N-C streak at 6

Newton-Conover High had some trouble putting it away.

After Octavius Harden ran 90 and 72 yards for touchdowns on his first two carries, the Red Devils gave up three costly turnovers in a 38-27 win over Piedmont in the first round of the state 2AA playoffs Friday night.

The victory, its sixth in a row, moved No. 7 seed Newton-Conover (11-1) into a second-round rematch next week at second-seeded Bandys, which defeated the Red Devils 20-9 on Oct. 2.

Tenth-seeded Piedmont (7-5) needed to drive only 16, 21 and 27 yards for its first three touchdowns, which were set up by two fumble recoveries and an interception.

"What bothers me about that is that, sometime or another, I want to win pretty," Newton-Conover head coach Nick Bazzle said. "We've been winning ugly.

"In the last five weeks we've only played one half of football to my satisfaction and that was the first half against South Iredell.

"If we do that next week we won't have a snowball's chance."

The Red Devils, who won the state 2A championship last season, appeared to be rolling when Harden scored twice in the first four minutes and 25 seconds. He took a pitchout and raced 90 yards for a TD on the game's first play and scored again on his second carry, with an inside handoff.

But Harden carried only three more times, all in the first half, and finished with 169 yards.

"Sometime or another, he's got to quit cramping," Bazzle said. "That's been bothering him all year long.

"If we're going to make it to Round 3 we'll need him."

Newton-Conover led 22-7 after Ty Brown caught a pass from Sam Royall, tore away from a tackler and scored a 48-yard TD with 5:34 still remaining in the first quarter.

The Red Devils had gained 204 yards in less than 6 1/2 minutes, but their offense showed only a couple flashes of brilliance thereafter.

"Our kids – I don't know what it is," Bazzle said. "We don't get over there and try to sit on the lead. I'm trying to score.

"I think sometimes, when we get up big, we lose focus and make mistakes. When we got up 22-7 we just lost focus."

Still, Newton-Conover increased its lead to 29-7 after Aubrey Farley took a pitchout 66 yards to the Piedmont 8 on the final play of the first quarter, setting up a TD by Frederick Stockton on a 4-yard pass from Royall.

The Red Devils gained only 76 yards thereafter and the Panthers, who had only five seniors, stayed in the game.

"We let the first quarter slip away," Piedmont head coach Frank Ambrose said. "None of these kids have ever been to the playoffs and Newton-Conover is battle tested.

"I think once we settled down we played pretty well with them."

Piedmont's Cameron Leviner returned an interception 31 yards to the 21, setting up a TD that cut Newton-Conover's lead to 29-13 with 5:47 left in the second quarter.

The Red Devils' Spencer Linquist, who drove five of his six kickoffs into the end zone, ended the first half with a 31-yard field goal that made it 32-13.

Piedmont was within 32-20 before Brown scored on a 32-yard interception return with 10:15 to play.
"He's had some big plays this year," Bazzle said.

Farley, who had a 33-yard run in the second half, gained 120 yards in nine carries as a replacement for Harden.

"He's the guy we've had to rely on because Octavius has just been hampered," Bazzle said.

Monroe freshman quarterback Sawyer Baucom scored on a 1-yard run with 38 seconds to play. The TD was set up by Justin Redfern's 41-yard gain on a pass from Baucom, who had replaced injured starter Ross Rushing.