Overhills’ varsity football team took a 35-13 win at All American 3-A/4-A Conference and Harnett County rival Triton on the Hawks’ Senior Night Friday to claim the Harnett County Championship.

“We knew Triton was good,” said Overhills coach Kerry Bacon. “I was worried all week. I was worried the whole game, because they’re a very good team. Coach (Ben) Penny is a great coach. Triton is a class team. We were just focused and dialed in. We wanted to win the Harnett County Championship. To me, that was the most important thing for us was to beat all the schools in Harnett County.”

Triton coach Ben Penny cited Overhills senior linebacker Christopher Gama as a major hindrance to the Hawks’ offense.

“We just came out too flat,” Penny said. “We didn’t really have the best week of practice. We were excited and amped up, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to get things going early. A lot of that has to do with No. 11 (Gama). He’s a special player. Any kind of misdirection we were trying to run on them, he was sticking his foot in the ground and redirecting. He is one heck of a player and pretty much single-handedly shut us down in the first half. And we came out in the second half and tried to get a little momentum going and just weren’t able to do it.”

Senior Kevin Lalin was a major threat in both the running and passing game for the Jaguars (7-2, 5-1 AAC). He ran for 103 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries and had four receptions for 137 yards and three touchdowns.

“Kevin is a special kid,” Bacon said. “He was hurt last year. We only played him one way and we didn’t have a running back, so we threw him in and he said, ‘Coach, I can do it.’ He’s raw, but he’s been getting better every week and he made some amazing plays and I’m so thankful for him coming out here and doing what he does.”

Sophomore quarterback Jordan Bryant was also an offensive leader for Overhills, completing 14-of-21 passes for 253 yards and four touchdowns, with no interceptions.

“He’s a smart kid,” Bacon said. “We try to make it simple for him. We want to find the grass and attack the grass. That’s all we care about. If you leave somebody open, we’re just going to keep exploiting it until you cover it. But when you cover that, we’re going to find another opening.”

Isaiah Page had three receptions for 60 yards. Christian Daniel ran for 50 yards on nine carries and had a five-yard reception. Jackson Evans had four receptions for 46 yards and a touchdown. Isaiah Townsend had a nine-yard carry and two receptions for five yards.

Senior Jalen Evans completed 3-of-12 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown, with one interception, and ran for 46 yards on five carries and senior Eligah Holmes ran for 104 yards on six carries to lead the Hawks (4-5, 3-3).

A.J. Dewar ran for 59 yards on 15 carries and had a 14-yard touchdown reception. Kenny McKoy had a 58-yard reception. James Shaw had a 51-yard reception. J.J. Cowan ran for 26 yards and a touchdown on seven carries. Camauri McDougald ran for nine yards on eight carries.

Prior to the game, Triton honored 22 seniors: Jalen Evans, Eligah Holmes, Wyatt Avery, Kenny McKoy, Zachary Denning, Carter Daughtry, Shyheim Cooke, Elijah Stewart-Williams, Jackson Lanier, Reggie Shaw, James Shaw, Anthony Jones, Ross Stevens, Ryan Graves, Joshua Degraffenreid, Nathan McKoy, C.J. Herring, Deandre’ Smith, Christian Hodges, Sawyer McLamb and Trejon Lindsey.

Overhills scored first midway in the first quarter on a screen pass from Bryant to Lalin that went 31 yards for a touchdown. Isaiah Oates added the extra point.

Triton got on the board midway through the second quarter when Evans connected with Dewar for a 14-yard touchdown. But the extra point was no good, keeping Overhills ahead 7-6.

Overhills answered with Bryant and Lalin connecting again for a 61-yard touchdown, with Oates kicking the extra point. The Jaguars led 14-6 at halftime.

Late in the third, Lalin ran for a 62-yard touchdown and, after an offsides penalty against Triton, ran for the two-point conversion to increase the lead to 22-6.

Bryant and Lalin connected again early in the fourth on a 42-yard touchdown pass, with Oates kicking the extra point.

Bryant connected with Evans for a 17-yard touchdown a few minutes later, but the extra point was blocked by Shaw.

Triton scored late in the fourth quarter on a 10-yard Cowan run, with Carter Daughtry kicking the extra point.

Triton ends the regular season on the road against conference and county rival Harnett Central (2-7, 2-4) for the Trojans’ Senior Night.

“Hopefully, the hurt we’re feeling tonight carries over into next week,” Penny said. “Big game. Hiester Bowl. It’s always a big game against Harnett Central. And we’ve still got a chance to keep on playing after that, so we’ve got to regroup. And I know it’s Senior Night, but we can’t look at it like this is the end, because we’ve still got some football left to play.”

Overhills is at home against conference leader Pine Forest (7-2, 6-0) for Senior Night and could claim a share of the conference championship with a win. If Pine Forest wins, the Trojans claim the championship outright.

“Now we’re moving on to the next phase of beating Pine Forest,” Bacon said. “That’s what we want to do. They’re next up on the list. If we get them, we get a share of the conference championship and that’s our goal.”