GC tops North Pitt in lightning-shortened game

Greene Central senior running back A.J. Dupree runs for some positive yardage during Friday's game in Snow Hill. Photo by William 'Bud' Hardy / Neuse News

By Scott Cole

SNOW HILL -- Last week, the North Pitt defense neutralized the Kinston running game and put a lot of pressure on the quarterback in a losing effort. On Friday night, the Panthers traveled to Snow Hill to take on the Greene Central Rams, who were fresh from a close victory over C.B. Aycock.

The Rams started off strong and held off a frisky Panthers team before inclement weather shortened the game. Greene Central improved to 2-1 with a 14-8 win over North Pitt.

“We’ll take it,” GC coach Allen Wooten said.

After the Panthers went three-and-out to start the game, the Rams took over. It only took two plays for them to find the end zone. A.J. Dupree took a hand-off, waited for a block, squirmed through, shook off three defenders and then ran down the sidelines 43 yards for the touchdown. B.J. Corbitt ran the ball in for a successful two-point conversion.

The Panthers, however, would not stay quiet. In a slow, methodical march down the field, North Pitt closed out the first quarter with a quarterback bootleg run around the right side. Izarion Blango scored on a 16-yard run to be followed with a fake kick pass to Jamon Moore to tie the game up.

“We’re getting better, but we have some key injuries,” North Pitt coach Gregory Watford said. “We have four starters out, including our quarterback and tailback. Hopefully next week, we can get some of them back.

Onteds Harris intercepted a pass to give the ball right back to North Pitt to open the second quarter. The Panthers were unable to capitalize on the turnover and four plays later punted the ball back to Greene.

Facing a third-and-long, Corbitt saw a blitz, escaped a defender and took off on a 26-yard run to bring the ball to the 7-yard line. Cole Dawson was called in to replace Corbitt at quarterback after Corbitt hurt his knee. He was taken out as a precaution for a few plays. Dawson handed the ball to Dupree to end the drive on a 2-yard touchdown run.

“(Dupree) is a great back. He’s made everyone he’s played against look bad,” Watford said. “We had some good hits on him and he still was able to score on us a few times.”

After Saquan Connor intercepted the ball, Corbitt returned to lead his team. The Rams had the ball at midfield and earned a first down with 5:38 to go in the first half.

That's when lightning struck. Nature’s pyrotechnic display continued for the next hour and got stronger. The game was called and eventually cancelled. North Pitt chose to rest several injured players who did not want to risk injuries on a short week in a non-conference game, and accepted the loss.                                

North Pitt                       8                0               X              X                8

Greene Central               8                6               X              X               14

1Q

GC--AJ Dupree 43 yd run (BJ Corbitt 2pt run good)
NP--Izarion Blango 16 yd run (Jamon Moore 2pt reception good)

2Q
GC: Dupree 2 yd run (Saquan Connor 2pt run not good)

TEAM STATS

                                    NP                    GC

First Downs                  4                        3
Rushes-Yards          21-49                10-97
Passing-Attempts       1-5                    0-1
Passing Yards              21                         0
Total Yards                  70                       97
Fumbles-Lost               0                         0
Penalties                   2-9                      2-10
Punt-Avg                 2-53                      0-0

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING: North Pitt: Staton 9-21, Bradley 9-14, Blango 3-14
Greene: Dupree 5-52, Corbitt 3-37,  Branch 2-8

PASSING: North Pitt: Blango 1-5 21
Greene: Corbitt 0-1

RECEIVING:  North Pitt: Jones 1-21