Rosewood’s Jaasir Myles (22) has Carell Phillips by the shirt tail, but that didn’t stop the junior running back from scoring a 5-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter Friday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
CALYPSO — Coaches preach “defense wins championships.”
True.
But … sometimes … your “best defense” is your offense.
North Duplin proved that Friday evening.
A methodical, textbook scoring possession that undoubtedly forever belongs in the program’s film archives sealed a 24-7 outcome over Carolina 1A football rival Rosewood at H.E. Grubbs Field.
Perfect in eight outings this season, the Rebels earned a share of their second consecutive regular-season league crown.
“Words can’t express how proud I am [right now],” said ND head coach Hugh Martin as he choked back tears. “It’s a super effort by them, especially with all the adversity we had early on. It takes some mental toughness.”
The Eagles certainly tested the Rebels’ mettle early.
North Duplin fumbled the opening kickoff.
Just 18 seconds later, quarterback Hunter Sasser and Jassir Myles hooked up for a 38-yard touchdown pass.
“We gave up that first pass on something that we worked on all week and we just got our eyes in the wrong place,” Martin said. “After that our eyes were in good places, so it took the game speed and reality for it to sink in and see what they needed to do.”
Martin watched his team cough up the ball again.
Unsportsmanlike penalties and a player expulsion further compounded the Rebels’ troubles, until Donovan Armwood provided a defensive spark he and his teammates desperately needed.
He picked off Sasser, which set up a game-tying, 38-yard scoring gallop by Carrell Phillips. Sasser fumbled a high snap on fourth down that set up a go-ahead, 24-yard field by Jose Juarez.
Armwood intercepted Sasser again for the third time.
Phillips cashed in with a 15-yard run as time expired in the second quarter. The Rebels headed into the locker room with a 17-7 advantage.
“He’s a great athlete, he’s got great speed, great instincts, can jump and catch … has a lot of intangible things,” Martin said. “He was locked in. He was playing on a bum foot part of the game, too, so he sucked it up.”
Rosewood received the second-half kickoff and punted.
Then came “the drive.”
Quarterback Luke Kelly orchestrated a 19-play, 76-yard march that consumed nearly 13 minutes off the clock. Phillips’ 5-yard, third-down scamper gave North Duplin a three-touchdown cushion.
“Eating the clock, getting first downs, finishing with a score … that’s just how we want to play,” Martin grinned.
The Eagles turned the ball over downs.
North Duplin took over and Kelly — once again — efficiently operated the offense. A pair of third-down conversions and his fourth-down ramble eventually led to triple zeros on the clock.
The Rebels claimed their second straight victory in the series and 12th overall in 21 meetings since 2004. They extended their conference win streak to six games.
“We had a lot of uncharacteristic things that we did [early] that hopefully we can grow a little bit from that and continue to play like we did from that point on,” Martin said. “Once we got settled after that, we just did a lot of good things on both sides of the ball.”
You may reach sports writer Rudy Coggins at prepswriter2@gmail.com or call/text 919-709-9257.
North Duplin 24, Rosewood 7
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
R — Myles 38 pass from Sasser (Collins kick), 11:42
ND — Phillips 38 run (Juarez kick), 3:39
Second Quarter
ND — Jaurez 24 FG, 3:18
ND — Phillips 15 run (Juarez kick), 0:00
Fourth Quarter
ND — Phillips 5 run (Villalon kick), 10:03
