Trojans topple N-C

The numbers for Kyle Houser read like this: Fourteen completions on 18 attempts for 205 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

In the first half.

The Bandys High quarterback's scorching first half helped catapult the Trojans to a 20-point first-half lead, and from there the Trojans' defense bottled up a normally stout Newton-Conover offense to pull off a stunning 20-9 victory over the Red Devils on Friday night at Bandys.

The win pushes the Trojans to 5-1 overall and keeps Bandys tied with East Burke and South Iredell atop the Catawba Valley Athletic 2A at 2-0.

Newton-Conover suffered its first setback, falling to 5-1, 1-1.

Houser cooled considerably after the break, hitting on just two of nine tosses with a pair of interceptions to end with 243 yards. But his red-hot hand in the opening half put a Red Devils team ranked second in state in the latest Associated Press 2A rankings on its heels.

The performance turned in by Houser was nothing new to Trojans head coach Randy Lowman. How the senior signal caller was able to come through with his crackling effort, however, caught Lowman off guard.

"(Houser's) got that kind of talent, and we knew he could throw like that," said Lowman. "What surprised me is how we protected as well as we did.

"Tonight, everything fell into place and all the pieces meshed. The coaches had everyone prepared, and everything just clicked."

Including a defense that contained Newton-Conover's potent rushing game.

The Red Devils entered Friday's game featuring an option attack averaging 430.6 yards of total offense, including more than 382 rushing. Against the Trojans, Newton-Conover managed only 286 total yards, with 252 coming via the run to see its 13-game win steak dating back to last season come to a halt.

"Sam hurt us some, and we were hoping we might play their quarterbacks better than we did," said Lowman, referring to Red Devils quarterback Sam Royall, who finished with 136 yards on 18 carries.

"We gave up some rushing yards, but we never did just break."

Newton-Conover tailback Octavius Harden came in with a conference-best 692 yards rushing (138.4 per game) but finished with just 60 on 14 attempts.

Among the gaudy numbers put up this season by the Red Devils offense was a 41.2 points per game average. But a change in defensive scheme this season helped Bandys hold Newton-Conover to 32 fewer points than their average.

"We switched from a 4-3 to a 3-4 because we don't have the kids who can run like (the Red Devils)," Lowman said. "It helped to have an extra kid on the field who can try and contain their option.

"We've gotten better. We gave up 130 (points) to them the last two years to just nine tonight."

Newton-Conover's second series foretold what kind of night was in store. The Red Devils needed only two plays to move from their 31 to the Bandys 15, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty pushed them back to the Trojans' 31. A potential TD pass was dropped in the end zone and Spencer Linquist's 46-yard field goal attempt missed left, keeping the Red Devils scoreless.

The unsportsmanlike conduct call was one of 11 against Newton-Conover for 90 yards.

"Bandys had a great game plan for us, their coaches had them prepared and they outplayed us," said Red Devils head coach Nick Bazzle. "But we had missed opportunities and mistake after mistake after mistake.

"We weren't breaking on the ball (in the first half) and we couldn't cover their receivers, and they just picked us apart."

Touchdowns on three straight possessions bridging the first two quarters gave Bandys all the points it needed, with Trenton Millsaps' 1-yard run in the opening quarter and Robert Gjurai's extra point giving the Trojans a 7-0 lead.

A 5-yard hookup between Houser and Cody Hughes less than three minutes into the second quarter doubled Bandys' lead, and the Trojans made it 20-0 when Houser connected with Seth Cranfill on an 11-yard TD strike with three minutes, 38 seconds left in the half.

Linquist's 33-yard field goal in the half's final minute cut Bandys' lead to 20-3, before Harden's 2-yard run in the third quarter gave Newton-Conover its final points.