North Lenoir wins the Braggin' Bowl
Photo by William “Bud” Hardy / Neuse News
LAGRANGE—North Lenoir saved the best for last.
The Hawks finished off one of the best regular seasons in school history by scoring its most points ever against rival South Lenoir, and the second-most against any opponent, in a 62-20 trouncing of the Blue Devils Friday at Bullock Field.
NL won 8 games for just the second time ever and can set a new record with a win next week in the first round of the state playoffs.
The Hawks will find out their playoff destination when the NCHSAA announces the pairings on Saturday.
“I couldn’t be prouder of this team,” NL coach Jim Collins said. “We didn’t win a game last year, and we owned it. We’ve won 8 games, and now we’re owning that. These kids deserve all the success they’ve achieved.”
NL had few anxious moments en route to the huge Braggin’ Bowl victory. They scored the first 21 points, and then blew the contest open with a 27-point third quarter.
Leading 21-6 at halftime, the Hawks exploded for 41 more points in the second half to top the previous high total of 54 they tallied against South Lenoir in 2002.
Photo by William “Bud” Hardy / Neuse News
“We’ve had a bad taste in our mouths since last year (a 46-14 SL win) so we were looking forward to this game,” Collins said. “We did a good job of getting up early and I thought we finished well. We played with the right amount of emotion, and we didn’t let the moment overwhelm us.”
What did prove to be overwhelming was the performance of NL’s Ny’jai Koonce. The senior running back couldn’t be stopped, churning out 147 yards and 4 touchdowns on just 12 carries.
His 53-yard scoring scamper, in which he broke numerous tackles in the third quarter, will forever be a staple of NL football highlight reels.
The Hawks ran for 340 yards and attempted just two passes, both of which went for touchdowns.
Sophomore backup quarterback Auston Dildy, who is more of a second starter for NL, twice hooked up with Savion White for scoring strikes of 35 and 72 yards.
“Auston could start for a lot of teams,” Collins said. “We have complete confidence in his ability to lead this team now and in the future.”
The Blue Devils received a lift from sophomore Kodjo Missebukpo, who returned from injury to rush for 89 touch yards on 17 carries. He also caught a pass for 12 yards.
“We had some chances, especially in the first half,” SL coach Jeremy Joyner said. “We did a good job of moving the ball between the 20’s, but we struggled to reach the end zone.”
The Devils came up empty on two trips into NL territory before Brett Huffman scrambled out of trouble and found Joseph Cobb for a 34-yard TD 15.9 seconds before halftime.
The wheels came off for SL in the third quarter.
After driving the second half kickoff to the NL 34, the Devils surrendered Koonce’s long TD run, and then were victimized by Logan Bigler’s 44-yard pick six, Bigler’s second interception of the night.
When Dildy and White connected for their first touchdown at the 5:01 mark of the third period, the Hawks had posted 21 points in a span of 1:38.
“The third quarter went about as poorly as possible,” Joyner said. “We got stopped on downs in North Lenoir territory on our first drive of the second half, and then everything went downhill. The game got away from us in a hurry.”
The Devils finished the season 2-8 overall and 0-6 in conference play with an extremely young team.
“A lot of kids received some valuable playing time this year,” Joyner said. “That will only help us moving forward.”
