High School Football, Generic
Sep 27, 2008
Andrew Peacock threw for three touchdowns and Northern Durham turned in big plays on offense all night as the Knights stunned Jordan 31-13.
Peacock threw for 241 yards and completed 19 of 30 passes. He connected with receiver Donovan Rasberry for a 28-yard score in the first quarter and later found Quashon Bagley for touchdown passes of 44 and 21 yards. The Knights got a solid game on the ground from running back Jerone Holman, who had 86 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.
Jordan was without Jerrell Rhodes, perhaps its best player, who missed the game due to injury. Several other Falcon players either did not play or saw limited action due to disciplinary issues that arose during the week. Without Rhodes, coach Mike Briggs inserted Torrance Hunt at running back and while Hunt ran well, Briggs couldn’t use him much at cornerback, which proved to be a major liability. Peacock and his receivers burned the Falcons secondary all game long and passed at will.
“We had some players who decided they didn’t want to follow school rules so they didn’t get to play tonight,” Briggs said. “You play a game without four or five starters and you’ve got to play flawless football to get it done.”
Northern coach Anthony Sullivan was empathetic but not apologetic.
“They’re a good football team,” Sullivan said. “We knew what we were up against. I know they had some guys down this week. That’s the way the ball bounces sometimes.”
Rasberry’s score gave the Knights a 7-0 lead in the first quarter before Jordan came right back with a seven-yard touchdown run by Hunt to tie the game up.
Northern added a 30-yard field goal by Pierce Hoover to regain the lead at 10-7 before the Knights started to hit on big plays. On their next possession, Holman zig-zagged his way through the Falcon defense for a 43-yard touchdown run. On the play Holman started inside, cut to the near sideline, slipped through several tackles and broke back across the grain and dove for the end zone, touching the pylon for the score. The extra point made it 17-7.
The play of the game came on the next Northern drive as they drove to the Jordan 44 with seconds remaining in the half. The Knights lined three receivers up to the far sideline and one to the near side. Peacock looked left then threw right, dropping a soft pass over the head of the Falcon defender as Bagley stretched his arms out to catch it in stride for a touchdown. The play left the home crowd in stunned silence.
Bagley scored again on what looked to be a similar play to close the third quarter before Jordan’s Phillip Love threw a 22-yard touchdown to Luis Glean to finish the game’s scoring.
Peacock didn’t want to let up and was happy his coach called that play.
“We knew that we only needed one more to stick the dagger in ‘em” Peacock said. “Coach can call some plays. He called it in and we executed.”
Sullivan was happy with the way his quarterback’s development.
“He’s getting better each week,” Sullivan said. “The offense is making a lot more sense and things are slowing down for him. He’s the man we knew could get the job done and now he’s reaping the benefits of long hours of tape study and …he’s able to tell us what’s there, what’s not and be the general that we need on the football field.”
Peacock talked about his offensive teammates trusting each other and using their athleticism.
“We started to trust what we were doing and trust each other,” he said. “And I know they’re good, but we are good too. We have some awesome, athletic skill guys and big men. Our o-line, where do I start with the o-line? They gave me an amazing amount of time.”
After slow starts in their first three games this season, Northern got off to a better start last week against Wake Forest-Rolesville. But Sullivan felt his team still hadn’t played four complete quarters of football – until Friday night.
“We didn’t make mistakes tonight,” Sullivan said. “By no means did we play a perfect game, but we took care of the ball offensively. Defensively we got the ball back for our offense, and while it’s taken a little bit to get this offense clicking, tonight we did it. And we did it for four quarters.”
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