Red Devils rush way past Bandys in 2AA second round

Newton-Conover High head coach Nick Bazzle made it clear what draws his ire in the postseason following his team's second-round 2AA playoff matchup on Friday night with Bandys.

"I just hate playing a team twice in a season," said Bazzle, who is about to be a little angry for a second straight week.

Behind a dominant first-half running attack that flattened what had been a stingy Bandys defense, the Red Devils advanced into a third-round contest with a familiar foe after running through the Trojans 33-14 at Bandys.

Newton-Conover will travel to East Lincoln next week for a rematch of the teams' season-opener won by the Red Devils 27-19.

Newton-Conover (12-1) collides with the Mustangs in the third round for the second time in three seasons. But to get there the Red Devils had to exact a measure of revenge against an opponent that handed them their only loss last month.

Using a flawless ground game that didn't take bites but mouthfuls, the defending state 2A champs seized control in the second quarter by scoring 19 points to break open a close game.

Leading the Red Devils charge was Octavius Harden who ran for 178 yards and four TDs on 15 carries – in the first half. A junior tailback, he finished with 202 yards on 25 attempts, and quarterback Sam Royall added 107 yards on eight carries.

Newton-Conover ended the first half with 316 yards on 30 attempts, and the rushing outburst nearly left Bazzle speechless in the lockerroom at the break.

"Most of the time I'm hoarse when I get out of there," said Bazzle, whose team fell to Bandys 20-9 on Oct. 2. "The kids were prepared, that's the bottom line.

"I challenged them to be better prepared than they've ever been. They had four great practices this week, and they were just ready."

As much as the Red Devils' offense told the story, their defense added its own chapter.

Scores on its final two series of the first quarter allowed Bandys (11-2) to tie it, but the Trojans' offense came unraveled after the opening quarter. Quarterback Kyle Houser hit just 12 of 40 throws with one TD and one interception for 157 yards, 48 fewer than he had in the first half in the previous game with the Red Devils.

Houser, Bandys' career passing yards leader, also became its top TD thrower with a 24-yard TD to Seth Cranfill (four catches, 90 yards, one TD), giving him 78, one better than previous record holder Zach Elliott.

But Houser connected on only seven of 30 tries from the second quarter on, and 1,400-yard tailback Trenton Millsaps was limited to 48 yards on 18 carries.

"It was pretty obvious what was happening out there," said Trojans head coach Randy Lowman. "They were bigger than us, faster than us and stronger than us.

"They made no mistakes, and it's hard to beat a team like that once, much less twice."

Early on the game looked as if it might be a shootout with both teams using big plays to score.

The Red Devils needed only one play and 10 seconds to score first when Harden broke through the line and raced down the left side 65 yards. Spencer Linquist's PAT made it 7-0, but the quick score did more than just give the Red Devils an early advantage, said Royall.

"That was really big for us because the last time we played them they shut (Harden) down," Royall said.

The Houser-to-Cranfill hookup tied it, but Harden's 31-yard TD run with just more than four minutes left in the first quarter put Newton-Conover back in front 14-7.

Bandys then got a 58-yard TD run by Houser down the right side to knot the score again, but TDs on their first three second-quarter series gave the Red Devils a 33-14 lead at the half.

Harden's 18-yard TD run seven seconds into the second quarter gave Newton-Conover a 21-14 lead, and his 5-yard score at the 3:29 mark stretch the Red Devils' lead to 27-14. Rashad Kissler provided Newton-Conover its final points with his 1-yard plunge with 42 seconds left in the first half.

Both teams stayed scoreless, but the Red Devils won the battle of the clock after halftime. Newton-Conover put together an eight-play drive that chewed up 4:01 off the clock on their first possession of the fourth quarter, and the Red Devils held the ball for 13:50 following the break.