WINSTON-SALEM – Havelock used a strong second half to win the
3A state championship by defeating Concord
55-21 Saturday night.
The title is the second straight for the Rams (15-1).
Havelock
was first to strike on a Pharoh Cooper 2-yard quarterback keeper, which capped
off the Rams’ 75-yard opening drive.
Down 7-0 after the first quarter, the Spiders (13-3) started
gaining momentum.
Quarterback B.J. Beecher, who passed for 267 yards on
22-of-36 passing, led the way for Concord
in the second quarter by passing for all three of his Spiders’ touchdowns.
Beecher
found Alex Asbury, who made a lateral flick to Zosh Heilig for a 30-yard score,
to tie the game.
After forcing the Rams to punt, Beecher led the Spiders on an 88-yard drive.
The 6-foot-6 senior quarterback capped off the drive with a 37-yard pass to
sophomore running back Rocky Reid.
Recovering the ball on a Havelock fumble on the ensuing kickoff, the
Spiders seemed to have the momentum on their side despite missing their second
extra-point attempt.
But Cooper, also a safety, intercepted Beecher and ran it back 87 yards for a
touchdown to get his team within one after a failed PAT.
With 4:07 left in the half, Beecher orchestrated a 72-yard drive that
concluded in a 21-yard pass from the Shrine Bowl-bound quarterback to Jerry
Burk.
A Logan Sedergren 2-point conversion gave the Spiders a
21-14.
Cooper, the game’s most valuable player after accounting for
146 yards and three touchdowns, led the Rams on a 65-yard scoring drive.
Cooper had two runs – for 28 and 26 yards – before finding
Harry Caldwell for an 11-yard touchdown.
Havelock coach Jim Bob Bryant
said he made adjustments, including putting six defensive backs on the field to
slow down Beecher,
after trailing 21-20 at halftime.
“I told them we had 24 minutes left to play,” he said. “We
were either going to be the first-place team in the state of the first-place
loser.”
Havelock
responded, scoring off fumbles in the first two Spider possessions of the half
to regain the lead.
“That was a big momentum switch,” said Bryant.
Concord
coach Glen Padgett said the two turnovers to start the half changed the game.
“When you play a team with a lot of speed like that, it’s
hard to play from behind,” he said.
A.J. Coplon
recovered both fumbles, returning the first 61 yards for a touchdown. The Rams
found the end zone, on a 2-yard Derrell Scott run, after starting their drive
at Concord’s
47-yard line. That increased their lead to 14.
Havelock
would add three more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
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