news-record.com

HIGH POINT — Quick scores early in both halves by High Point Central left little doubt about the outcome of its game with Andrews.

The Bison, ranked No. 7 in the News & Record top 10, finished with a 33-0 victory over the eighth-ranked Red Raiders.

“Anytime you are playing a rival, you want to start on fire and keep the other team off balance,” said Central coach Wayne Jones. “We had good field position and we executed, finding the open guys.”

After building a 19-0 halftime lead, the defense took over for the Bison, but more specifically defensive back Tyreek Sparks.

The senior made two huge plays at the beginning of the third quarter to put any thoughts of a Red Raiders comeback out of reach.

First, Sparks scooped up a fumble by Andrews’ Roderick Campbell and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown. Then, after Andrews had put itself in good field position, Sparks intercepted a pass that was underthrown by Red Raiders quarterback Marquez Swinton and returned it 65 yards for another score, with the help of a block on Swinton at the 15-yard line.

That touchdown made the score 33-0.

“I was thinking score all the way,” said Sparks about the fumble recovery. “I was thinking score on the second one and I had some great blocks. I knew I could get the score again.”

Jones said that the defense played like it wanted to make sure there were no comebacks, something that was missing in the Bison’s overtime loss to Smith the week before.

“It was one of those things where the defense came out and decided to finish the game,” Jones said. “They were focused on their assignments and did a good job of tackling. Anytime you have a good defense you have a chance to be the conference champion.”

Andrews coach Rodney McKoy said his team made mistakes on both sides of the ball, but he gave credit to the Bison.

“We made a boat load of mistakes and by the time we settled down, we were down 16-0,” McKoy said. “We played pretty good defense the rest of the game. Being down 19-0 is not insurmountable, but when you come out and have two turnovers, it’s hard to overcome that. But there aren’t any excuses. They played better than us.”

C – Austin Miller 22 FG

C – Justin Johnson 1 pass from Drew Adams (Miller kick)

C – Adams 3 run (kick blocked)

C – Miller 39 FG

C – Tyreek Sparks 22 fumble return (Miller kick)

C – Sparks 65 interception return (Miller kick)