The seven scores give him 13 in his last two ball games.

Casey Woodie, an eleventh grader, scored the only touchdown for the Knights on a 13-yard scamper.

Woodie wasn’t the only bright spot as freshman Trent Hopkins, on nine of 24 passing for 185 yards, surpassed the 1,000 yard mark on the season with 1,017. 

“Trent had 185 yards passing. Josh McClain played outstanding running back and corner. It was a frustrating night from start to finish,” Custer said.

The loss drops the Knights to 1-9 on the season with a 1-5 record in the Southern Foothills 1A Conference. The victory for the Ironmen raises their record to 3-8 on the season and 2-4 in conference play.

The Knights will square off against Starmount, the No. 4 seed in the Conference, in the first round of the 1A state playoffs. The Rams, 9-1 overall, are led by Shrine Bowl pick James Houston. Houston is a 6’3” 185 pound quarterback and cornerback.

Custer said he wants his kids to play the role of opportunists.

“This will be a huge challenge. They are deep with experience and have a ton of speed. I just want them to go out and play hard. There are a lot of schools in the state that would love to have the opportunity to be playing Friday night, so we just need to take pride in that fact,” he said.

Cherryville will face Thomasville in their first round playoff game.

The Red Raiders, a top three team in the state in 3A football wasted no time as Brandon Reid returned the Mustangs’ opening kickoff 73 yards for a touchdown. South Point won the game 62-7.

The Red Raiders had it in high gear as they scored 21 points the first quarter and 28 points in the second.

South Point, who did not have a 100-yard rusher in the game, outgained the Mustangs 459-120.

Tyler Gorton led the Red Raiders with two carries for 89 yards with one touchdown. Starting quarterback Javar Williams had 80 yards and a touchdown of his own. Fullback Joe Brown, the workhorse for South Point, carried the ball for 30 yards and two touchdowns.

Dennis Hickman, who according to his coach has set Mustangs’ passing records for most career yards and most in a single-season, hooked up with Thomas Huntley for a 38-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

“They are probably overall as good as team as I’ve seen in a long time. They are athletic, strong, fast and they really don’t have a glaring weakness that you feel another team would be able to exploit,” Head coach Matt Rikard said.

Head coach John Devine has led the Red Raiders to five consecutive league championships. Their record is 10-1 on the year with a perfect 7-0 record in the Big South 3A.

East Lincoln falls to 3-8 and 1-6 in the conference.

Rikard said that his senior class, led by Hickman, T.J. Smith, Jadarious Roseboro and Grant Covington, has endured a lot.

“They’ve had to go through three different coaching changes. We also had a lot of injuries to key players that kept them out for one, two or three games,” he said.

Rikard believes that the Red Raiders, headed by John Devine, will win the 3A state title.

“If they don’t win the state championship, I’m glad we don’t have to play the team that does. They are just a top notch program with coach Devine doing a great job getting those kids prepared to play,” he said.

The first-year Mustang coach offered his own assessment of the year.

“I think I’ve done a good of a job as any first year coach could do. We’ve had a tough time losing that many student athletes to North Lincoln. Also, we’ve had a lot of injuries to key players and with our numbers already down that affected how we had to game plan every week,” Rikard said.

LTN correspondent Mike Powell contributed to this story. He provided details on the North Lincoln game.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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