Raiders roll past Hobbton

by John Lucas | Feb 26, 2021 | Midway

Tyler Godwin makes a tackle in the backfield for the Raiders.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)

Midway opened varsity football season Thursday by winning a 53-13 rout over visiting Sampson County rival Hobbton.

“That’s what we wanted to do,” said Midway coach Cory Barnes. “We wanted to start off this week 1-0. The kids haven’t played in 18 months and they were raring to go. That’s why we probably had some turnovers and some penalties that we shouldn’t have, because they’re chomping at the bit to go. But, our kids played well tonight. They settled down and they got the job done.”

Junior quarterback Wyatt Holland completed 19-of-23 passes for 277 yards and four touchdowns, with no interceptions and ran for six yards on 38 carries to lead the Raiders (1-0) offensively. His leading receiver was senior Lane Baggett, with eight catches for 144 yards and three touchdowns.

“We’re going offensively as Wyatt goes,” Barnes said. “Our team knows that. Wyatt knows that. He’s got a lot of experience, even as a junior. He’s got a lot of weapons around him he can throw it to. We’re going to rely on him and our line up front to protect him and then run the football off of that.”

Colin Avery had four receptions for 72 yards. Dustin Williams ran for 55 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. Thornton Baggett had five receptions for 41 yards and a touchdown. Isaiah McClendon ran for 31 yards and a touchdown on five carries. Joe Alford ran for 27 yards on five carries. Jonathan Cooper had two receptions for 20 yards. Casey Culbreth ran once for 12 yards.

Freshman Josiah McLauren ran for 59 yards and a touchdown on four carries and sophomore Bobby Dial ran for 45 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries to lead the Wildcats (0-1).

Loden Bradshaw was 9-for-24 passing for 75 yards, with three interceptions, and ran for six yards on two carries. Daniel Britt had two receptions for 30 yards. Nataniel McLamb had three receptions for 20 yards. Chase Bland had two receptions for 15 yards. Colby Weeks had two receptions for 10 yards.

Midway’s defense forced five turnovers in the contest. Tyler Godwin returned an interception for a touchdown. Cole Bedard recovered two fumbles. Kentrell McLean and Josh Lupo each had an interception.

A pair of Holland touchdown passes to Thornton Baggett and Lane Baggett gave Midway a 13-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Hobbton scored early in the second quarter on an 11-yard touchdown run from Dial to cut the lead to 13-6.

Midway responded with 40 unanswered points to put the game out of reach.

Hobbton got one last score late in the fourth on a one-yard run from McLauren.

Hobbton is at North Stokes and Midway travels to Sampson County rival Lakewood next Friday.

“We’re going to watch film tomorrow since we played tonight,” Barnes said. “We’re going to get in the film room and correct our mistakes that we made, keep getting better, be a more disciplined team and get healthy. We’ve got some guys on the sideline tonight that didn’t play and some guys that got hurt during the game. We’ve got to get back healthy to keep it going.”