Michael Webb scores four touchdowns to lift Chargers over Hawks
By Scott Cole
Michael Webb scored four touchdowns — two on the ground and two in the air — to help lead the Chargers to a 35-10 victory over the Hawks.
“We made too many mistakes,” North Lenoir coach Jim Collins said. “They made some mistakes too, but we made more of them. We lost a lot of drives due to penalties. It’s almost like we lost confidence as we were driving.”
The Chargers gifted the Hawks two first downs with offsides penalties to keep their opening drive going. Terrance Copper put North Lenoir on the Ayden-Grifton 9 after breaking several tackles for a 20-yard gain, but on 4th-and-goal, quarterback Christian Young took off for the end zone and was knocked out of bounds at the 1.
Penalties called back an 85-yard touchdown by Jeffrey Gunter, as well as several first down runs. As the Chargers went to punt, Gunter fielded a low snap and was tackled, giving the Hawks the ball on the 24-yard line. The Hawks would take advantage as kicker Damon Hewitt split the uprights with a 50-yard kick to give his team a 3-0 lead.
“You would think at this point, some of those issues we have had would have been addressed by the team,” Ayden-Grifton coach Paul Cornwell said. “I give North Lenoir credit as they played us hard. But sometimes, we can’t seem to get out of our own way and the mistakes we made could have come back to get us. It’s not about what mistakes you made, but how you respond to them.”
The field goal stirred something within the Chargers. After a long return, Ray Darden and company pounded out three long runs deep into North Lenoir territory. The drive culminated with a 6-yard touchdown run by Keyshawn Best and after recovering a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, Blake McLawhorn found Webb with a 35-yard touchdown to put AG up 14-3.
“The team made some good blocks for me and I was able to follow them through to score,” Webb said. “Those guys carried me and helped lift us up tonight.”
Ayden-Grifton would benefit from a North Lenoir turnover right before the half with McLawhorn finding Webb again for a 31-yard touchdown with 17 seconds left in the second quarter. North Lenoir would answer by forcing a fumble on the kickoff to open the second half and on a 4th-and-long, Young escaped a sack and ran towards the sidelines. Just before he got hit, he heaved a Hail Mary towards the end zone where Terrance Copper hauled in a 42-yard pass to get the Hawks down to the Chargers’ 2 yard line. Copper would then run the ball in for a touchdown on the next play to make it 21-10.
“I’m proud of the fact that the guys didn’t give up and kept fighting,” Collins said. “Copper has been a great leader for us all year.” Copper ran for 69 yards and received for 58.
The Chargers would score two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter with runs of eight yards and 24 by Webb, with the last score coming with 90 seconds left to play.
“We started both halves slow, but rebounded and finished strong,” Cornwell said. “Webb was outstanding. Gunter had some great runs tonight, but some were called back on penalties. Darden was strong on both sides of the ball, but we were trying to take some of the load off him tonight. Now, we need to get ready for West Craven next week.”
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH Final
North Lenoir 0 3 7 0 10
Ayden-Grifton 0 21 0 14 35
Second Quarter Scoring
NL: Damon Hewitt 50 yard field goal
AG: Keyshawn Best 6 yard run (Christian Hernandez kick good)
AG: Michael Webb 35 yard reception (Hernandez kick good)
AG: Webb 31 yard reception (Hernandez kick good)
Third Quarter Scoring
BL: Terrance Copper 2 yard run (Hewitt kick good)
Fourth Quarter Scoring
AG: Webb 8 yard run (Hernandez kick good)
AG: Webb 24 yard run (Hernandez kick good)
TEAM STATS
NL AG
First Downs 10 12
Rushes-Yards 45-183 29-254
Passing-Attempts 4-11 4-8
Passing Yards 59 89
Total Yards 240 343
Fumbles-Lost 1-5 1-1
Penalties 7-58 10-69
Punt-Avg 1-57 2-68
INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING: North Lenoir: Copper 11-69, Gardner 16-57, Koonce 12- 42, Young 5-16, Carr 1- -2
Ayden-Grifton: Darden 11-66, Webb 6-61, Cannon 5-53, Gunter 4-43, Boomer 2-15, Cobb 1-10, Best 1-6, McLawhorn 1-0
PASSING: North Lenoir: Bigler 4-11 57
Ayden-Grifton: McLawhorn 4-8 89
RECEIVING: North Lenoir: Copper 2-58, Gardner 2-1
Ayden-Grifton: Webb 2-66, Wright 1-16, Darden 1-8
