A teammate helps Carell Phillips get up after the North Duplin running back picked up a first down during a game earlier this season. Phillips rambled for a career-high 252 yards against Lakewood on Friday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
CALYPSO — North Duplin launched defense as co-Carolina 1A football champion with a solid performance on both sides of the ball Friday evening.
Carell Phillips rushed for a career-high 252 yards and the Rebels’ defense forced three turnovers in a 43-24 triumph over fellow co-league title-holder Lakewood at H.E. Grubbs Field.
Phillips inched closer to the 2,000-yard mark for his career. The junior running back accounted for four touchdowns – three rushing and a 1-yard reception from senior quarterback Luke Kelly.
Kelly and Vance Carter each contributed a 1-yard TD dive.
“I thought, overall, our offensive execution was good, minus putting the ball on the ground too many times, but we managed to recover some of our own fumbles,” ND head coach Hugh Martin said. “I haven’t looked at the film, so I don’t know if it was ball security or ball handling issues. We executed at a high level despite that.
“Carell had a great night. Our line did some good things up front and our other backs blocked well, carrying out the fakes and that was good for us.”
Carter ended the night with 42 yards rushing, followed by Bryan Zambrano with 40 on nine totes. The Rebels piled up 383 yards rushing.
“I thought we did a lot of things very well,” Martin said. “Defensively, we gave up a couple of [big] throws, but we limited the run game … broke up several passes, too.”
Austin Wolfe and highly-regarded lineman Trashawn Ruffin paced the defense with seven tackles apiece. Donovan Armwood recorded six stops, including a quarterback sack. Ethan Turnage logged five tackles.
Senior Anthony Kornegay and junior Garris Warren each picked off a Lakewood pass. Senior Gavin McClenny recovered a fumble.
The Rebels recorded eight tackles for loss and limited the Leopards to 80 yards rushing — including a 77-yard gain — on 19 attempts. Lakewood lost its starting quarterback in the first quarter.
Backup quarterback Reed Ammons threw three touchdown passes — all in the second half.
Martin credited his team for cleaning up its “discipline” from the week before. The team committed more than 100 yards in penalties and significantly reduced those mental mistakes against the Leopards.
North Duplin (6-0 overall, 1-0 Carolina) begins a two-game conference road swing Friday at winless Union. Lakewood (5-3, 1-1) entertains Sampson County rival Hobbton next Friday.
You may reach sports writer Rudy Coggins at prepswriter2@gmail.com or call/text 919-709-9257.
North Duplin 43, Lakewood 24
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
ND — Kelly 1 run (kick failed), 5:35
ND — Phillips 80 run (Villalon kick), 4:10
ND — Safety (tackle in end zone), 2:44
Second Quarter
ND — Phillips 2 run (Villalon kick), 5:25
ND — Phillips 1 pass from Kelly (Villalon kick), 0:00
Third Quarter
ND — Phillips 50 run (Villalon kick), 4:09
Fourth Quarter
ND — Carter 1 run (Villalon kick), 1:27
