MOUNT ULLA — Ben Hampton’s new starting position allowed his team to play like the West Rowan of old.
It also got the Falcons a long-awaited win.
Hampton, who started the first three games at quarterback, rushed 26 times for 206 yards as a tailback to lead West to a 29-12 win against previously undefeated South Rowan.
Hampton, who made the move to full-time tailback in the second half of last week’s game against North Rowan, rushed for two scores and also caught a touchdown pass.
“So far, it’s going pretty good,” Hampton said of the change to tailback. “I don’t think I’ve had 200 yards in a game in my career.
“It’s cool, I love it.”
Hampton’s paced a Falcon offense that went away from the pass this week to focus on the run.
West coach Scott Young made that a point of emphasis at practice, and his offensive line responded Friday night as the Falcons rushed 40 times for 257 yards.
West only attempted 10 passes in the contest.
“I had been coaching against my style somewhat,” Young said. “We made a commitment this week to stay in in the two-back and run the football because that’s what we’ve had success with. By gosh, we did it tonight.”
The Falcons didn’t get many chances to show off their refurbished running attack in the first quarter.
Senior wideout Horatio Everhart returned the opening kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown to give the Falcons an early lead.
West Rowan got the ball back quickly when Matt Morgan intercepted South quarterback Andrew Morgan’s pass on the Raiders’ third play from scrimmage.
The Falcons marched 24 yards in five plays, finishing the drive on Hampton’s 8-yard TD reception from new starting quarterback Gary Scott for a 14-0 lead.
West got the ball back at its own 23 with 6:09 left in the quarter after a punt and needed only one play to increase its lead even more.
Hampton took a handoff from Scott, emerged out of a pack of three South defenders at the 28-yard line and outran a Raider defender down the left sideline for the 77-yard score and a 21-0 lead.
“I was so worried he was going to catch me,”Hampton said. “I know I’m not going to run 70 yards to have somebody catch me.”
The Raiders clawed their way back in the game, but the
21-point hole was just too large to climb out of.
South got some momentum after a West fumble at the Raider 37 with 1:32 left in the first quarter.
The Raiders went on a nine-play, 63-yard drive — capped off by Brent Dendy’s 5-yard TD run — to finally get on the scoreboard with 10:07 left in the half.
South struck again on its next possession, going 44 yards in eight plays to score on David Ritchie’s 1-yard plunge with 4:46 left before halftime
The Raiders had one more chance before the half to close close the gap even more, but Falcon defensive back Tyrell Little picked off Morgan at the goal line with 22 seconds left.
“If we can stick that in and all of a sudden make it 21-19, all of a sudden it’s a little bit closer of a game,”South coach Rick Vanhoy said.
Hampton and Young admitted that South’s comeback had them worried. But Young told the Falcons at halftime that they couldn’t try to hold on to their lead; they had to increase it.
West did just that, then let its defense take care of the rest.
The Falcons went on a
10-play, 63-yard scoring drive on their first possession of the second half. West got 53 of those yards on the ground, with the final yards coming on Hampton’s third touchdown of the night with 5:20 left in the quarter.
Hampton ran off right tackle and dragged two South defenders with him for the final three yards.He also sprinted around right end for a two-point conversion to put the Falcons ahead by three possessions.
The Falcons showed early they weren’t going to have a second-half letdown.
“I was a little worried when they battled back there late in the half,”Young said. “I thought we might have expended a little too much nervous energy early and sort of had an emotional letdown.
“But we were able to go in there, recharge the batteries, come right back out and do the same thing we did to them in the first half.”
Except the Falcons didn’t let South move the ball this time.
The Raiders were limited to three first downs and 39 yards of offense in four second-half possessions.
South running back Henry Norman, who had 72 yards on 12 carries in the first half, rushed four times for 20 yards after halftime.
Vanhoy inserted backup quarterback Hoke Shirley at the end of the third quarter to try something new, but nothing was working for South’s normally potent offense.
“We learned a valuable lesson, and we learned it the hard way,”Vanhoy said. “You can’t live on last week or last year.”
The win has West looking to the future.
The Falcons are back at .500 even though they won their first game on the field Friday night — their other victory came via a forfeit.
West enjoyed its first taste of victory and hopes to get many more as the season progresses.
Just like the Falcon teams of the past.
“You see the scoreboard, it lets you know West Rowan is back,”Scott said. “ Everybody doubted us, talking about how we were going to lose. But we came out and played our game and came out on top. I’m real proud of my team.”
Notes: Scott completed five-of-eight passes for 69 yards and one interception. Hampton attempted two throws on halfback passes, but both were incomplete...
South’s Pat Edwards had a 59-yard punt in the fourth quarter to pin West at its own 4-yard line.
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