Published: September 06, 2008 02:35 am            

Northeast cruises past Southeast in cross-county rivalry

Entering his seventh year as head coach at Northeast Lauderdale High School, Steve Nelson had never lost to cross-county rival Southeast. And his Trojans made sure that streak didn’t end this year.

NEL (1-1) pounded out 242 offensive yards in the first half and were never really challenged en route to a 38-13 victory over the Tigers Friday night(0-2).

After holding Southeast to a three-and-out on the game’s opening drive, the Trojans went to work, moving 80 yard in ten plays to take the early lead. On their drive, NEL converted two fourth downs – one on a fullback dive and the other on a fake punt.

On the final play of the drive, Jamond Hill took the option pitch down the right sideline, cutting back at the 15 and finishing the 49-yard play in the end zone.

“On the first drive you’ve got to challenge your team,” Nelson said. “My squad answered that challenge. It’s always good to get the monkey off your back when you pick up your first win.”

Fourth down conversions were a big part of Northeast’s dominance of the game. The Trojans went 6-of-6 in the first half after drives had stalled.

Hill scored his second touchdown of the night on a fourth down. The second quarter score went from 20 yards out after the option pitch bounced off the turf and back into Hill’s hands. Hill finished the night rushing for 81 yards on 5 carries.

“Our defense played hard, but we gave up a lot of big plays,” said Southeast head coach Ty Trahan. “We gave up some big third down conversions and we’ve got to find ways to get off the field on fourth down.”

It was one of the few times in the first half that Northeast didn’t go for it on fourth down that put the Tigers on the board for the first time. Following a 15-yard sack and an incomplete pass, the Trojans faced a fourth and long from their own 19 when Wright Hobgood punted to Brandon Bowen who went 52 yards down the right sideline for a score cutting the Northeast lead to seven.

The Trojans ended the ensuing drive with a 74-yard touchdown pass from Marquez Hopson to Ja’Mario Taylor. Hopson completed only four passes in the game, but totaled 137 yards and a pair of scores. The other went to Preston Nicholson.

Nicholson’s only other catch came on a trick play. The Trojans ran a double-reverse flea flicker on a fourth and two that set up a Hobgood field goal with 24 seconds left in the first half.

“We did what it took down the stretch to win,” Nelson said. “But we have a lot to improve on before next week.”

When Northeast failed on its final fourth down conversion of the game with just under five minutes to play, the Tigers wasted no time taking advantage of the opportunity.

Shelby Mosely hit Harold Clark on a screen pass at the Southeast 25. Clark went upfield about 12 yards before running out of room along the left sideline, so he reversed direction coming all the way back to the 20 and heading for the opposite sideline. Once there he found enough of a lane to complete the 75-yard touchdown play.

Northeast’s only other touchdown came on a punt return by Jason Yarbor who fielded the ball off the bounce 16 yards away from pay dirt.

The Trojans will try to move above .500 next week when they host West Lauderdale while the Tigers look for their first win against Kemper County.

        

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