GASTON – You had to see it coming.

Despite turning the football over three times, Northampton County High School – West trailed Roanoke by just four points (18-14) at the intermission.

Having had a tough go of it in the first half, the Hurricanes rolled to a 42-18 win with four touchdowns in the second half to advance to the third round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 1-A football playoffs.

&uot;I feel good about the win,&uot; fourth-year Hurricane skipper Diego Hasty said. &uot;We had to go through some adversity and my kids showed a lot of character.

&uot;We had some fumbles in the first half and were down four at half, so we were lucky,&uot; he said. &uot;The final score indicated their turnovers were costly, so I was pleased with our defense minimizing the cost of ours.&uot;

Leading 18-14 as the second half began, Roanoke took the opening kickoff and drove to the Northampton 30-yardline, but Rashaun Roberts stripped the football which was recovered by Carlos Robinson for the Hurricanes.

West then set sail on a drive that moved the ball to the Redskins 25-yardline, but they were stopped there on fourth down.

Two plays later, the Redskins turned the ball over again and Phillip Fields jumped on the loose pigskin.

It took the Hurricanes eight plays to find the endzone with the score coming on a Titus Lee five-yard run. Junior quarterback Randy Turner added the two-point conversion and West led 22-14 with 44 seconds to play in the third quarter.

From there it was all West as the Hurricanes scored again 48 seconds later.

The Redskins fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Aljerald Butcher grabbed the football.

Turner picked up nine yards on the first play from scrimmage followed by a 20-yard gain by Lee.

Lee took it in from two yards out on the next play to give the Hurricanes a 28-18 advantage.

After the kickoff, Roanoke set up shop on their own 27-yardline. Two plays later, Mack Parker stepped in front of a Redskin pass to give West the ball back on their own 12 yardline.

After Lee picked up one yard on first down, Parker carried for 14 and 36 yards on successive plays to give the Hurricanes a first down on the Roanoke 37-yardline.

West drove to the 23-yardline where an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Redskins moved the ball to the 13-yardline. Four plays later, Todd Squire found paydirt on a one-yard plunge. Turner’s pass to Keith Garner improved the lead to 36-18.

On the ensuing kickoff, Roanoke again fumbled the football and the Hurricanes recovered.

It took just two plays before Parker hit paydirt from 12 yards out. The conversion run failed, but the Hurricanes led 42-18.

The two teams traded turnovers before West ran out the clock to seal the victory and next week’s 1-A Eastern Semifinals in which the Hurricanes will host Manteo.

Lee led the Hurricanes with 126 yards on 26 carries. Also over the century mark was Parker, who had 104 yards on nine carries. West had 307 yards of total offense.

In the first half, West scored to take the early lead when Lee scampered 25 yards to paydirt. Turner added the conversion to make it 8-0.

Roanoke eventually went ahead 18-8 thanks to three West turnovers.

The Hurricanes cut it to four when Chris Smith returned a kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown with 4:31 to play in the first half. The conversion failed leaving it 18-14.