Pender football shattered NCHSAA records in historic victory
Pender’s scoreboard didn’t have enough digits to keep up with its high-powered football team last Friday night.
Several N.C. High School Athletic Association records were shattered in the Patriots’ wild 106-83 victory over Hobbton. The game didn’t even go a full 48 minutes, as the lights turned off with 1:22 to play and the contest was eventually called.
The 189 combined points were 36 more than the previous record between Hobbton and Midway (80-73 Midway win), which was set in 2021.
According to the NCHSAA record book, Pender also broke the record for most rushing yards in a single game with 912. Alexander Central had 801 yards on the ground in an 82-42 victory over Ashe County in 2016.
Alexander Central kept its top spot in total yards in a single game with 927, but Pender moved into second place with 915.
Hobbton finished with 718 yards (400 passing and 318 rushing). The 1,633 combined yards also set a new record, surpassing the previous record of 1,518 from the Greenville Rose and D.H. Conley game in 2016.
Surprisingly, the 106 points scored by the Patriots wasn’t a state record. Windsor took down Creswell by a score of 142-0 way back in 1930.
Pender did break the school record for points, which it set earlier this season in an 88-34 win over Lejeune.
Junior running backs Jeremiah Johnson and Jassiah Hill led the way for the Patriots. Johnson finished with 44 carries for 377 yards and six touchdown, while Hill had 17 carries for 291 yards and six touchdowns.
Pender’s Jassiah Hill. [Tim Hower/Coastal Preps]
Five players have scored eight rushing touchdowns in a game, including Logan.
Pender ran the ball 76 times for 912 yards (12 per carry) and 14 touchdowns. The other three yards came on a pass from quarterback Mark Rawls to Messiah Darden.
Demari Morgan, who had the other two rushing TDs, also came up with an interception on defense. Darden recovered a fumble.
