McDonald, ‘Dogs down Bears
Published 12:03 am Saturday, September 18, 2010
AHOSKIE – McDonald’s opened up a new drive-thru here Friday night at the Hertford County High School football field.
However, there wasn’t a hamburger in site….only healthy doses of #4 to the left, #4 off the right side and #4 up the middle.
That jersey number belonged to Terry Sanford High School running back Dante McDonald who tore-up the HCHS turf to the tune of 288 rushing yards and four touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs past the Bears, 28-18, in a non-conference match-up.
For the Bears, who may not visit their own McDonald’s on Memorial Drive after that shellacking, it marked their second straight loss as HCHS drops to 3-2 overall heading into next Friday’s (Sept. 24) conference opener at home against Northeastern.
Despite the dominating effort by McDonald, the Bears made a valiant effort thanks to back-up quarterback Dorrien Askew. The sophomore came in to start the second half and took all but one snap.
Down 21-12 late in the third quarter, Askew orchestrated Hertford County’s only scoring drive of the night as he led the Bears on a 61-yard march, all through the air, connecting on three-of-four passes.
Starting at their own 39, Askew completed back-to-back passes to Devin Vaughan and Dontez Tyler, each covering 12 yards. Following an incompletion, Askew and Vaughan hooked-up on a 37-yard touchdown pass. The conversion run failed, but the Bears had clawed back to within 21-18 with 1:34 left in the third quarter.
Unfortunately for the home team, that’s as close as it got.
Terry Sanford rode McDonald’s legs to extend the lead to 10 points on the game’s next possession. That drive covered 80 yards in six plays with McDonald toting the pigskin on four of those snaps, including a 63-yard scoring scamper that rounded out the scoring with 11:03 left in the game.
The Bears did not threaten down the stretch, never crossing midfield.
Hertford County’s offense also sputtered in the first half where the Bears ran 23 plays for only 39 yards. The Bears only first down of the first half came on a face mask penalty by the Bulldogs.
As a matter of fact, Hertford County’s best offense was its defense, especially Petey Boone. The senior cornerback scored twice on interception returns – 48 yards late in the first quarter and 86 yards with a shade over three minutes before the halftime break.
Even that, however, wasn’t enough to overcome McDonald’s power running. The senior kept pounding away at the HCHS defense, scoring twice in the first half on runs of two yards and 33 yards where the Bulldogs lead 14-12.
He added a nine-yard TD run at the 6:22 mark of the third quarter, extending Terry Sanford’s lead to 21-12.
For the game, the Bears totaled 108 yards with Askew leading that effort with 74 yards through the air.
Terry Sanford finished with 412 total yards.