Northeast handles Parrott

Published 8:58 pm Wednesday, October 6, 2010

LASKER – Northeast Academy made short work of visiting Arendell Parrott Academy Monday night.

In a game postponed by rain, the Eagles dominated the visiting Patriots en route to a 54-21 victory. The win was not without incident, however, as the game was stopped with 5:12 to play after officials deemed it out of control. (See story this page)

The first score of the night was set up by an interception by James Pope at the Eagles one-yardline. Northeast made the most of it, however, driving 99 yards on 14 plays to take an early lead.

Most of the Eagles’ work was done on the ground with Northeast throwing just two passes during the drive. One was a seven-yard toss from quarterback Davis Harrell to Justin Francis and the other was a pass from Harrell to Pope for eight yards.

The Eagles scored on a seven-yard run by Harrell and then he added the conversion when he hit Pope for the two-points. The result was an 8-0 Northeast lead with 5:21 to play in the first quarter.

Parrott responded quickly and added the extra point to cut the lead to 8-7 with just 4:11 to play in the quarter.

The Eagles came right back, however, scoring on a 66-yard pass play from Harrell to Pope on the first play from scrimmage of the following drive. Harrell added the conversion himself and Northeast led16-7 with 3:55 remaining in the quarter.

Parrott scored on the next drive and cut the Northeast lead to 16-14 with only 2:31 to play in the first quarter.

That was as close as the game would be again, however.

The Eagles took a 24-14 lead late in the second quarter when Francis rumbled in from five yards out. That capped a 10-play drive that was set up by a Clay Robbins fumble recovery.

The two-point conversion was successful when Pope found the endzone and Northeast led 24-14 with 1:09 remaining in the second period.

Neither team was doing scoring, however, as Parrott scored on a three-yard run with 17 seconds left and added the PAT to make it 24-21.

The Eagles, however, responded, scoring with no time left on the clock when Harrell raced 44 yards to the endzone after Francis had given Northeast the football at that point on his kickoff return.

Harrell found Francis on the two-point conversion and Northeast led 32-21 at the intermission.

Northeast scored again after taking the opening kickoff of the second half. The Eagles drove 70 yards on 10 plays to add to their lead. The key play came on a 21-yard scoring pass from Harrell to Justin Lassiter. Francis added the conversion and the Eagles led 40-21.

Eagles’ skipper Collin Sneed rolled the dice on the next play and ran an onsides kick which Northeast promptly recovered.

Aided by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Parrott bench, the Eagles took possession at the Patriots 36-yardline. The drive stalled, however, and Parrott took over at their own 16-yardline.

The Patriots drove to the Northeast 37-yardline, but Brad Johnson intercepted a pass at the Northeast five-yardline and returned it five yards.

The Eagles used that turnover to score again as they drove 90 yards on six plays. The scoring pass went from Harrell to Lassiter from 25 yards out. The conversion failed, but Northeast led 46-21.

The Eagles scored again, this time on a three-yard run by Harrell with 7:39 to play in the contest. The conversion run by Harrell was good and Northeast led 54-21.

The Eagles recovered a Parrott fumble on the next series but punted the ball away. After recovering another Patriot fumble, the Eagles set up at their own 25-yardline.

Parrott intercepted the pass on the next play and returned it before being tackled near the Patriots sideline. It was at that time two adults entered the field, making contact with a Northeast player.

The officials stopped the game at that point.

The Eagles improved to 4-2 with the victory while Parrott dropped to 4-2. This week the Eagles will host St. Davids.

(By Tommy Bryant, Sports Writer)