From the Kinston Varsity website:
http://varsity.kinston.com/articles/fourth-666-pittsboro-round.html===================================================================
Kinston drops Pittsboro Northwood, 34-21; faces Reidsville next week for 2AA state championship berthPITTSBORO – The dream season for the Kinston High School football team will continue for another week.
The Vikings – already with school records for wins in a season and the deepest run into the state playoffs – jumped out to an early 21-7 lead in their NCHSAA 2AA third-round contest at Pittsboro Northwood and held on for a 34-21 victory.
The win advances Kinston to next week’s 2AA Eastern Regional final at Reidsville, a team that won the 2007 and 2008 state championship and one that is on a 46-game winning streak.
The winner of the Kinston-Reidsville game will advance to the 2AA state championship game, which will take place Dec. 12 at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan Stadium.
“I know they’re a very good team,” Kinston senior running back Josh Benoit said of Reidsville. “It’s going to be a good game. We’re going to go there and play football and do the best we can.”
Benoit and his teammates certainly played their best in Friday’s victory. After Kinston (12-2) and Northwood (12-2) swapped touchdowns early in the first quarter, the Vikings used a 2-yard run by Dory Hines – his second rushing score – and a 56-yard pass from Hines to Chris Brown to take a 21-7 lead only 11 seconds into the second quarter.
Northwood made it a one-touchdown lead going into halftime, however, when Chargers quarterback Sam Griffin connected on a 42-yard strike to Tra Chandler with 54 seconds left in the period. Kinston held onto a tenuous 21-14 lead at the break.
“We jumped out with that early lead and then got on our heels a little bit,” KHS coach Battle Holley said. “We just kept fighting.”
Benoit helped push the Vikings lead back to two scores when he scored on a 30-yard scamper with 4:54 left in the third quarter. Northwood answered with a 7-yard run by Griffin to make it 28-21 a little over two minutes later.
After Jerome Vaughn scored on a 30-yard run of his own with 9:55 remaining in regulation for a 34-21 lead, Kinston’s Rashad Fields intercepted Griffin on Northwood’s very next play. That was the third forced turnover by the Vikings defense – and following an 18-play Kinston drive that ate up nearly the next 10 minutes of the fourth quarter – the Chargers took over possession with 2:02 left and virtually no chance for victory.
During the 18-play drive that nearly ran out the clock in the fourth quarter, Kinston chewed up 72 yards on the ground – part of an impressive 349 yards of rushing offense in the game for the Vikings. The rushing performance was a vast improvement over a week ago, when Kinston only rushed for 107 yards in a second-round win at East Duplin.
“Tonight was just one of those nights when we challenged our offensive line that they needed to run-block better,” Holley said. “They stepped up to the challenge.”
Brown led the way on the ground for the Vikings, carrying the ball 23 times for 135 yards. Benoit had 17 carries for 128 yards, while Vaughn had seven hauls for 51 yards. Hines finished with five carries for 9 yards, including his two rushing scores.
Hines was also impressive through the air, completing six of 11 passes for 126 yards.
“Our mentality is always to play hard and give it all we’ve got,” Hines said. “That’s all Coach asks for, whether we win, lose or draw.”
Brown had two catches for 69 yards, meaning the senior finished with 204 total yards of offense.Tight end Joshua Lovick had two catches for 33 yards, including a 17-yard catch on third-and-9 that kept the final drive going.
Northwood finished with 356 yards of offense and was led by 119 yards rushing on 14 attempts by Shannon Peppers. Griffin completed 10 of 21 passes for 194 yards and an interception.
Now, the Vikings shift their focus to Reidsville, which has the third-longest winning streak in America by a high school team, according to USA Today.
“They have a lot of tradition,” Holley said of Reidsville. “We’re going to go up there and see what happens. I can tell you this: We’re going to play hard. When you line up, you always have a chance.”
Hines agreed with his coach.
“We have to get back to work Monday through Thursday, so we’ll be prepared to win on Friday, like we did this week,” he said.
