Battle of Pittsboro—Northwood linebacker Ryan Brinker meets Seaforth running back Anthony Vecse at the line of scrimmage during the Chargers’ 54-20 win over the Hawks on Friday. (credit PJ)
Sports banner cutline—Northwood's Gus Ritchey runs after making the catch during Friday’s 54-20 win over Seaforth. The junior tight end had four catches for 80 yards in the win.
Cutline: Northwood quarterback Carson Fortunes looks for an open receiver early in the 54-20 win over Seaforth in Friday’s Battle of Pittsboro. Fortunes threw for 230 yards and ran for 228 in the win (credit PJ)
“Somebody needs to offer that kid. He is special.” Coach Mitch Johnson on Carson Fortunes
Let Northwood senior and captain Carson Fortunes tell it, being the starting quarterback and a key piece to the Chargers’ defense is tiring.
But, let his play and head coach Mitch Johnson do the talking, and they’ll tell you that Fortunes doesn’t get tired.
In Northwood’s 54-20 win over Seaforth in the Battle of Pittsboro, Fortunes balled out on both sides of the ball. He found the endzone eight times, including four rushing scores, three touchdowns through the air and a pick six.
Fortunes finished the game with 228 rushing yards and 230 passing yards.
“Somebody needs to offer that kid,” Johnson said. “He is special. He is the best player in this conference, and I still think that he’s one of the best, if not the best player in the entire state.”
Fortunes and the Northwood offense struggled early with a spirited Seaforth defense playing physical in the run game. With starting running back Antoine Brewington out due to injury, sophomores Robert Tripp and Leo Mortimer stepped in to fill his absence.
Yet, the most successful run play of the night was the direct snap to Fortunes.
Fortunes ran with the patience to find holes, the power to break tackles and the speed to break away for long gains.
During Northwood’s second drive, some of his own rushes and a 22-yard completion to junior tight end Gus Ritchey set up Fortunes’ first score of the night on a six-yard run.
Then, after finding junior receiver Isaiah Blair in the back corner of the endzone for a 10-yard touchdown, another long Ritchey reception put Fortunes in position to go 34 yards to the house.
For Fortunes’ efforts through the air, the connection to Ritchey and Blair stayed strong throughout the night. He threw two scores to Blair, including a 51-yard bomb in the second quarter, and completed four passes to Ritchey for 80 yards.
“It’s not just (Blair and Ritchey),” Fortunes said. “It’s all four. They go get the ball. They’re great athletes…Having those guys out there on the edge makes short passes turn into big plays, so it makes my job look easy.”
Things got more difficult for Fortunes and the Chargers in the second half, though, as Seaforth’s quarterback Duffy Palmer began to hit his open targets.
Down 27-0 at the break, Palmer hit Dane O’Neill for a long score on the first play of the third quarter. Then, the Hawks responded to Northwood’s following touchdown from Ashton Elliot with an eight-yard touchdown pass to tight end George Weaver.
Weaver got behind the Chargers’ defense multiple times for long gains in the second half, and Palmer finished with 12 completions for 216 yards and three touchdowns.
“The mental mistakes were alignment, assignment, technique,” Johnson said. “We had guys not lined up on defense and (they) didn’t follow their assignments. Same thing on offense.”
Fortunes came back with another rushing score to put his team up, 41-14, with just over six minutes to go in the third quarter. However, it seemed that Seaforth was picking up some momentum.
On the Hawks’ next defensive series, senior John Becker intercepted Fortunes’ pass near the 20-yard line, setting Seaforth up in the red zone.
Unfortunately for the Hawks, Fortunes didn’t go to the sideline for a water break. On the next play, he picked off Palmer’s throw to a flat route and took it 84 yards to the house.
This wasn’t the first time Fortunes played lights out on both sides of the ball this season. In a big win over Southeast Alamance in early September, he grabbed two interceptions alongside three passing touchdowns, over 200 yards through the air and over 100 yards on the ground.
Fortunes has had limited chances in his career to show what he can do as he lost his freshman and junior seasons due to injury. But, now that he’s one of the leaders of a Northwood team that’s hitting its stride in the final weeks of the regular season, it’s time that others take notice.
“Offense, defense, it doesn’t matter,” Johnson said. “He’s going to make plays, and the best part is that it’s not about him. He’s going to make sure that everybody does their job, and when he makes mistakes, he’ll own up to it. He tries even harder to make sure somebody else can get their opportunity.”