Rebels end five-game losing streak

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on October 19, 2008 2:00 AM

• Print
• Email

PRINCETON -- A tale of two halves.

North Duplin saw an early lead turn into a halftime deficit, but battled back for a 22-12 victory over Princeton in Class 1-A Carolina Conference football action on Friday night.

The win snapped the Rebels' five-game losing streak.

"It was a big win tonight," said North Duplin head coach Hugh Martin. "We shot ourselves in the foot quite a few times early, but our guys got it going late in the game."

A botched punt attempt in the driving rain led to a Bulldog fumble and the game's first score. Rebels linebacker Blake King fell on the loose ball in the end zone.

"We battled back from that (fumble), but in the end it probably came back to bite us in the butt," said Princeton head coach Russell Williamson. "I was really pleased with how our kids came back, and with their effort as a team."

The Dawgs dominated the rest of the opening half behind the strong arm of Dylan Myers. Three Rebel fumbles fueled Princeton's attack and gave the Bulldogs excellent field position.

Myers completed a 30-yard touchdown pass to Phillip Mitchell to get the Dawgs on the board midway through the second quarter. With one second remaining in the half, Myers and Mitchell connected again, this time from 14 yards out.

Princeton led 12-7.

"We had some other opportunities where we got the ball in good position and didn't do anything with it," said Williamson. "We had trouble running the football and that hurt us in the red zone."

North Duplin had tallied 70 yards on penalties in the opening half, including back-to-back personal fouls on Princeton's final drive.

"You want your guys to play with emotion," said Martin. "But we can't have stupid penalties like we did in the first half. Combine those with a nice touchdown catch, and you are behind."

The teams played a scoreless third quarter as numerous drives stalled in the mud between the hash marks.

In the final seven minutes Akeem Cox made his presence felt.

The senior tailback broke his first lengthy run of the night at the 5:57 mark of the fourth quarter when he started up the middle and broke free down the right sideline for a 43-yard gain.

Cox limped off the field after the play, and was replaced by freshman Devin Oliver.

Lined up at the top of the triple-stack I formation, Oliver broke his first carry for a 24-yard score and shifted the game's momentum back to the Rebels sideline. A successful two-point conversion run made the score 15-12 in North Duplin's favor.

"Devin is a very good runner, he has tremendous vision," said Martin. "We had planned on using him more, but with the turnovers and the rain we had to go primarily with Akeem."

Cox put the game out of reach three minutes later with a 32-yard touchdown scamper.

"I told the kids that if we keep playing as hard as we did tonight things will eventually go our way," said Williamson. "I thought we played well enough to win, we just didn't get the plays we needed in the second half."

Princeton fell to 3-5 overall and 1-1 in league play.

"We went back to basics in practice about three weeks ago," said Martin. "We have worked on our blocking, tackling, things like that, and it's starting to pay off."

North Duplin (3-5) evened its conference mark at 1-1.