YOUTH FOOTBALL ROUNDUP: Drexel sweeps EB, Oak Hill wins 2 of 3

DREXEL --

R.O. Huffman Field in Drexel was the site of one of the Burke County Recreation season football openers Saturday morning. The Drexel fans had a lot to cheer for as their pee wee, mighty mite and midget teams captured opening day victories against some tough East Burke Royal competition.

Pee wee: Drexel 26, East Burke 8 - After an enthusiastic pre-PeeWee game between the youngest Wolverines and Royals opened up the morning's activities, the PeeWee game between the Wolverines and the Royals started off with Drexel building up a 20-8 halftime lead before scoring one second half TD to win by the final score of 26-8.

East Burke picked up their points with Aaron McKinley-Lor rushing for the first half score and Carter Crump adding the two-point conversion. Drexel picked up four scores with Daylin Pritchard and Brennan Price each rushing for two touchdowns. Defensive stars for the Royals were Chris Huffman and Blaise Young, while Waylon Rutherford and Jay Yoakley were picked as defensive stars for the Wolverines.

Mighty mite: Drexel 28, East Burke 14 - In the third game of the day, Drexel picked up the early 8-0 lead on Eli Poteat's TD run, followed by Levi Smith's two-point conversion with one second left in the first quarter. Both teams added second quarter scores, with East Burke's Carter Nichols returning the Wolverine kickoff 60 yards for the quick comeback to make the score 8-6 and Drexel picked up a late score on Daniel Melton's pass to Brian Walker for the 14-6 halftime advantage for the home team.

Jesse Gullett put Drexel up 20-6 and Poteat added the two point conversion for a 22-6 lead in the third quarter. Drexel added six more points to their lead in the fourth quarter on a Poteat pass to Colton Singleton, before the visitors scored the final eight points on Eric Almanza's TD and Almanza's pass to Cameron Bumgarner for the two point conversion, making the final score 28-14 in favor of the Wolverines. Defensive stars of the game for East Burke were Sam Buff and Dalton Reed, while defensive stars for Drexel were John Hansley and Colton Singleton.

Midgets: Drexel 14, East Burke 0 - The final game of the day remained a defensive battle for three quarters, before Drexel broke the scoreless tie when QB A.J. Juhnke finally picked up a score on a short run with one minute left in the third quarter. Drexel added the insurance score with 2:16 left in the game when Austin Harwood picked up a nice score on a pitchout. Dillon Wade made some excellent offensive and defensive plays for the Royals, while defensive stars were Luke Whisnant and Mason Weaver. Chosen as defensive stars for the winning Wolverines were Caleb Gurley, Logan Justice, Caleb Houston and Christian Campbell, who all made big plays in the shutout.

- Bill Bailey

Pre-pee wee - The Huskies scored on three of five offensive possessions while the host Bulldogs scored on all three.

Forest Hills’ Adarian Surratt, Nigel Dula and Zachary Pinkerton scored on the run. Pinkerton’s five-yard scoring run came with five seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

Pinkerton, rushing for 25 yards on three carries in the final drive, finished with 102 rushing yards for the Huskies (0-0-1)

Oak Hill’s Ja’Myon Hampton scored all three Bulldogs (0-0-1) touchdown runs from 36, 45 and 65 yards. Hampton finished with a game-high 174 rushing yards.

Pee wee: Oak Hill 14, Forest Hill 8 - Oak Hill faced an early 8-0 first quarter deficit to Forest Hill but Desmond Caldwell scored a rushing touchdown in the next two quarters to pull out a win in the pee wee division.

Caldwell scored on runs of 16 and 50 yards as the Bulldog defense forced three turnovers including a fumble recovered by Hunter Keller for the opening day win and 1-0 start.

The lone score for Forest Hill (0-1) in the first quarter came on a one-yard dive by Connor Williams.

Mighty mite: Forest Hill 14, Oak Hill 6 - It was a scoreless game through one half of play and Forest Hill’s Kristopher Dula scored the winning touchdown, with 1:03 remaining, to help his Huskies pull away with the win.

The Huskies (1-0) struck first with a third quarter one-yard dive by Pierce Memmel but failed on a two-point conversion to keep a 6-0 lead.

Oak Hill (0-1) got on the board via a 31-yard fourth quarter run from Jee Hardy but was also unsuccessful on a two-point conversion attempt.

Both sides showcased their defense as Forest Hill’s Mason Streppa (interception) and Mason Carlisle (fumble recovery) and Oak Hill’s Demorian Burgess-Lilly (interception, fumble recovery) were defensive standouts.

Midgets: Oak Hill 6, Forest Hill 0 - Oak Hill’s Dylan Reed scored the only touchdown of the midget contest, with 12 seconds remaining in the third, and Calee Chalk got the interception on Forest Hill’s last drive to pull out an opening day win.

Jaden Barnes and Andrew McRacken led the Bulldogs ground game while the Huskies (0-1) were led in rushing by Alek Thomas and Kelvis Dula.

Each quarterback, Oak Hill’s Reed to Darian Walters for 15 yards and Forest Hill’s Ty Causby to Thomas for 12 yards, completed one pass each.

— Jason Baker

Other Burke Co. league scores

Pee wee division

Valdese 36, Glen Alpine 6

Salem 32, Chesterfield N/A

Ray Childers 22, Mull 0

Mighty Mite division

Valdese 32, Glen Alpine 0

Salem 22, W.A. Young 12

Mull 14, Ray Childers 0