WILMINGTON – The hype for the football game between the teams from New Bern and New Hanover High School was huge.
The unbeaten No. 3-ranked 4A team in the state was traveling to Wilmington to face the unbeaten No. 8-ranked team and there was a lot riding on the game, starting with the inside track for the conference championship and stretching out to the possible No. 1 seed in the East in the NCHSAA 4A playoffs. That would mean home games right up to a trip to either Chapel Hill or Raleigh.
It certainly qualified as a big game and New Hanover Coach Kevin Motsinger made that clear in a post-game interview in which he said, “In a big-time game big-time players make big plays, and they (New Bern) showed they are a big-time team.”
That statement pretty much summed up what happened Friday on the Jurgensen-Gabriel Football Field at Wilmington’s Legion Stadium.
New Bern senior running back Jacquin Watkins rushed for 104 yards and scored two touchdowns, and the Bears turned two errant Wildcat passes into touchdowns as New Bern defeated New Hanover 63-34 on Friday in a key Mid-Eastern 4A Conference football game.
New Bern’s Mike Hughes returned one interception 80 yards for a score to give the Bears (6-0, 2-0 in conference) a 14-6 lead early in a 28-point second quarter, and Marquis Harrison returned a second interception 23 yards for a touchdown in presenting the Bears with a 35-14 advantage with just 46 seconds gone in the second half.
“The bottom line is you need to protect the football and we didn’t do that,” Motsinger said. “We gave them too many opportunities and they took advantage of every one of them.
“I am definitely not happy with the effort in the second half. We’ve got to step forward and do the job and we didn’t do it in the second half, and I didn’t raise these kids like that.”
New Bern showed they are a darn good football team, also, as they overcame an early 6-0 first-quarter deficit en route to scoring 21 straight points in the first 6:17 of the second quarter behind an 18-yard run by quarterback Josh Taylor, Hughes’ 80-yard interception return, and a 29-yard pass hookup from Taylor to Bralon Cherry in making it 21-6 with 5:43 left in the first half.
New Hanover countered those three scores with a 39-yard touchdown connection from Ward Coleman to Trevon Brown, but the Bears counterpunched on a 57-yard touchdown pass from Taylor to Chandler Powell with 4:17 remaining in the first half.
“We gave them everything they got in the first half and we missed a lot of assignments, and we’re a better football team than we showed tonight,” said Motsinger. His team fell to 5-1 overall and 0-12 in the conference.
The backbreaker came on New Hanover’s first possession of the second half when New Bern’s Harrison stepped in front of a Coleman pass in the flat and raced 23 yards into the end zone to give his team a 35-14 lead with 46 seconds elapsed in the second half.
New Hanover showed their talent by constantly fighting back. On the first play of their next possession, Coleman found Jacen Murphy across the middle and the senior wide-out raced 80 yards to the end zone to cut the Bears’ lead to 35-20.
On their next offensive series the Wildcats closed the gap even more when Coleman and Trevon Brown hooked up for a 61-yard scoring play in bringing New Hanover within seven at 35-28.
The joy was short-lived as a 10-yard run by Taylor and a 69-yard run by Watkins set the Bears up on the Wildcats’ two-yard line, and Cody Purdie finished off the drive with a two-yard scoring burst and a 42-28 lead.
A New Hanover fumble set the Bears up again, this time on the Wildcats’ 16-yard line and it took just four plays for the Bears to make it 49-28 with Watkins capping the drive with a four-yard run.
Coleman connected with Brown on a 45-yard scoring pass with 2:46 left in the third quarter to bring New Hanover to within 49-34 but that would be as close as they would get as the Bears scored to open the fourth period, and they took advantage of another interception 46-seconds later with Watkins bursting in from one-yard out.
Another key factor in the loss was New Bern kicker Kyle O’Conner, who made all nine of his extra-point kicks. More importantly, he totally stymied the Wildcats’ return game by putting six kickoffs into the end zone.
“They are a great football team and we are a good football team but we didn’t show it tonight,” Motsinger said.
The Wildcats have just one week to recover, and to correct the mistakes as they travel to Ashley for a 7:30 p.m. conference start next Friday.
New Bern 0-28-21-14=63
New Hanover 6- 8-20- 0=34
First Quarter
New Hanover – Parese Williams 4 pass from Ward Coleman (Kick failed), 6:54
Second Quarter
New Bern – Joh Taylor 18 run (Kyle O’Conner kick), 10:02
New Bern – Mike Hughes 80 interception return (Kyle O’Conner kick), 8:23
New Bern – Bralon Cherry 29 pass from Josh Taylor (Kyle O’Conner kick), 6:42
New Hanover – Trevon Brown 39 pass from Ward Coleman (Trevon Brown pass from
Ward Coleman), 5:43
New Bern – Chandler Powell 57 pass from Josh Taylor (Kyle O’Conner kick), 4:16
Third Quarter
New Bern – Marquis Harrison 23 interception return (Kyle O’Conner kick), 11:14
New Hanover – Jacen Murphy 80 pass from Ward Coleman (Pass failed), 11:00
New Hanover – Trevon Brown 61 pass from Ward Coleman (Ramone Simpson pass
from Ward Coleman), 6:02
New Bern – Coidy Purdie 2 run (Kyle O’Conner kick), 5:28
New Bern – Jacquin Watkins 4 run (Kyle O’Conner kick), 3:53
New Hanover – Trevon Brown 45 pass from Ward Coleman (Pass failed), 2:46
Fourth Quarter
New Bern – Josh Taylor 1 run (Kyle O’Conner kick), 11:56
New Bern – Jacquin Watkins 1 run (Kyle O’Conner kick), 11:10
Team Statistics NHHS New Bern
First downs 15 17
Rushing 26-199 46-334
Passing 19-32-391 9-18-180
Penalties 4-35 5-40
Punts 1-22 2-86
Individual Statistics: Rushing – New Hanover: Ramone Simpson 13-108, Jacen Murphy 1-48, Montrell Baldwin 11-33, Ward Coleman 1-7. New Bern: Jacquin Watkins 13-104, Josh Taylor 13-71, Chandler Powell 4-70, Craig Stokes 2-58, Cody Purdie 3-31, De’Andre Ballard 5-12. Passing – New Hanover: Ward Coleman 19-32-391. New Bern: Josh Taylor 9-18-180. Receiving – New Hanover: Jacen Murphy 6-186, Trevon Brown 8-182, Parese Williams 3-10, Montrell Baldwin 1-6, Ramone Simpson 1-7. New Bern: Bralon Cherry 3-40, Leandre Grimes 2-39, Deandre Grimes 2-36, Chandler Powell 2-66.
