Hampton routs Avery in penalty plagued contest

Published 11:30 pm Friday, September 3, 2021

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BY ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN

STAR CORRESPONDENT

Senior quarterback Conor Jones rushed for a pair of first-half touchdowns and passed for two more as Hampton toppled Avery County 54-26 on Friday night at J.C. Campbell Stadium.

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Jones run for scores of three yards and 26 yards and had a pair of touchdown tosses to Michael Harrison of 40 yards and 24 yards as the Bulldogs opened a 41-20 halftime advantage.

Harrison had three interceptions of Avery County sophomore quarterback Will Stanford and two touchdown receptions for the Bulldogs.

“Harrison is a kid who has been a good athlete here for a lot of years,” Bulldogs head coach Michael Lunsford said. “He’s a super talented athlete who catches everything and can go up high to get it.”

Stanford passed for 209 first-half yards on 10-for-21 completions including touchdown passes of 77 yards to Elijah Holtsclaw, 34 yards to Logan Gilliam, and 38 yards to Mason Thomas.

Jones rushed for 83 of Hampton’s 209 first-half yards with Levi Lunsford rushing for 42 yards on 10 carries including a three-yard scoring run. Jonathan Greenwell had a three-yard scoring run for the ‘Dogs.

The third quarter saw Chance Point score on a 27-yard scoring toss from Jones and Chad Giarrusso scored on a two-yard run for the Vikings. Greenwell scored his second touchdown of the contest in the fourth quarter to make it a 54-26 game.

Stanford finished the game with 250 yards passing on 15-of-35 completions but the Avery ground game was held in check with just 58 yards on the ground.

Hampton rushed for 322 ground yards and Jones completed 6-of-9 passes for 133 yards.

“The line is the strength of our team and we kind of put it on their backs to carry us,” Lunsford said. “They did a heck of a job. Dylan Trivett was a kid we wanted to get some reps and he has a good arm. We give him a lot of reps in practice but it’s just different on Friday night.”

In a penalty plagued game Lunsford said, “We aren’t good enough to afford to play that way and get behind the sticks.”

Hampton 54-26

Avery Co. 14 6 6 0 – 26

Hampton 28 13 7 6 – 54

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

H – Lunsford 2 run (run failed) 10:00

A – Gilliam 34 pass from Stanford (Giarrusso kick) 9:06

H – Harrison 40 pass from Jones (Lunsford run) 6:52

A – Holtsclaw 77 pass from Stanford (Giarrusso kick) 6:21

H – Jones 26 run (Harrison kick) 3:30

H – Jones 3 run (Harrison kick) 1:25

Second Quarter

A – Thomas 38 pass from Stanford (kick blocked) 11:50

H – Greenwell 3 run (Harrison kick) 2:53

H – Harrison 24 pass from Jones (run failed) :03

Third Quarter

H – Point 37 pass from Jones (Harrison kick) 8:03

A – Giarrusso 3 run (kick failed) 1:05

Fourth Quarter

H – Greenwell 11 run (kick failed) 3:19