High school football week five - North Johnston hammers undefeated Midway
September 17th, 2007 Posted in High School FootballBy Greg Baker
The Raiders from Midway attempted to invade the home field of the North Johnston Panthers on a Monday night make up game. Pounding rains and lightning prevented the original time of battle last Friday evening and allowed the Raiders to stay undefeated for just a couple of days longer. Coming in with a 4-0 record, it wouldn’t be shocking if Midway was expecting an easy go of things based on North Johnston’s last two performances. The Panther’s came in at 2-2 and have struggled of late with stupid penalties and in all honesty a lack of offensive performance.
Whatever it was that’s been ailing North Johnston’s #25 EJ Knight over the past two games was not present tonight. Over the course of the game, Knight would go on to rack up over 225 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns. Not to be out gunned, the Panther defense decided to sink its claws into a little Raider meat as well. Jacob Lewis #2 put on what was essentially a clinic on how to be a dominating linebacker. Lewis totaled numerous tackles for loss and was in on at least two sacks. Speaking with Coach Nelson after the game, he had the following praise for Lewis, “He’s a fireplug, and he makes us go. He doesn’t say a lot but the kids rally behind him and he leads by example”.
The Panther special teams got into the party early when a terrible punt on Midway’s opening possession resulted in a 28 yard return for a touchdown by #3 Mario Hicks. Hicks would end the night with excellent numbers as well. Hicks had interceptions in both the first and second half and teammate #10 Travis Pope had a late game pick to foil any last second hopes of a comeback from the Midway Raiders.
The final score of the evening was North Johnston 28 and Midway 14.
This coming Friday will be homecoming for the North Johnston Panthers as they play their final non-conference game against Southern Nash. Game time is 7:30.
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