AHOSKIE – Marquise Grizzle has been the talk of the Northeastern Coastal Conference this season.

Friday night, Hertford County High School got to see the state’s top touchdown producer up close and personal. And it was Grizzle who got the best of the meeting, scorching the Bears for 229 yards and four touchdowns in a 28-7 win for Currituck County High School.

The visiting Knights improved to 2-0 in the Northeastern Coastal Conference and won the contest between the only two 3-A schools in the league. The Bears, meanwhile, dropped to 1-6 for the year and 0-3 in the league.

Both teams moved the ball well early, but neither were able to find their way to the endzone. That changed late in the first half when HCHS drove 74 yards for the first score of the contest.

Senior running back Aaron Thomas did the bulk of the work for the Bears on the drive, picking up eight yard three times as well as a carry of nine yards. Quarterback Dorrien Askew also ran the ball well with carries of 11 and 10 yards.

It was Askew who found paydirt as he scored on a five-yard run with 2:17 to play in the first half. Ackerman Grace kicked the extra point and the Bears had a 7-0 advantage.

Currituck couldn’t move the ball passing with less than two minutes to play and gave it back to the Bears after being unsuccessful on a fake punt.

Askew responded by completing a 12-yard pass to Thomas and a 37-yard strike to Tim Sessoms as HCHS moved all the way to the 23-yard line of the Knights. Unfortunately for the home team, the first half clock expired and they went into the locker room with the 7-0 lead.

The second half little more than got started before lightning forced a one hour delay of the contest.

When play resumed, the Knights forced Hertford County to punt and then set up shop on their own 25-yardline. From there, the visiting team set sail on a 75-yard, 11-play drive to paydirt.

Grizzle and Shane Gubbs shared the workload on the drive, but Grizzle was the one who punched it in on a 12-yard jaunt. The conversion failed and HCHS held on to a 7-6 lead with 2:11 to play in the third quarter.

HCHS punted the ball away again on the first play of the fourth quarter.

On the second play, Grizzle scampered 68 yards to paydirt. He added the two-point conversion and Currituck led 14-7 with 11:37 to play.

The Bears put together a solid drive on their next possession, driving from their own 35-yard line to the Currituck 33. Thomas had the big play with a 25-yard run.

The drive stalled at that point, however, and the Bears lost 17 yards on a bad pitch and gave the ball to the Knights at midfield.

The Bears stopped the Knights on fourth down, however, and took the ball back.

HCHS failed on a fourth down of their own at their own 28-yardline, however, and Currituck capitalized when Grizzle carried the ball four straight times, the last for a nine-yard score. Dustin Midgett added the two-point conversion to give Currituck a 22-7 lead with just 3:29 to play.

A Currituck interception set up the final score when Grizzle went 15 yards to paydirt with 2:56 to play. The conversion failed, but Currituck took a 28-7 lead and held on for the win.

Hertford County will look to stop their five-game slide next week when then travel to Pasquotank County High School.