ELKIN — Surry Central shut Elkin down in the second half of Friday’s game to give the Golden Eagles their third consecutive win.
The Eagles scored 13 unanswered points in the second half to win 27-14. Central’s 15:54 second-half time of possession was nearly double that of Elkin’s 8:06. The Golden Eagles also outpaced the Buckin’ Elks in second-half total offense with 155 yards to Elkin’s 46.
Surry Central is now 4-2 after starting the season 1-2, and coach Monty Southern said the Eagles’ leadership is a huge part of the team’s success.
“We’ve got 17 seniors, so I felt like coming into the year that we should have really good leadership, and it’s really grown beyond even my expectations,” Southern said. “The kids have really just taken ownership of things. The younger kids are feeding off that too.”
It was the seniors that amassed most of the team’s 339 yards of total offense. Senior quarterback Avery Wilmoth completed 4-of-8 passes for 75 yards and a touchdown. Dakota Mills led the Eagles’ receivers with two catches for 52 yards and a touchdown, with Karson Crouse and Dante Watson each hauling in one reception.
Surry Central did most of its damage on the ground. Just seven days after a career-defining performance against Wilkes Central, Crouse – a senior – rushed 22 times for 116 yards and two touchdowns. In the Golden Eagles’ last two games, Crouse has tallied 42 carries for 342 yards rushing and four touchdowns.
Crouse took on extra work when fellow back Logan Priddy left the game due to injury in the second quarter. Priddy had four rushes for 40 yards and a touchdown when he exited the game.
Central incorporated seven different ball carriers into the ground game against Elkin. There’s Crouse and Priddy, then fellow seniors Wilmoth rushed 15 times for 67 yards, Memphis Bolatto had one rush for six yards and Watson rushed three times for three yards.
Two freshman, Lucas Johnson and Brian Williams, combined to contribute four carries for 32 yards in the second half.
“I knew we’d ran Karson to death and he’s got to turn around and play defense,” Southern said. “I was trying to protect him a little bit, but of course he’s like, ‘I’m fine, give me the ball,’ but I knew we still had a lot left to play. Those younger guys are following in the footsteps of those seniors, and their expectation is that we’re going to succeed and we’re going to execute. It’s great to see that.”
Most of Elkin’s 259 yards of total offense came in the first half. The Elks didn’t, however, lead at any point in Friday’s game. Central scored on a Priddy run early in the first quarter and never surrendered the lead.
After a turnover-on-downs and three-and-out on their first two possessions, the Buckin’ Elks were pinned inside their own 5-yard line after Brady Edmonds downed a Wilmoth punt. Elkin looked destined to punt again when faced with third-and-long, but running back Joe Snow broke through the defense for a 95-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter. Thomas McComb’s PAT tied the game at 7-7.
The Elks’ next burst offense didn’t come until the latter part of the second quarter. No of Elkin’s first five drives lasted more than four plays, including two that started after Jackson Sturdivant and Raejay Hincher intercepted Wilmoth.
Elkin started passing more in response to Central’s second touchdown, which was scored by Crouse with 5:14 left in the first half. Jacob Edmonds knocked down the PAT to put the visitors up 14-7.
Elkin quarterback Sturdivant completed eight consecutive passes with only an illegal procedure penalty breaking them up. Sturdivant connected with Hincher, Beau Callahan and Landon Bohner on the drive. The QB capped off the drive with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Bohner.
Sturdivant finished the night with 16 completions for 119 yards. He had eight completions for 82 yards on the aforementioned drive alone.
Despite giving up two scores on big plays in the first half, Southern said his team felt confident at halftime.
“We told them at halftime to keep doing what they were doing,” Southern said. “I thought the defense played lights out all night. There were just two big plays where we just made mistakes and they capitalized. We missed some tackles on that long run, then had some blown coverage that led to the touchdown pass. But other than that our defense did a lot right.”
Southern was right, as the Eagles went on to hold Elkin to just 23 yards rushing and 23 yards passing in the second half while forcing two turnovers. One of these turnovers was the momentum-shifting moment in the game.
Surry Central started the second half with a 19-play drive that lasted nearly nine minutes of game time. Central originally looked to punt after Elkin’s Drew Kupner picked up a big sack, but a penalty for roughing the kicker allowed the Eagles to continue the drive.
The drive didn’t end with points, but it did fire the Eagles up.
“I’ll be honest with you, I think our kids felt great about it,” Southern said of the drive that ended with a missed field goal attempt. “And I did too. I feel like we wore them down with that drive and we also gained some confidence.”
Elkin took over on its own 20 with 3:23 left in the third quarter. On the second play from scrimmage, Sturdivant was picked off by Dakota Mills. Crouse crossed into the end zone two plays later to put Central back on top.
“The drive was kind of a statement drive, then Dakota’s play was really what turned the momentum to our favor,” Southern said.
Elkin was then held without a first down in the third quarter and then only moved the chains three times in the fourth quarter. Bolatto grabbed his fifth interception of the year in the final quarter, and the Eagles forced two turnovers-on-downs to keep Elkin at bay.
Both Surry Central and Elkin resume conference play next week. The Golden Eagles host Forbush (4-1) and the Elks hosts Starmount (2-4)
Scoring
Surry Central – 7, 7, 7, 6 = 27
Elkin – 7, 7, 0, 0 = 14
1Q
8:39 SCHS 0-7 – Logan Priddy 28-yard rushing TD, Jacob Edmonds PAT
0:21 EHS 7-7 – Joe Snow 95-yard rushing TD, Thomas McComb PAT
2Q
5:14 SCHS 7-14 – Karson Crouse 1-yard rushing TD, Jacob Edmonds PAT
0:53 EHS 14-14 – Jackson Sturdivant pass to Landon Bohner 24-yard TD reception, Thomas McComb PAT
3Q
1:34 SCHS 14-21 – Karson Crouse 18-yard rushing TD, Jacob Edmonds PAT
4Q
6:32 EHS 14-27 – Avery Wilmoth pass to Dakota Mills 46-yard TD reception, 2-point conversion no good
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
Be First to Comment