Sports - September 2002

No court can change LHS' win over N. Gaston

By MIKE POWELL, LTN correspondent

September 9, 2002 - DALLAS — Friday's North-Gaston Lincolnton football game offered further proof of the old sports adage: The only numbers that really count are the ones on the scoreboard.

The host Wildcats piled up 474 yards of offense to only 281 for the Wolves, but all North Gaston had to show for those gaudy numbers was another loss.

Lincolnton countered North Gaston's productive offense by capitalizing on turnovers and making big plays in the kicking game.

"It is always a key to win when you have an open date coming up the next week," Lincolnton coach Scott Cloninger said after the 34-20 victory. "If we come out of here 0-3, we have a whole week to sit around an moan and complain and think about our losses. We would have been in some trouble. Now I can give (the players) a couple of days off and let them be teenagers again."

Junior place-kicker Roy Gomez kicked field goals of 32 and 41 yards, and Bradley Armstrong returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown just prior to the end of the first half.

Lincolnton's excellence on special teams, combined with six North Gaston turnovers, were the keys to victory. North Gaston lost four of seven fumbles and had two passes picked off. The Wolves (1-2) turned two of the turnovers into 10 points.

Both coaches, Cloninger and North Gaston's Bruce Clark, agreed Armstrong's punt return was the key play of the game.

It happened with only 10 seconds remaining and North Gaston trailing 10-6. Armstrong gathered in the ball at his own 40, found a wall of blocking and ran down the right sideline to the end zone.

Clark said he wanted the ball punted out of bounds and not in the direction of Lincolnton's dangerous return specialists.

"That hurt us," he said. "And then we came back and didn't play defense for two series (in the third quarter). It was like running through a screen door."

Leading 17-6, the Wolves added to the margin on the first series of the third quarter. Randall Chambers hit Ronshawn Brooks with a 28-yard completion to the North Gaston 28, setting up a 28-yard touchdown run on the next play by Darren Wilson, who shook off several defenders on his path to the end zone.

The Wildcats (0-2) answered on a 10-yard sweep by Rafael Littlejohn, who set up his own TD with a 50-yard gain on an option pitch.

However, the Wolves needed only one play to build the lead back to a safe 31-14 margin. Wilson took a handoff and ran 58 yards off the left side for the score.

Gomez added a 41-yard field goal with 32 seconds left in the third quarter to cap the Wolves' 17-point period.

North Gaston scored with under four minutes in the game remaining on a 17-yard pass from backup QB Jeff Johnson to Britt Bates, who moved from QB to wideout late in the game.

Wilson, a 6-0, 185-pound junior, finished with 125 yards rushing on 18 carries.

"(Wilson) stepped it up in the third quarter," Cloninger said. "The fullbacks blocked a little better in the third quarter too."

Thanks to four first-half turnovers, the Wolves started six of their eight possessions in North Gaston territory. A North Gaston fumble at 17-yard line set up a 32-yard field goal by Gomez to give LHS a 3-0 lead.

After North Gaston went ahead 7-3 on a 1-yard run by Littlejohn, the Wolves recovered a Wildcat fumble at midfield early in the second quarter. Four plays later, Andre Nixon scored on a 30-yard run to put LHS ahead for good.

Tackles Joey Beal and Mauricio Sing and end Eric Wilson led a Lincolnton defense that gave up big yardage but had six takeaways. Beal had two of the fumble recoveries, and Terrell Phelps had two interceptions.

The Wolves have an open date this week, returning to action on Sept. 20 against East Lincoln. North Gaston travels to Burns this week.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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