Hickory High overcame injuries to their key running backs and a plague of penalties on Friday night to beat Hibriten 34-28 in a Northwestern 3A-4A game at Hibriten.
Entering the game without injured running backs Shaquan Reid and Casey Stinson, Hickory’s Corey Stinson (14 carries for 197 yards) and Jordan Lockhart (19-139) followed an offensive line that dominated the Panthers’ defense most of the night.
Hickory (5-3-1, 2-2) finished with 409 rushing yards, and the Red Tornadoes overcame 16 penalties for 128 yards.
“We were able to move the ball well,” said Hickory head coach John Worley, who picked up his 69th career victory. “But we just hurt ourselves with penalties. We just can’t do that.”
The game’s turning point probably came with a 14-point swing on the third quarter’s final two plays.
With Hickory leading 26-21, Hibriten’s Julius Gaines took a pitch 37 yards for a TD that was nullified by a block-in-the-back penalty. On the next play, Panthers running back Quevin Ferguson bobbled pitch and Hickory’s Noah Kelley picked up the loose ball and went 47 yards for a TD.
After a pass from Kyle Johnson to Jordan Wallis-Davis for a two-point conversion, the Red Tornadoes led 34-21.
“It was going back-and-forth,” Worley said. “But when Kelley picked it up, nobody’s going to catch him. Obviously that gave us a cushion.”
Said Hibriten head coach Clay Lewis, whose team is 4-5 overall and 1-3 in the league: “It was a legit call. The kid that got called for the penalty was just trying to make a play. It was an effort penalty.”
Hickory led 12-7 at the half.
The Red Tornadoes scored on the game’s second play on a 46-yard run by Johnson to go up 6-0 after a failed conversion.
After Gaines put the Panthers in the lead with a 22-yard TD run early in the second quarter, Hickory answered with a nine-play drive finished by Lockhart’s 5-yard run.
Gaines returned the second half kickoff 83 yards for a TD for Hibriten before Corey Stinson put the Red Tornadoes up 20-15 when he scored on a 56-yard run on the ensuing drive’s third play and Hickory added a two-point conversion.
After Zac Walker scored a 5-yard TD for the Panthers, Stinson ripped off a 30-yard scoring run to make it 26-21.
After the big play in the third quarter, Ferguson atoned for his fumble with a 30-yard run for a TD with 5:36 to play.
The Panthers then got one last opportunity with just under three minutes to go and drove to Hickory’s 35. But a holding penalty by the Panthers thwarted the drive and they turned the ball over on downs.
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