They didn’t know the North Stanly running back was going to throw it.

Watkins tossed a halfback touchdown pass, intercepted two balls and ran for 324 yards and four touchdowns in the Comets’ 34-20 comeback win Friday night. After trailing 2A Central Carolina Conference foe Salisbury 20-14 at halftime, the Comets came out with a simple game plan — give No. 20 the football.

“I felt like I was getting the ball every time, but Ilike that,”Watkins said. “I like the pressure being on me, I like to put the team on my shoulders.”

North Stanly (2-7 overall, 1-3 CCC) needed plenty of help after the Hornets stormed to a 12-0 lead in the opening five minutes. But that’s before Watkins got started. On his sixth carry, he raced 37 yards for a touchdown. His final run of the first half, from 24 yards out, tied the game at 12-12, and an O.J. Owens conversion made it 14-12 with 1:52 remaining.

“I was playing safety and every time back there I anticipated too much and he ran right by me,”Hornets junior Markeice Daugherty said. “He got me like that a couple of times — cut … and boom.”

Daugherty got quick revenge. Salisbury (0-9, 0-4) looked content to run out the clock in the first half with a first down at its own 30-yard line. Then quarterback Terry Johnson dropped back and launched a bomb that Daugherty settled under at the 25-yard line.

He beat defensive back O.J. Owens the rest of the way into the end zone and the North Stanly band had to be waved off the field for the Hornets’ two-point conversion, a Johnson pass to Gromyko Walker that put Salisbury up 20-14.

“I didn’t think I could get by O.J. like that, he’s supposed to be one of the best defenders in the state,”Daugherty said. “That got us hyped up. We thought we could hold them.”

A stunned Comet team hoped otherwise.

“I was surprised we were down. I tried to teach the team that the game’s not over until the scoreboard’s on the fourth quarter and there’s no time left,”Watkins said. “I was telling the players to keep their heads up and we pulled it off.”

Watkins’ use of the word “we” was generous. North Stanly received the second half kickoff and ran five straight plays to Watkins down to the Salisbury 13-yard line. But two holding calls and a staunch Hornet defense turned away the scoring opportunity on downs.

The Comets roared back on their next drive, though, with Watkins setting up third-and-goal at the 9. The third quarter ended, giving North Stanly head coach Robert Harris plenty of time to plan the next play. QBWes Herlocker pitched right to Watkins, who took two steps, stopped and lobbed a perfect strike to a wide-open James McRae Jr. in the end zone.

“That was pretty good, I didn’t know I could do it,”Watkins said. “Coach called my number and he (McRae) was wide open because the corners came up.”

“We’ve had that play in our repertoire but haven’t used it in a couple weeks,”Harris said. “McRae came over and told me it was there and I told him he’d better make it happen.”

Owens broke the 20-20 tie with a two-point conversion run.

TheSalisbury offense that worked flawlessly in the first half sputtered in the second, as the Hornets held the ball in the third quarter for just 2:11. After their second three-and-out series of the second half, Owens raced 57 yards through the middle and down the left sideline for a 28-20 advantage.

“Once you hit him he goes down like anybody else — that’s the problem, containing him,” Hornet senior linebacker Darren Lasco said. “We showed we could stop him, but he’s a great running back.”

Salisbury earned its first first down of the second half with 8:50 remaining in the game and set the stage for a game-tying score with five minutes to go.

After forcing the only North Stanly punt of the second half, the Hornets started first-and-10 from their own 20. Johnson dropped back to throw and found senior wideout Adam Taylor, who slipped one tackle and made his way to midfield. A block there sprung him and he raced the final 50 yards untouched — but the block that shook him lose was in the back, and two yellow flags sat at midfield, silent assassins of the Salisbury rally. Johnson’s next pass was intercepted.

“That was a good, obvious call,”Hornets head coachRaymond Daugherty said. “We did everything we had to do in the last four minutes of playing a football game but score.”

Owens made sure the Hornets remained winless when he grabbed his second interception of the game in the end zone. Two plays later he burned up some of the final seconds with an 87-yard run to cap off his amazing night.

“He’s been that way all year, I appreciate everything he’s done,”Harris said. “He definitely gave us some big plays in the second half.”

n