PITTSBORO — In Seaforth and Northwood’s first-ever varsity football contest, one thing was clear about the Battle of U.S. Hwy. 64 — the rivalry has already started.
Despite the Hawks entering Friday night having lost their first three games by a combined score of 128-0, they held their ground throughout the defensive slugfest. But in the end, Seaforth’s push fell short, and the host Chargers escaped with a 12-7 victory.
Regardless of the result, Hawks junior receiver Anthony Vesce knows the loss can propel Seaforth (0-4) to greater heights this year.
“Today showed us we can do a lot and how strong we are as a team,” Vesce said after the game. “I feel like we’re going to use this in the future and we’re going to have a good season after this game.”
Playing in his first game this season after recovering from injury, Vesce added a spark that had been absent from the Seaforth offense for most of the year. With his quick speed in the open field and the ability to shake off multiple defenders, the junior kicked off the Hawks’ opening drive with a 24-yard scamper.
From that play on, his explosiveness and power were established. He finished the night with 50 yards on 12 carries, and his impact was clearly evident to the rest of his teammates and head coach Terrance Gary.
“I have that mentality where I’m not going to be stopped by one person,” Vesce said. “Multiple people are going to have to take me down. I can’t be stopped by one, and I won’t be stopped by one.”
But Seaforth’s end-around play to its new offensive weapon was soon snuffed out, and the Hawks were forced into a 3rd-and-10 in Northwood territory.
For the first time Friday, Seaforth sophomore quarterback Joshua Brown didn’t turn and hand the ball off to one of Seaforth’s several ball-carriers. Rather, he dropped back and heaved the ball deep down the left side of the field. Standing in the end zone was junior John Becker, who corralled the 35-yard touchdown to give the Hawks their first points of the season.
“This is my first year ever playing football, so catching that touchdown — the first points as a varsity team — felt great,” Becker said.
The early score turned the maroon and silver crowd into a frenzy, and the rest of the Seaforth team mobbed Becker when he returned to the sideline.
The early strike by the Hawks stunned the Charger faithful. And to make matters worse for the home team, costly penalties and the ejection of head coach Chris Kenan for arguing with officials appeared to have Northwood (2-2) heading into the half trailing against an opponent many believed the Chargers would blow out.
Yet, a blocked punt late in the second quarter helped set up the first Northwood touchdown of the night on a seven-yard touchdown pass from senior Will Smith to freshman Cam Fowler. But the ensuing extra point was missed wide left, and Seaforth went into the half leading by one point, 7-6. To hear Becker tell it, the halftime score came as no surprise to the undermanned Seaforth squad.
“We knew coming in that we had a good chance,” he said. “This is our rival team so we weren’t going to let them run through us. We knew we had to fight hard and all of us rallied together despite only having 18 people (available) — we have a lot of injuries.”
Seaforth did a decent job holding Northwood’s offense in check after the Chargers ran for over 250 yards against Chapel Hill in Week 3. This time around, Northwood finished the night with 157 total rushing yards, including 70 by Smith and another 76 by freshman Robert Tripp.
The magic for the Hawks would soon run out, however.
In the third quarter, Brown attempted to avoid a sack by throwing the ball away as he was being dragged to the ground. But the quarterback’s desperate heave fell into the arms of senior linebacker Cliff Davis, who returned the ball for a touchdown.
The defensive touchdown proved to be the final scoring play of the game, as Seaforth’s upset bid fell five points short. Even so, Gary said his team’s camaraderie improved during the loss.
“They came together tonight,” he said. “No matter what the score is, they need to give the best effort they have and that’s what we did.”
Up next
With the defeat, the Hawks dropped to 0-4, but signs of growth during the early half of the season have been evident. And coming off its closest margin of defeat of the year to a bitter rival, Seaforth knows what needs to be done to secure the program’s first varsity football win against Jordan-Matthews on Friday.
“What we’re going to do next is to keep working hard in practice, and right now we feel like we can beat anyone left on our schedule,” Becker said.
Northwood, meanwhile, will return home in Week 5 to take on Burlington Williams in the Chargers’ first 3A East Conference matchup of the year. The Bulldogs are also 2-2 and are coming off a 28-21 loss to Eastern Randolph in Week 4.