When cross county rivals Hobgood Academy and Halifax Academy meet in an athletic contest in most instances you can throw the proverbial record book out the window. Such was the case Friday night in Hobgood when the Raiders took an eye opening 88-54 win over Halifax in an obviously high octane 8 man football clash.
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The Halifax county schools have been meeting on the gridiron for close to forty years now in one of the NCISAA's longest rivalries. Friday night's tilt saw the two youthful laden squads, with only five combined seniors on the two rosters, put on an offensive show but seemed to have left their defense in the locker room.
Halifax had no answer for Hobgood' lightning quick backfield duo of sophomores G.J Mullins and Juwan Marshall who combined for 507 yards rushing and
an astounding ten touchdowns as the Raiders equaled their season record at 1-1. With the loss Halifax falls to 0-3 for the year
Hobgood wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard reaching paydirt on the third play of the contest as Mullins raced 31 yards tpo score with only a minute and seconds elapsed on the clock. Halifax answered on their first possession as QB Garrett Morris found Tyler Jomo wide open in the Raider secondary on a 3rd and 6 and the Viking tight end end rumbled 52 yards to close the Hobgood gap to 8-6 at the 9:06 mark of the opening period. But that would be as close as Halifax would get the remainder of the night as Mullins found the end zone twice more in the quarter on runs of 77 and 27 yards pacing the Raiders to a 20-12 advantage after one stanza.
The Raiders all but put the game out of reach with a huge 30 point second quarter. Juwan Marshal scampered in from 35 yards out at the 11:01 mark and after holding the Vikes on downs Marshall again found the goal line on a 38 yard run. Not to be out done Mullins also had two TDs in the quarter on a 16 yard run and as the recipient of a 30 yard screen pass from Chris Barddy. Halifax managed a pair of scores as well as Andrew Bryant cracked over from 2 yards out and Jomo hauled in his second td pass of the evening from Morris on a 36 yard play. But going into the halftime locker room Hobgood was well in command with a 50-24 lead.
After giving the ball up on downs to open the second half Halifax saw the Raiders tack continue their offensive onslaught. Marshall ahd an 18 yrad run and Chris Braddy scooted for 15 as Hobgood used a six play 54 yard drive to notch another score. Mullins raced in for four yards out for the TD. Lightning then struck on the Viking's next poeeseeion as Landon Poole fumbled and Hobgood's Juwan Marshall was johnny on the spot scooping up the errant football and galloping 61 yards for the touchdown extending the Raider lead to 62-24.
With Hobgood reservers in the backfield Halifax showed there was still some fire on their sidelines as they forced two straight Raider fumbles and capitalized on both. Nick horvath's 12 yard run on the first Hobgood miscue folloed by Andrew Bryant's two yard dive for a score narrowed the lead to 62-40 but any hopes of a Viking comeback were all but quelled on the next Raider possession as Mullins found his way outside and motored 80 yards for the tally. Horvath returned the ensuing kickoff 76 yards for a score for Halifax and Hobgood reserve running back Jimmy Adrus tallied on touchdown runs of 89.and 56 yards late in the contest to culminate the scoring.
G.J Mullins finished the game with 339 yards rushing to pace Hobgood who also had Juwan Marshall (168) and Jimmy Andrus (152) crack the 100 yard barrier as well.
Sophomore Landon Poole led the Viking ground game with 158 yards while QB Garrett Morris was 8-13 for 155 yards through the air.
Hobgood 1-1 travels to Merry Hill next Friday night to do battle with Lawrence Academy while Halifax 0-3 faces the unenviable task of traveling to Raleigh to face unbeaten Word of Gog.