North Pitt stumbles in second half

BETHEL — After going toe-to-toe with ninth-ranked Kinston for a half on Friday, North Pitt's football team had dreams of pulling off the upset.

But when the whistle blew to start the second half, those dreams quickly turned into a nightmare for the Panthers.

Kinston put up 20 points in the third quarter and didn't allow the Panthers to score after halftime in a 43-12 victory.

After the game, coach Dave Boal was left to ponder another close game gone awry for North Pitt.

“We've played 14-7 against Tarboro. We played a good second half against SouthWest Edgecombe,” said Boal, whose team trailed 16-12 at the intermission against the Vikings on Friday. “We just can't put a whole game together.”

The Panthers (3-8, 0-6 Eastern Plains) struggled to stop Kinston's ground assault all night. By the time the rout was over, the Vikings had 418 rushing yards and had one ballcarrier hit the 150-yard mark (Josh Benoit on 13 carries) and another just miss it (Chris Brown, 14 carries for 149 yards).

North Pitt responded to an early 10-0 deficit midway through the second quarter when quarterback Wesley Warren connected on a 60-yard scoring strike to Vonte Ward.

The Vikings (9-2, 4-2) had their ensuing drive end with an interception by the Panthers at the NP 2. Two plays later, a snap slipped past Panther quarterback Matthew Rankin and was recovered in the end zone by Damian Ogbaugo.

But North Pitt orchestrated a 63-yard drive, capped by Warren's 4-yard toss to Grimes in the end zone in the final minute of the first half to cut it to 16-12.

Things started off well for NP in the third quarter with a drive deep into Viking territory. But a penalty turned a third-and-short into a third-and-long and the Panthers turned the ball over on downs.

“We're at 16-12 and we're going down the field,” Boal said. “We have a penalty that stops us at the 20 and we just shoot ourselves in the foot. It's frustrating.”

It was all Kinston from that point. Benoit scored from 72 yards out, while Brown had touchdown runs of 2 and 53 yards. Kewitt Koonce closed out the scoring with a 75-yard punt return to paydirt.

Contact Jim Gentry at jgentry@reflector.com or (252) 329-9594.

K NP

20First Downs13

48-418Rushes-Yards25-101

37Passing Yards153

2-5-1Comp-Pass-Int16-24-1

0-0Punting2-34.5

0-0Fumbles-Lost3-2

9-75Penalties3-25

K 7 9 20 7—43

NP 0 12 0 0—12

Scoring Summary

K — Dory Hines 2 run (Sergio Duarte kick), 1st, 4:49.

K — Hines 32 field goal, 2nd, 8:54.

N — Vonte Ward 60 pass from Wesley Warren (kick blocked), 2nd, 6:47.

K — Damian Ogbaugo fumble recovery in endzone, 2nd, 4:54.

N — Chris Grimes 4 pass from Warren (pass intercepted), 2nd, :30.4.

K — Josh Benoit 72 run (Duarte kick), 3rd, 7:36.

K — Chris Brown 2 run (kick failed), 3rd, 4:14.

K — Brown 53 run (Duarte kick), 3rd, 1:12.

K — Kewitt Koonce 75 punt return (Duarte kick), 4th, 11:18.

Individual Leaders

Rushing

K — Josh Benoit 13-150, TD; Chris Brown 14-149 2 TDs; NP — Mikaeel Middleton 5-35.

Passing

K — Dory Hines 2-4-1 37 yards; NP — Wesley Warren 7-12-0 89 yards.