PITTSBORO — Ugly. That’s about all you can say about Friday night’s contest between Northwood and Lee County in Pittsboro.
Lee County lived up to its billing as the No. 5 ranked 3A team in the state, absolutely demolishing Northwood in front of a stunning home crowd.
The Yellow Jackets buzzed their way to a 21-0 lead after one period of play before erupting for 39 points in the second quarter to take a shocking 60-0 advantage at the intermission.
It’s simply one of those losses that’s best completely forgotten by Northwood.
On the flip side, it shows just how powerful Lee County is this fall as the Yellow Jackets, led by a slew of talented seniors including the top prospect in the state in Desmond Evans, appear to have one of its best teams in the history of the school.
Northwood, now 0-2 on the season, will get another taste of a team from Lee County this Friday when the Chargers play host to Southern Lee, also 0-2 on the season.
Lee County improved to 2-0 in the fall with the impressive win and travels to Fayetteville this Friday to tangle with Douglas Byrd. The Eagles are 0-1 on the season after dropping its opener 24-20 at Western Harnett last Monday.
The start of the contest was a sign of things to come as an eight-yard sack of Northwood QB Jalen Mcafee-Marion by Larry Baldwin on the Chargers opening series forced a three-and-out.
It would take Lee County just seven plays to go 78 yards, culminated by Colin Johnson connecting with UNC commit Jayden Chambers over the middle on a 36-yard touchdown strike to give the Yellow Jackets the lead for good at 6-0 with 7:58 to go in the opening quarter. Trey Underwood added the first of his eight extra point kicks on what was a perfect outing for one of the top kickers in the area.
Johnson, who was 12-of-17 for 171 yards and two touchdowns on the night, also hit Desmond Evans on a 17-yard and Tyric Mckendall on a 13-yard hook up in the drive.
Lee County, behind a stout defense led by Baldwin, Evans, Chalmers, Jennings, Derran McKoy, and Deandre Dingle Prince, forced a pair of three-and-outs by the Northwood offense on the ensuing possessions. The result was Lee County going 54 yards in five plays for a score, capped by a one-yard plunge from A.J. Boulware, and then 25 yards on two plays capped by Johnson hitting Evans on a two-yard scoring pass to make the score 21-0. Johnson hit Evans on a 37-yard pass to key the first score before connecting with Jason Berdecia on a 23-yard pass to set up the second Evans TD reception.
Staring at a 21-0 deficit, things completely fell apart for the Chargers in the second period as Boulware got the visitors started by taking a handoff and sweeping around the right end before cutting back across the grain and rolling into the left corner on the end zone on a 56-yard touchdown jaunt.
Moments later, Delmaz Jennings reeled in a loose ball and returned it three yards to the end zone to extend the score to 35-0.
Northwood, which was saddled with horrendous field position the entire contest, found itself pinned back inside the five-yard line for the third time of the contest and Mckoy made a tackle in the end zone to push the Lee County lead to 37-0 with eight minutes left in the half.
After the ensuing free kick, Boulware was back at it, this time rumbling 57 yards to pay dirt.
A tenacious Yellow Jackets defense would back the Chargers deep inside its own territory once again, setting up another safety, this time on a tackle by Evans to send Lee County in front 46-0 at the 7:11 mark.
Baldwin would score shortly after the free kick on an eight-yard run before Prince fell on a lose ball in the end zone for a score to make the lead 60-0 at the break.
The clock ran the entire second half as neither team score in the fast periods.
Boulware finished with 134 yards and three touchdowns rushing on just eight carries.
Deuce Powell, Aaron Ross and Cameron Brower played well for the Chargers in the losing effort.