Casey Culbreth is headed to the end zone on Midway’s first play.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Midway’s varsity football team scored on the first play from scrimmage and then led wire-to-wire in a 42-12 rout over visiting Sampson County rival Lakewood on Friday night.
“That first play, we’ve been working on that all week,” said Midway coach Cory Barnes. “Just some things we saw on tape that we thought we could take advantage of and the kids did a good job of executing. I think that set the tone for us, especially offensively. Scoring 42 tonight, they did a great job. Obviously some things we can work on. I’m proud of how we ran the football tonight. We put Trey (Gregory) in the backfield and he did a good job. I don’t know how many yards he had, but he ran hard for us. And our line played well tonight.”
Junior Trey Gregory ran for 213 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries and senior Wyatt Holland completed 7-of-12 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions. Holland ran for 80 yards and a touchdown on five carries for the Raiders (2-1).
“I come from a running background and I think it sets the tone,” Barnes said. “When we can run the football and be successful, it sets everything else up for us and takes the pressure off of Wyatt.”
Nate Smith had three receptions for 92 yards and a touchdown. Casey Culbreth had a 61-yard touchdown reception and ran for 13 yards on two carries and one interception on defense. Hunter Tyndall had two receptions for 32 yards. Josh Lupo had a 16-yard touchdown reception. Junior Acosta was a perfect 6-for-6 kicking extra points.
Barnes was also pleased with the play of junior Jaylin Baggett on defense, including one interception.
“Jaylin did a great job,” Barnes said. “He had an interception early. Those kids are young and they’re playing on Friday nights for the first time without a lot of JV reps. We’ve got a lot of juniors and sophomores that are growing up in front of our eyes. And they’ve got to keep getting better, because we need them to play and be successful for us to be successful. Jaylin’s done a great job at corner. His technique is really good and he can move and he’s developed some ball skills to be able to make plays. I’m real proud of Jaylin and the way he’s developed so far.”
Junior Bobby Henry ran for 178 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries and had an eight-yard reception and senior Zhymir Powell was 3-of-11 passing for 32 yards, with two interceptions, and ran for 75 yards on 15 carries to lead the Leopards (1-2).
On the first play from scrimmage, Holland connected with Culbreth for a 61-yard touchdown. The Raiders added two more scores on a 16-yard Holland-to-Lupo pass and a 24-yard Holland-to-Smith pass after a Baggett interception to lead 21-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Lakewood got on the board with a two-yard Henry run early in the second quarter, but Midway responded with a 10-yard Holland touchdown run and led 28-6 at halftime.
Lakewood scored on its opening possession of the second half on a one-yard Henry run. But it was the Leopards’ last score of the game.
Gregory scored twice in the second half, on an eight-yard run in the third quarter and a six-yard run in the fourth quarter, to help put the game out of reach.
Midway starts East Seven 2-A Conference play at Red Springs (1-0) on Friday.
Josh Lupo takes a reception for a touchdown for Midway.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Jaylin Baggett (7) picks off a pass for the Raiders on Friday night.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Wyatt Holland of Midway throws to Nate Smith for a score.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Nate Smith hauls in a scoring pass from Wyatt Holland.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Nae Shon Sanchez (right) makes a stop at the line of scrimmage.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
Trey Gregory runs the ball for the Raiders against Lakewood.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)
