AHOSKIE – Make it an even dozen, please.

Hertford County High School (6-1) did just that last night (Friday) when they ran their Northeastern Coastal Conference win streak to 12 over the past three seasons.

Victory number 12 came in a 41-8 rout of Edenton where the Bears manhandled their visitors to the tune of 354 rushing yards for the night.

“Tonight is the first time we have been consistent for four quarters,” first-year HCHS Head Football Coach Diego Hasty said. “The offensive line blocked well. The backs ran well.”

The coach said he was also pleased with his team’s pass defense and with special teams play.

The Bears wasted little time serving notice they intended to score early and often last night. HCHS hit paydirt less than two minutes into the contest when Ron Gatling capped a 45-yard, five-play drive with a 19-yard run. The conversion was added by Richard Burns and the Bears led 7-0.

The Aces didn’t lie down and die, however, coming back to take the lead on the first play of the second quarter.

Darnell Spears scored for the Aces on a 10-yard run. He also added the two-point conversion as Edenton led 8-7.

The Edenton score did little more than wake a sleeping giant as HCHS scored on their next three possessions to take a commanding 27-8 lead at the intermission.

The Bears retook the lead with 8:13 to play in the second quarter when Michael Stephenson went 30 yards on a scoring run. That followed a key 14-yard run by quarterback Antonio Vaughan early in the drive.

Burns added the conversion to make it 14-8.

After forcing an Edenton punt, the Bears set sail on a 45-yard drive that took nine plays. After Adriel Francis picked up 13 yards on the first play from scrimmage, the Bears settled into a steady diet of four- and five-yard gains until Gatling broke off a 12-yard scamper and Francis followed it up with an eight-yard scoring run with 3:02 to play in the half.

The kick failed, but HCHS led 20-8.

After forcing another Ace punt, the Bears took over possession at their own 28-yardline. Hasty sent his spread set on the field, but it was a decoy for Vaughan to tuck the football and scamper 40 yards into Edenton territory.

After a pass play from Vaughan to Lamar Monger moved the ball to the 24-yardline, Vaughan carried for four more yards.

Facing third down at the 20-yardline, Hasty reached into his bag of tricks and came out with the hook-and-ladder which went from Vaughan to Monger back to Stephenson who covered the remaining distance to paydirt.

The conversion by Burns was good and the Bears led 27-8 at the half.

The HCHS score in the third quarter was set up by a Monger interception. After the Aces drove to the 27-yardline, Monger picked off Timaine Moore’s pass in the endzone and returned it all the way to the 33-yardline.

From there Gatling and Shea Tann had back-to-back runs of 14 and 11 yards respectively before Stephenson added four yards and Markee White picked up 19.

Vaughan scampered 14 yards to the endzone with 6:21 to play to account for the HCHS touchdown. Burns’ kick was again true and the Bears led 34-8.

Hertford County found the endzone one more time, this time on an eight-yard run by Francis with 5:43 to play. Burns again added the PAT to account for the final score.

Vaughan was the only Hertford County rusher over the century mark as he had 124 yards on 12 carries.

The rest of the 300-plus game on the ground was a mixture of Gatling (5-45), Tann (6-42), Francis (7-51), Stephenson (6-52) and White (5-40).

Vaughan was 3-of-5 through the airways with 36 yards passing. That total gave the Bears 390 yards of total offense for the night.

Edenton mustered only 126 yards on the ground led by 86 yards on 10 carries from J.R. Felton.

Next week the Bears, who are now 2-0 in the Northeastern Coastal Conference, will host Currituck in their Homecoming contest. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.