Demons hold off Bruins to win Lewis’ debut

Fanfare was at a minimum. The following was small. The victory celebration was mellow. The postgame comments were brief.

But Rocky Lewis was entitled to his joy of winning his first game as the new Fike High head football coach on a comfortable Friday night in the Beddingfield High stadium. He wasn’t going to downplay the fact his Golden Demons stood 1-0 after emerging with an entertaining 27-23 triumph against archrival Beddingfield in the season opener for both teams before a poor turnout.

Beddingfield head coach Ben Ellis failed to claim his first win against Fike in four tries. His Bruins of the 2-A Neuse 6 Conference complete their county competition at Hunt next Friday evening.

“We just wanted to get away with a win,” Lewis commented without any show of emotion. “Any time you get a win, it’s a good feeling. A win is a win — and we’ll take it.”

The Demons of the 3-A Quad County Conference drove for the winning touchdown — and the final score — with nine minutes, 36 seconds remaining.

From there, the Bruins owned possession for just four more plays (including a punt). After gaining possession, Fike responded with a grinding running game that occupied the final eight minutes. The Demons powered to a first down at Beddingfield’s 6-yard line and, with the Bruins out of time-outs, exhausted the final minute-plus with a couple of kneel-downs.

Lewis admitted he thought briefly about throwing on third down the final drive, but opted to rest his chances on the ability to pick up first-down yardage on two tries. Fike succeeded.

“We’re really happy,” said junior quarterback Cam Pittman of presenting the new coach with the win. “We’re going to open it up for him. This is the start to a lot of good things.”

Like Lewis, Ellis’ coaching didn’t merit second-guessing. In the well-played opener, Beddingfield did not commit a turnover and Fike’s lone miscue, a lost fumble, cost it seven points.

The Demons rolled up 25 first downs as compared to 10 for Beddingfield. Fike, to a slight surprise, relied on the running game, amassing 348 yards total offense, while the Bruins, relying on the strong, accurate right arm of 6-foot-3 sophomore quarterback Sam Finch, totaled 236 yards as Finch connected on 14-of-23 tosses for 162 yards and a TD.

“We were there; that’s what you want,” remarked Ellis. “We had a couple of opportunities we didn’t capitalize on — a catch or a run here or there. We needed one more play.

“Fike is a good team. They have a lot of guys back. They’re tough and are not going to make it easy. They grinded it out toward the end. Fike made a few more plays than we did.”

The defenses, like the crowd, barely showed the opening minutes. But the Bruins struggled for yardage the second half, picking up only three first downs and four yards rushing.

The first downs occurred in the 82-yard drive that staked the Bruins to their third lead of 23-21 late in the third quarter.

Finch connected on passes of 12 and 37 yards to junior Jamauris Howard and 11 yards to junior Jahtavious Johnson before finding sophomore Ziquis Atkinson on a 26-yard strike to the right corner of the end zone with 1:56 showing in the third quarter.

Except for four plays, Fike kept the football the remaining 14 minutes.

The Demons turned to the running of senior Jamari Hill and senior Jeremiah Peart in trudging 67 yards to victory. Peart stepped a yard for his second TD.

Hill was again the workhorse in the crunching eight-minute possession.

“I loved it,” Pittman expressed. “We went to the running game a little more.”

Peart shouldered the running load the first half, but Hill was called upon more the final two quarters.

“Hill was a little fresher,” Lewis explained. “We were keeping fresher legs in there. We had a lot of cramps and a lot of guys weren’t able to finish. Pittman was cramping and couldn’t throw. All he could do was hand off. The backups ended up playing a pivotal role. It was a good team win. We thought, when we got into the second half, we could wear them down numbers wise. If we could get the ball, we could keep it away from them.”

“I give credit to my coaches,” Pittman said. “I went down a couple of times (with cramps) and they encouraged me to stand up. I needed to be in there for my team. I played good, but it was just a preview.”

The renewal of the county rivalry kicked off with offense and more offense. The Demons would get effective running from Peart, Hill and Pittman. Beddingfield’s Finch was accurate of 10-of-14 tosses the first two quarters for 97 yards.

“Finch played well,” Ellis assessed. “He made some good throws and had some throws he would like to take back. He has to play well for us.”

The Demons received the opening kickoff and grabbed a 6-0 lead on Pittman’s 4-yard keeper.

Beddingfield answered its opening possession when Finch’s 24-yard toss to Howard set up senior back Desmond Wooten’s 3-yard TD plunge. Senior Chris Aguilera kicked the first of two extra points.

Aguilera deemed the Bruins’ kicking game a huge positive. He punted four times for a 39.8-yard average and booted the first field goal of his career, a 30-yarder that cut Fike’s lead to 14-10.

Peart tallied Fike’s second TD on a 5-yard jaunt en route to a 14-7 lead with 4:11 to go in the opening quarter.

In the second quarter, after Aguilera’s field goal, Beddingfield added Howard’s 66-yard ramble on a fumble recovery and Aguilera’s PAT for a 17-14 cushion.

But with 30.1 seconds before intermission, Fike’s Hill found the end zone from 7 yards out and junior Connor Spencer kicked the extra point for a 21-17 Demons’ edge.

The final seconds arrived with Lewis emphasizing just winning — not scoring.

“The guys played hard,” Ellis said of his Bruins. “We had a couple of penalties that hurt us. But that’s the name of the game. It’s all a part of it, and it all adds up. We knew they had a big offensive line, and you know what that usually means. They had good running backs and the quarterback is a good runner. They were hard for us to move.”

Especially in the second half.

Fike 27

Beddingfield 23

F B

First downs 25 10

Yards rushing 287 74

Yards passing 51 162

Att-Comp-Int   15-8-0           23-14-0

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 0-0

Punts-Avg 2-32.0 4-39.8

Penalties-Yards 5-35 8-50

Score by quarters:

Fike 14 7 0 6 — 27

Beddingfield 7 10 6 0 — 23

Scoring summary:

F — Cam Pittman 4 run (pass failed), 1st, 7:51

B — Desmond Wooten 3 run (Chris Aguilera kick), 1st, 5:57

F — Jeremiah Peart 5 run (Peart run), 1st, 4:11.

B — Aguilera 30 FG, 2nd, 6:22.

B — Jamauris Howard 66 fumble return (Aguilera kick), 2nd, 4:57.

F — Jamari Hill 7 run (Connor Spencer kick), 2nd, 0:30.1.

B — Ziquis Atkinson 26 pass from Sam Finch (run failed), 3rd, 1:56.

F — Peart 1 run (kick failed), 4th, 9:36.

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