All of David H. Diamont Stadium rumbled Friday night as the self-proclaimed Fat Cowboys led the way for a destructive bull named Luke Bullington to score six rushing touchdowns.
Bullington’s career-defining offensive onslaught was just one facet of East Surry’s statement win over previously undefeated Winston-Salem Preparatory Academy. The Cards’ 54-8 win saw strong performances in all three phases.
“We played with a little fire tonight,” said Cardinal coach Trent Lowman. “There have been a lot of spits and sputters through the year so it was good to get this win. We still have a lot of room for improvement; we just try to get a little bit better each time we play.”
East Surry (3-1) jumped on Prep and forced a turnover on the opening drive. Phoenix quarterback Tim Davis was picked off by East’s Tristan Harless on the first play from scrimmage.
Coming into Friday’s game, Davis was second in the state among all public school divisions with 871 yards passing and first with 12 passing touchdowns.
“That was big,” Lowman said. “That set the tone for us as a team in general, especially defensively. That interception gave us confidence, and it’s always different ball game when you play with confidence.”
The Cardinal defense held Davis to 17-of-42 passing for 201 yards and one touchdown. More than one-third of Davis’ yards came on a second-quarter TD pass to Tresean Stewart that went for 77 yards.
Layton Allen, Tye Needham and Luke Bowman each had pass deflections for East Surry.
Winston-Salem Prep also rushed 29 times for a loss of six yards.
Bullington, Carson Hawks and Kyle Zinn each had tackles for a loss. Benji Gosnell and Kaleb Tilley each had two sacks, followed by Bullington, Jeremy Gibson, Judd Goldbach and Derek Sutterby with one sack each.
East on the other hand finished with a season high of 489 total yards. The Cardinals finished with 27 carries for 286 yards rushing and six touchdowns.
Bullington has now eclipsed 100 yards rushing three times this season. His 179 against Winston-Salem Prep marked a new career high and are the most of any Cardinal player during Lowman’s time as head coach.
Bullington’s six rushing touchdowns in a single game ties a school record set by East Surry all-time leading rusher Chris Griggs (‘02) two decades ago.
“We knew the whole time he could do it,” said Lowman, discussing Bullington’s breakout season on offense. “He put on some good weight this summer and has been an absolute workhorse for us. Last year, we just had so many talented guys and depth at every position and that meant guys we knew could be offensive threats, like Luke [Bullington] and Tye [Needham], got to focus on being defensive studs.”
Six Cardinal rushers combined for East’s remaining 87 yards rushing: Bowman, Gosnell, Brayden Ring, Folger Boaz, Trey Armstrong and Colby Johnson.
The Fat Cowboys also gave Boaz time to complete 12 passes for a career-high 203 yards. Boaz completed his third-career passing TD during the game on an 18-yard completion to Sutterby.
“The Fat Cowboys showed up tonight for sure,” Lowman said. “We challenged our guy for this week to be physical. That’s one thing as an identity for us this year is to be a more phsycial team than we’ve been and guys have stepped up.”
East Surry looks to win its third-straight game when it hosts North Stokes (2-2) on March 26.
Scoring
East Surry – 20, 19, 15, 0 = 54
Winston-Salem Prep – 0, 8, 0, 0 = 8
1Q
10:42 ESHS 6-0 – Luke Bullington 32-yard rush TD, PAT no good
8:24 ESHS 12-0 – Luke Bullington 6-yard rush TD, 2-point conversion no good
Near the end ESHS 20-0 – Folger Boaz pass to Derek Sutterby 18-yard TD reception, Tye Needham 2-point conversion
2Q
11:40 WSPA 20-8 – Tim Davis pass to Tresean Stewart 77-yard TD reception, Tresean Stewart 2-point conversion
10:23 ESHS 23-8 – Derek Sutterby field goal
9:18 ESHS 25-8 – Safety
8:36 ESHS 32-8 – Luke Bullington 5-yard rush TD, Derek Sutterby PAT
7:07 ESHS 39-8 – Luke Bullington 30-yard rush TD, Derek Sutterby PAT
3Q
10:39 ESHS 46-8 – Luke Bullington 6-yard rush TD, Derek Sutterby PAT
7:47 ESHS 54-8 – Luke Bullington 55-yard rush TD, Carson Hawks 2-point conversion
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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