North Duplin running back Vance Carter rushed for a career-high 86 yards during Friday’s game at Union. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
ROSE HILL — Vance Carter enjoyed a career night toting the pigskin and North Duplin remained unbeaten with a 49-8 shellacking of Carolina 1A member Union on the gridiron Friday evening.
Carter rambled for 86 yards and two touchdowns on runs of 7 and 8 yards. The junior surpassed his career high (72 yards) set two weeks ago against Bear Grass Charter.
He’s collected five TDs this season.
“Vance has done a really good for us all season,” ND head coach Hugh Martin said. “He blocks really well and he understands where to make cuts, how to hit the hole extremely well. [He’s] an all-around smart football player for us and does all the little things that don’t show up [on the stat sheet] which helps us be as efficient as we can be.”
Backfield mate Carell Phillips cranked out 100 yards and one touchdown on just seven carries. The junior provided a 7-yard scamper in the second quarter.
Carter, Phillips and Noa Quintanilla notched one touchdown apiece during a 5 1/2-minute span in the opening quarter. The Rebels led 21-0 after 12 minutes of action.
Donovan Armwood provided two second quarter touchdowns — a 16-yard romp and 46-yard pick six. Carter’s second score extended North Duplin’s advantage to 42-0 at intermission.
“I thought we did a lot of really good things on both sides of the ball,” Martin said. “We stayed focused throughout the week on improving from the week before. Cut down on some mistakes we made the prior week, which was the challenge we put before our players.
“We made sure our mindset was where it needed to be.”
Quan Stevens notched North Duplin’s final touchdown — a 1-yard dive with 3:50 left in the third quarter.
A total of 13 Rebels touched the pigskin and combined for 338 yards rushing. Martin’s team did not attempt a pass and punted just once during the road outing.
Armwood, Ethan Turnage and Garris Warren recorded one interception apiece.
“Our defensive backs played well, recognizing routes and breaking on the ball was really good,” Martin said. “Our defensive line played well, again, up front I thought like we had done the week before, so it was good to see us continue to do that.”
Union avoided the shutout with a late TD.
The Rebels claimed their seventh consecutive victory over the Spartans and 10th overall in 14 meetings since 2005. Union has lost 15 consecutive conference games.
North Duplin (7-0 overall, 2-0 Carolina) returns home Friday for senior night against Rosewood. The two teams have combined to win 19 conference championships since 1973.
“It’s a fun game to be part of,” Martin said. “It really doesn’t matter the records when you play, it’s going to be a tough, physical football game. We’ve got to get ready for [in practice].”
Kickoff is 7 p.m. at H.E. Grubbs Field in Calypso.
You may reach Rudy Coggins at prepswriter2@gmail.com or call/text 919-709-9257.
North Duplin 49, Union 8
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
ND — Quintanilla 3 run (Villalon kick), 6:48
ND — Carter 7 run (Villalon kick), 2:41
ND — Phillips 7 run (Villalon kick), 1:24
Second Quarter
ND — Armwood 16 run (Villalon kick), 8:18
ND — Armwood 46 INT return (kick failed), 7:45
ND — Carter 8 run (Warren run), 2:47
Third Quarter
ND — Stevens 1 run (Villalon kick), 3:50
Fourth Quarter
U — Cromartie 3 run (Cromartie run), 11:47
