WINDSOR – It was a tale of two drives.

This time, they were both Hertford County scoring drives.

The Bears got points on the last drive of the first half and the first drive of the second half and used those 11 points to put away Bertie in a 27-8 win here last night.

The victory capped a perfect league season for the Bears as they won their first outright Northeastern Coastal Conference championship in improving to 10-1 overall and 6-0 in the conference.

With HCHS holding a tenuous 9-8 lead they took possession early in the second quarter. The Bears’ offense drove 64 yards in 17 plays while eating up most of the second quarter clock.

The Bears got a key pass completion early in the drive from senior quarterback Danny Dembry to Laquan Tann to move the ball from the 37-yardline out to the 27-yardline.

The Bears continued chewing away yardage in four- and five-yard chunks behind the running of Dembry, Tann, Travis Greene and Rayshawn Mercer until Dembry broke off a 19-yard scamper that got the ball deep into Bertie territory at the 28-yardline.

After Greene picked up four more yards, Mercer carried the ball four consecutive times, picking up 19 total yards.

The Falcon defense stepped up and forced Michael Burton to boot a 22-yard field goal, but the score gave HCHS a 12-8 halftime lead.

The Bears got the ball to open the second half and quickly had the Falcons on their heels again.

Dembry started the drive with a pair of runs covering 27 yards on the first two snaps and then Mercer went 17 yards to put the ball at the Bertie 18-yardline.

On the next play, Mercer covered the remaining distance to get into the endzone. The conversion pass from Dembry to Andre Lyles was good and Hertford County led 20-8.

While the offensive line for the Bears was opening holes through which the HCHS backs were bursting, Bertie quarterback Desmond Williams was often running for his life and the Falcons backs had almost no holes through which to run.

Such was the case on the next drive for Bertie as they picked up only seven yards and were forced to punt.

The Bears again made them pay as they went 70 yards on just four plays to put the game away.

Dembry picked up the first five followed by six yards from Tann and six from Greene.

The senior Greene then raced 53 yards to paydirt on the next play which, coupled with Burton’s extra point, established the 27-8 lead for HCHS.

On the next drive, Bertie appeared to be ready to move the football as junior Kevin Swain garnered 29 yards on two carries to move the football into Hertford County territory.

A delay of game penalty and a HCHS sack of Williams moved the football backwards and on third down, Williams was flushed from the pocket by LaMarcus “Buck” Jenkins and had to throw the ball away.

The Falcons never made another serious threat and Hertford County rolled to the conference championship.

In the early going, it was all Hertford County as well.

The Bears scored on their first possession when a botched snap forced Bertie punter Anthony Whitaker to attempt to get off the punt, but he was stopped at the HCHS nine-yardline.

After a loss on the first play, Dembry scored from 11 yards out with 8:53 to play in the first quarter.

Just moments later, HCHS scored again when another bad snap saw Whitaker retreat to the endzone where he was tackled for a safety by Marcel Henneghan to make it 9-0.

The Bears had a chance to pull away when they got the ball back after the safety, but the Bertie defense held the Bears on fourth-and-short and gave the ball back to the offense.

Swain then had runs of 16, four and 12 yards in consecutive order to get the ball to the 26-yardline of HCHS.

Swain then carried for rushes of four and eight yards before Williams picked up 10 yards. He scored on the next play from the two-yardline. The conversion by Swain made it 9-8 in favor of the Bears with 1:46 to play in the first quarter.

Offensively, the Bears put up 311 yards, including 301 rushing yards. They were led by Greene with 117 yards on 12 carries while Dembry has 102 yards on 15 carries.

Mercer added 77 yards on 15 carries.

Bertie managed just 157 yards of offense, led by Swain’s 107 yards on 22 carries. The Falcons did not complete a pass, but attempted only five the entire game.

Score by quarters

HCHS n 9 n 3 n 15 n 0

BHS n 8 n 0 n 0 n 0

Scoring Summary

HCHS n Danny Dembry, 11-yd run; Michael Burton kick; 8:53, 1st

HCHS n Marcel Henneghan, safety; 6:33, 1st

Bertie n Desmond Williams, 2-yd run; Kevin Swain run; 1:46, 1st

HCHS n Burton, 22-yd field goal; 1:20, 2nd

HCHS n Rayshawn Mercer, 18-yd run; Dembry pass to Andre Lyles; 10:55, 2nd

HCHS n Travis Greene, 53-yd run; Burton kick; 6:41, 3rd

Rushing

HCHS n Travis Greene 12 n 117, Danny Dembry 15 n 102, Rayshawn Mercer 15 n 77

Bertie n Kevin Swain 22 n 107, 4 n 44

Passing

HCHS n Danny Dembry, 1-4-0, 10 yards

BHS n None

Receiving

HCHS n Laquan Tann 1 – 10