Southern Durham High School Logo
Aug 30, 2008
Just two games into their season, Southern Durham has cause for great concern.
Opening their home schedule against Hertford County, the Spartans offense was shut out and their defense failed to stop a potent Bears running attack as they fell to 0-2 by the score of 28-12.
Both Spartans scores came on defense as they returned two fumbles for scores, one from 27 and the other from 50 yards out.
Southern plays undefeated Wake Forest-Rolesville Friday at home.
Hertford County running back Ron Gatling Jr. tallied 176 yards on 30 carries and scored two touchdowns while quarterback Antonio Vaughn added 123 yards and two scores on just nine carries. The Bears attempted only 10 passes in the contest, completing four for a mere 14 yards.
“We did good tonight but we’ve still got to work on a lot of things,” Gatling said. “On the long run, I just got the corner, saw daylight, and I was gone.”
Vaughn credited the Bears offensive line, saying, “they were flying off the ball.”
Head coach Diego Hasty wasn’t surprised.
“I didn’t think we were focused before kickoff, but we have 3 or 4 seniors up front. I told ‘em, ‘We have to be physical,’” Hasty said.
As for his backfield, he said, “We don’t have a lot of great speed, but we have quickness.”
Southern defensive coordinator Daren Hart agreed and said his guys are close to turning the corner.
“They had two big plays that kind of changed the momentum of the game,” he said. “We didn’t take their best players out of the game. We just came up short. We’ve definitely got to work on more tackling drills. We were in position we just didn’t make the big plays.”
For the second straight week, Southern’s offense did not help its defense. Last week the Spartans turned the ball over five times. Friday night they gained just 105 total yards in the game. Their offense looked out of sync, especially in the first quarter, and they had just one play which gained more than 15 yards all night.
Quarterback Alan Lea completed seven of 13 attempts for 47 yds. Running back Lamont Pettiford was held to 41 yards on 10 carries.
Gatling opened the scoring when he twisted his way into the end zone on a third-and-goal from the 2-yard-line late in the first quarter. On their first possession of the second quarter, Hertford County began to assert itself up front as it put together a 13-play, 70-yard drive that culminated in a 14-yard touchdown run by Vaughn on a third-and-12. The two-point conversion gave the Bears a 14-0 halftime lead
Southern looked to have life early in the third as the Spartans caused a fumble on the first play from scrimmage after halftime. Desmond Lawrence scooped up the ball on the near sideline and went in untouched to cut the lead to 14-6.
Hertford County took the momentum back later in the third as Gatling took a handoff on a third-and-short play, broke through the Southern line and sprinted toward the sideline. A defender had Gatling’s jersey pulled up over his shoulder pad but Gatling shrugged him off and sped 57 yards to the end zone for a 20-6 lead. Vaughn added a back-breaking score with a 36-yard scamper late in the fourth to push the margin to 28-6. Southern recovered their second fumble for another defensive score, but it was too little too late
This story is closed for comments.
