Rogers leads Hobbton comeback in football season opener

by John Lucas | Aug 23, 2019 | Hobbton, News & Features

Dacorris Morrison was an offensive force for Hobbton.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)

Hobbton opened varsity football season on Thursday in thrilling fashion, rallying past visiting East Chapel Hill to win a 51-46 shootout.

“They’re a tough bunch,” said Hobbton coach Joe Salas. “They worked their tails off and they never surrendered. We were confident all the way through and we knew we just needed one stop.”

The game was moved up to Thursday because of potentially severe weather on Friday.

Senior Grayson Rogers was a key contributor on both sides of the ball for the Wildcats. Offensively, he completed 23-of-31 passes for 165 yards and a touchdown and ran for 209 yards and six touchdowns on 33 carries. Defensively, he had two interceptions, both of which led to Hobbton touchdowns.

“My senior year, last year I’ll be walking on the field,” Rogers said. “It’s unbelievable. Can’t ask for a better win.”

Senior Dacorris Morrison was also a major factor for the Hobbton offense, rushing for 218 yards on 33 carries. He also had three receptions for six yards.

Brayden Herring was Rogers’ leading receiver, with 100 yards and a touchdown on 12 receptions, and ran for four yards on one carry. Daniel Britt had six receptions for 39 yards. Preston Daughtry had a seven-yard reception. Nathaniel McLamb had a 13-yard reception.

Hobbton looked to take the early lead, but a fumble at the goal line led to the visiting Wildcats (0-1) scoring. Hobbton responded with a one-yard Rogers run to tie it. But East scored back-to-back, but only making one extra point, to take the lead for the majority of the game.

With Hobbton trailing 40-36 late in the third quarter, a Rogers interception led to Hobbton taking its first lead of the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter on a 16-yard Rogers run. Jesus Gomez made the extra point to give Hobbton a 43-40 lead.

But the visitors responded, scoring on the ensuing drive to reclaim the lead with 11:05 left in the fourth quarter.

Hobbton drove into the red zone on the ensuing drive, but turned it over on downs at the 8-yard-line. A Kelvin Stevens fumble recovery gave Hobbton another chance, but the home team turned it over on downs inside the red zone again, this time at the 14-yard-line.

But on the ensuing possession, Rhanique Corbett got pressure on the quarterback, making just enough contact with his arm to disrupt the throw. Rogers got underneath the errant pass for an interception, which he returned to the East 24-yard-line. That led to Rogers scoring the go-ahead TD on a six-yard run with 1:27 remaining in the game. Morrison ran for two to make it 51-46.

East started the ensuing drive at midfield and was deep in Hobbton territory when Josh Royal forced a fumble that Carlos Aguilar recovered with 20 seconds left in the game to secure the victory for Hobbton.

“It was a tough battle, both teams did good,” Rogers said. “We fought to the end. We gave it our all.”

Hobbton travels to Louisburg next Thursday.

“We’ve got to correct those 5,000 mistakes we made out there,” Salas said. “We’ll feel a lot better when we start playing schools our size (Hobbton is a 1-A school and East Chapel Hill is 3-A), and that’s what we’ve got the next couple of weeks.”