MERRY HILL – Keep-away.

Remember playing that game as a kid? The object was to take an item, any item…most of the time a ball or something of the sort, and toss it around among friends while one unlucky person was forced to give chase.

Collin Sneed must have remembered that game here last night (Friday) as his Northeast Academy Eagles played keep-away with Lawrence Academy en route to a 36-12 win in a football rivalry between Roanoke-Chowan area foes.

The win was a first, not only for the Eagles in 2006 (now 1-2 overall), but Sneed’s initial coaching victory as a high school skipper. And it couldn’t have been any sweeter as Northeast ended years of frustration against the rival Warriors.

Sneed’s well-orchestrated keep-away game unfolded in the second quarter where the two teams were locked in a 6-6 stalemate.

Over a span of nearly 12 minutes, Northeast reeled off 32 consecutive offensive plays and scored three touchdowns enroute to building a 30-6 halftime lead.

After Lawrence had knotted the game at 6-6 on the last play of the first quarter, Northeast proceeded to put together an 18-play, 82-yard drive that ate-up five minutes off the second quarter clock. Sophomore Brandon Futrell was the workhorse on that drive, toting the pigskin 12 times for 65 yards, including the last two to paydirt. Futrell, who rushed for a game and career-high 207 yards on 32 carries, added the conversion run as Northeast grabbed the lead for-keeps at 14-6.

Northeast then executed a successful on-sides kick with Jay Duncan recovering the free ball at the Lawrence 43 yardline.

Highlighted by an 18-yard pass from Drew Pinnix to Josh Jenkins and six runs by Futrell, the Eagles scored 10 plays later on a one-yard run by Futrell. Brodie Harrell cashed in on the conversion run, stretching the Northeast lead to 22-6 with two minutes left in the first half.

Sneed again called for the onsides kick. It worked again, this time with freshman Zach Mize pouncing on the pigskin at his own 48 yardline. From there it took the Eagles just four plays to score, the final four yards coming on a beautifully executed play fake and Pinnix tossing a four-yard TD pass to a wide-open Jenkins in the endzone. Harrell bulled in on the conversion run, stretching the Eagles lead to 30-6.

Finally, Lawrence got their hands on a kick-off, but ran only two plays (their only two offensive snaps of the second quarter). The last one was an interception by Pinnix.

As it was in the first quarter, the whole second half ended in a stalemate with each team scoring once.

Lawrence’s touchdown came on the heels of a bad snap to the Northeast punter that gave the Warriors the ball at the Eagles nine yardline. Four plays later, Chad Oliver scored on a three-yard run. The conversion failed, leaving the Warriors staring at a 30-12 deficit.

Northeast answered in a big way early in the fourth quarter where Futrell galloped 68 yards to paydirt to round out the scoring.

The Eagles drew first blood, using a Wesley Bryant fumble recovery to set-up a four-play, 60-yard drive capped by a 15-yard TD pass from Pinnix to Jay Duncan at the 7:10 mark of the first quarter. The conversion run failed.

Lawrence also cashed in on an NEA mistake to score their first touchdown. Starting at midfield after a nine-yard shanked punt, the Warriors scored six plays later on a 37-yard TD run by Jay Spencer. The conversion run failed.

Thanks to their game of keep-away, Northeast outmuscled their hosts, tallying 360 yards of total offense compared to 173 for the Warriors.

Score by Quarters

Northeast –

6-24-0-6 – 36

Lawrence –

6-0-6-0

– 12

Scoring Summary

NEA: Jay Duncan, 15-yard pass from Drew Pinnix (run failed); 7:10, 1st

LAW: Jay Spencer, 37-yard run (run failed); 0:00, 1st

NEA: Brandon Futrell, 2-yard run (Futrell run); 6:57, 2nd

NEA: Futrell, 1-yard run (Brodie Harrell run); 2:00, 2nd

NEA: Josh Jenkins, 4-yard pass from Pinnix (Harrell run); 1:05, 2nd

LAW: Chad Oliver, 3-yard run (run failed); 1:02, 3rd

NEA: Futrell, 68-yard run (kick failed); 9:59, 4th

Rushing

NEA – Brandon Futrell: 32-207, Brodie Harrell: 10-38

LAW – Jay Spencer: 13-57, Jacob Rhodes: 8-28

Passing

NEA – Drew Pinnix: 7-13-0, 118 yards

LAW – Jay Spencer: 4-10-2, 29 yards, Bryce Cullipher: 1-3-0, 23 yards

Receiving

NEA – Josh Jenkins: 4-56, Jay Duncan: 2-38, Brodie Harrell: 1-24

LAW – Jay Spencer: 1-23, Jacob Rhodes: 1-15