North Johnston dines on Hawk stew
August 25th, 2007 Posted in High School FootballBy Greg Baker:
Photo: high school football, North Johnston’s EJ Knight
The Panthers from North Johnston traveled down to La Grange tonight to take on the North Lenoir Hawks. The winged ones were still trying to get the bad taste from last week’s unexpected loss to Richland out of their beaks. While for the majority of the first quarter, it appeared the Panthers were fighting with a hairball left over from chewing on Clinton Union last week.
The Hawks, dressed in their home emerald green colors received the opening kick off. At first it appeared that everyone was in for a defensive battle on both ends. Neither team seemed to be making much progress down the field on offense. On North Johnston’s third offensive play of the evening, QB Cliff Holloman was sacked forcing what appeared to be a fourth down punt situation on the short end of the field. However, Coach Tom Nelson reached into his little black bag of tricks and attempted a doozy. Instead of the ball being snapped to the punter, Pierre Dickerson received the snap and completed a 25 yard pass to EJ Knight only to see him stopped 1 yard short of a first down. Although the play wasn’t a complete success, it did get the old juices flowing on the side line. Two series later, Stephen Newport and Emmuel Lewis ran through the North Lenoir line to force their QB to fumble. Tyler Hayes was able to recover the fruits of their labors on the Hawk 17 yard line.
There was no doubt that North Johnston got off the bus a little sluggish tonight. At the end of the first quarter, there was no score and the Panther QB had been sacked three times.
The second quarter of tonight’s game would witness the re-emergence of #25 EJ Knight. On the Panthers second possession of the quarter, Knight, steadily plodded his way from the NJ 47 down to the NL 12 yard line to set up a seven yard dash into the end zone by #22 Gray Bruton. The kick from Garrett Grady was good and the slug fest was warming up. (7-0 North Johnston).
On North Johnston’s next possession, Gray Bruton, returned the favor by racking up 42 yards of down hill abuse to allow Knight an 11 yard scamper into the Promised Land. Garrett Grady, one of the top 1-A kickers in the state, hit the extra point to extend the Panther lead to 14-0 with three minutes and thirty seconds left in the first half. With a quick three and out by the Hawks, North Johnston ended up with the ball and looking at less than a minute until a well earned break. But Coach Nelson does not appear to be one of those who just sits on a ball and runs away from an opportunity. Enter #36 Glenwood Watson into the backfield. Watson promptly takes his chance to cradle the pig skin and burns off a bruising 23 yard run. With the ball resting on the 44 and just a few ticks left in the first half North Johnston goes for the heart breaker. Holloman rolls out of the pocket and connects with #15 Jamal Taylor, for a 43 yard strike that is stopped just one yard short of another touchdown to end the half.
The halftime break saw Nelson, encouraging his troops to stay in the game. “Expect their best effort to open the second half. Hit’em in the mouth and weather it.”
North Johnston received the kick off to begin the second half and wasted no time in continuing to pluck the tail feathers from the home standing Hawks. Tempers soon started to flair and according to unnamed anonymous team members some cheap shots were being taken by the wounded Hawks. In truth, the little yellow hankies kept flying for the remainder of the game. Nevertheless, EJ Knight still had work to do. In the opening series, Knight over the next 7 snaps rushed for 46 yards to set up a 1 yard up the middle keeper by the QB Holloman and extend the North Johnston lead to 21-0.
Isn’t it funny how often Coaches are proven right? This night would be no different. Indeed the North Lenoir Hawks offense came alive and on the following possession marched down the field from their own 9 yard line to score on a 66 yard jail break. The point after was missed but North Lenoir had closed to within 21-6, and the home fans finally got something to cheer about. Alas, it was very short lived. Michael Creech, Spencer Hardison and that bunch of rabid cats on the o-line weren’t through digging holes in the N. Lenoir defense yet. EJ Knight, being the grateful running back that he is, wouldn’t think of letting all that work by the men up front go to waste and thus continued his assault. By the end of the third quarter, Knight would score again, Grady would covert again, and the scoreboard would read 28-6. Say goodbye to #25 (Knight), he wouldn’t be back for any fourth quarter fun. 140 yards in basically twenty minutes of playing time should satisfy most folks.
The final quarter of the game would see North Johnston’s defensive line led by Emmuel Lewis, Tyler Hayes and Stephen Newport continue to hammer away on the North Lenoir backs. After a North Johnston punt rolled to the Hawk 2 yard line, the Panther line wrapped up the North Lenoir running back in the endzone to score a safety, making the score 30-6. As you would guess, the remainder of the game was played mainly by the North Johnston reserves as #7 QB Joe Harned and the second string players enjoyed an opportunity to play. In the waning moments of the game, North Lenoir did manage to score again, but the damage was terminal and the buzzards were circling overhead in Kinston. Final score of the game: North Johnston 30 and North Lenoir 13.
Speaking with Coach Nelson following the game, he had these comments. “We were really flat and sluggish the first quarter but we were able to turn it on.” Addressing his team following the game Nelson said; “School starts Monday, people will be looking up to you in the halls and in class, and there will be zero discipline problems”. If the Panthers classroom performance matches what they’ve done on the gridiron in the first two weeks of the 2007 season, Coach Nelson will be happy, as the Panthers have now won their first two games, both on the road, by a combine tally of 71-25.
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