PITTSBORO — North Moore won the turnover battle in a 38-20 win over Seaforth Friday, spoiling the Hawks’ homecoming night and extending its win streak to three.
Junior defensive back Martez Johnson grabbed two of the Mustangs’ four interceptions on back-to-back pivotal possessions in the fourth quarter.
After a 4-yard touchdown run from junior Joseph Dunn put North Moore up 31-17, Johnson ended Seaforth’s ensuing drive by catching a tipped pass from sophomore punter Travis Mann on a fake punt attempt.
Seaforth got another chance to make it a one-possession game after recovering a fumble on the following possession and driving down to the North Moore 32-yard line. However, Johnson, playing at safety, jumped a seam route at the 15-yard line, setting up a long offensive drive ended by Dunn’s 1-yard score to put North Moore up, 38-17, with just under two minutes left to play.
“I was seeing a lot,” Johnson said. “I just read the quarterback open up, I had to drop and then I drove on the play.”
Said North Moore coach Andrew Carrouth, “Martez is a heck of a ball player for us. He’s a guy who earlier we were trying to play a lot at corner, and I think that’s his most natural position, but he’s such a good player in the run that we needed to get him more involved as a safety.”
Junior Trace Shaw and senior Jax Hussey also grabbed back-to-back interceptions in the second quarter, and Hussey’s pick led to senior Brandon Powell running in a 9-yard touchdown to give the Mustangs their first lead of the game, 17-10.
In usual North Moore fashion, the Mustangs gained all 455 of their total offense on the ground. Powell and sophomore Stryker Murray, who played his first full varsity game in place of injured running back Xander Greene, rushed for 172 and 167 yards, respectively, and Murray also scored a touchdown.
Murray said the counter play worked all night long.
“Most of the time, it was like Moses parting the Red Sea,” Murray said.
With Seaforth struggling with turnovers and only mustering 71 rushing yards, the Hawks stayed in the game through explosive plays.
On the first play from scrimmage, junior receiver Jacob Winger caught a tipped pass intended for sophomore Max Hinchman and took it 64 yards to the house to give Seaforth an early 7-0 lead. Sophomore quarterback Duncan Parker connected with Winger three more times in the game, including a 40-yard completion in the first quarter that helped Winger lead all receivers with 135 yards.
Parker responded to the latter of his second-quarter interceptions by faking a hand-off and taking off for a 64-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 17 with just under four minutes left in the first half.
Yet, the second half was much quieter as the Hawks only completed five passes and rushed for negative yards. Part of that was the “physical” play of North Moore’s defense and the other part was the Mustangs running the clock down with long drives.
“We play a lot of complimentary football,” Carrouth said. “If the offense is able to get out there and get some drives and that keeps the defense off the field and keeps them rested, I think that helped us a lot tonight. I thought we tackled pretty well tonight, and I thought we were physical.”
It’s fitting that turnovers helped lift the Mustangs over Seaforth as North Moore is turning its season over in the win-column.
After starting the year 0-4, their worst four-game start since going 1-3 in 2019, the Mustangs have found new momentum going into the final stretch of the regular season with three straight double-digit wins. The streak includes victories over Jordan-Matthews and Bartlett Yancey.
“A ton of credit goes to the kids,” Carrouth said. “We’ve got a bunch of tough kids there, especially when you have the success that we’ve had over the last couple of years. You know, 10-3 last year and 13-1 the year before. And then, you start 0-4, and the worst critics are the people that are right around you.”
Said Carrouth, “Our guys knew we were so young. We are playing so many underclassmen up on varsity right now because of injuries and this and that. And, we knew that we were going to take some lumps early to try to get adjusted to who we are and try to figure that out, and I think we’re starting to be able to do that.”
North Moore will look to climb to .500 as it plays at Graham Friday at 7 p.m.
Seaforth, after seeing a promising start to the season, will look to end its two-game slide when it travels to Southeast Alamance Friday at 7 p.m.
