By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Nothing fancy for Southern Alamance’s football team, but keeping it basic helped churn out an extraordinary result Friday night.
The Patriots scored on their first five possessions and received a boost from senior running back Stanley Eno’s four first-half touchdowns in a 58-28 romp past host Cummings to wrap up non-conference competition for both teams.
The Patriots (3-2) were coming off an open week on the schedule.
“We just worked on fundamentals and it really helped us in the long run,” Eno said. “It felt really good. We just ran the same play over and over again, and we broke like 10, 15 yards every time.”
Eno scored touchdowns on four of his 10 carries and also reached the end zone on a conversion run. He ended up with 109 yards. Teammate Logan Foust gained 125 yards on 14 carries, posting two touchdowns in addition to a pair of two-point conversion runs.
“We just ran the same stuff we always do and it worked,” Eno said.
[See more of video interview with Eno below. Story continues below video.]
Southern coach Fritz Hessentahler said the Patriots are trying to find out about themselves, though the running attack is a staple.
“We narrowed things down offensively and figured out what we could do well,” he said.
Quarterback Bradley Capps, who never attempted a pass, ran for a 13-yard touchdown, and teammate Bryson Lowe scored on a 7-yard run.
“Southern is a big, strong, physical football team,” Cummings coach David Grimm said. “We just didn’t have an answer for it.”
The Patriots soaked up some of the tradition and atmosphere that came with a game at Cummings.
“The environment was really great to be out here,” Foust said.
The Cavaliers (2-2) had two weeks off entering the game and it took time to get into a groove.
Cummings standout Jonathan Paylor was limited to 65 receiving yards on four catches and 42 rushing yards on six carries.
Quarterback Johnniyus Sharpe threw three touchdown passes, completing 21 of 34 throws for 216 yards.
The Patriots used nine running plays to produce their first points, with Foust covering the last 6 yards of the team’s first possession.
Southern started its next possession at the Cummings 9 after a Cavaliers punt went so awry that Johan Diaz’s boot appeared to hit one of his teammates and soared in the wrong direction. Eno ran 9 yards for a touchdown on the next play.
Cummings responded with a 50-yard drive, capped by Sharpe’s 24-yard strike to Khavarie Hightower.
Eno finished Southern’s next drive with an 8-yard touchdown run. He scored the next two touchdowns on runs of 35 and 13 yards, the latter following a failed fake punt by the Cavaliers.
Sharpe threw TD strikes of 20 yards to A.J. Gillespie and 16 yards to Marione Enoch. Sharpe also ran 3 yards for the game’s last touchdown.
[Story continues below photo ans special subscription offer.]
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Eastern Alamance 22, Western Alamance 16: At Elon, Eastern didn’t allow Western’s offense to score a touchdown in the Central Carolina 3-A Conference game.
But the Eagles (4-1, 1-0 Central Carolina 3-A Conference) didn’t grab the lead for good until Jason Ball’s 4-yard pass to Trynton Wiley with about eight minutes left followed by Tyrek Samuel’s two-point conversion catch.
Western (3-3, 1-1) began the scoring on James Newton’s interception return for a touchdown.
Ball made up for it by scrambling and throwing a touchdown pass to Jasaih Thomas.
The Warriors were back ahead on a pair of Jacob Carter’s field goals before halftime.
Samuel’s short run gave the Eagles the lead, but Western was up 16-14 on Carter’s third field goal.
Williams 70, Orange 0: Jaelan Brown threw for four touchdowns and ran for another as the host Bulldogs dominated at Burlington Memorial Stadium in the Central Carolina 3-A Conference game.
Williams (4-2, 2-0) led 27-0 after the first quarter. Orange (1-5, 0-2) was blanked for the second time in three weeks.
Four of Brown’s five completions ended up as touchdowns. Kylei Richmond had a rushing touchdown and receiving touchdown.
Graham 20, Seaforth 12: At Pittsboro, Graham won a road game for the first time this season by capturing the Mid-Carolina Conference game. It was the first-ever meeting between the teams.
The Red Devils (2-4, 1-1) have won two of their last three games. Seaforth is 1-5, 1-1.
