Associated Press
CHAPEL HILL ó Chris Lane rushed for 110 yards and two touchdowns while Damarius Harper added 113 and another score to lead Tarboro over Burnsville Mountain Heritage 28-3 in the Class 2-A North Carolina High School Athletic Association Championship on Friday night.
It was the second title in four championship appearances for Tarboro (15-1), which won its first title in 1984 and lost 51-28 to Newton-Conover last year. Mountain Heritage (13-3) was trying for its first state title in any sport.
Casey Randolph rushed for 106 yards for Mountain Heritage, finishing the season with 3,055 rushing yards.
Tarboro, which finished with 269 yards, did not attempt a pass.
“When you know what it’s like to be in the other locker room and come up short of your goal and have a bunch of men come in that Monday and say, ‘Coach, we’re getting back and we’re winning it,’ that’s easy for them,” Tarboro coach Jeff Craddock said of last year’s runner-up finish.
“God knows I’ve loved every minute I’ve spent with them. I’m going to keep coaching football and I may never get back here again, but that doesn’t concern me.”
Lane got Tarboro breathing room on the first play of the fourth quarter, with a 40-yard touchdown run to help the Vikings to a 21-3 lead.
Chris Cabbagestalk put the game away with 8:15 left when he returned an interception 42 yards for a touchdown.
Tarboro led 14-3 at halftime on a 4-yard run by Harper