Northside pulls away in second half against Shaw

After suffering a gut-wrenching loss a week ago, Northside bounced back in a big way on Friday, scoring 31 second-half points to run away from Shaw 38-14 at Kinnett Stadium.

The win puts the Patriots at 5-3 overall and 3-2 in region play. The win helps to clear a very clouded region picture as six teams entered Friday’s game tied for second place. Northside is now part of a three-way tie for second with Carver and Americus-Sumter.

Northside got a pair of scores from Carson Parker and a pair of TD passes from Bryce Valero in the win.

Key play: Bryce Valero found Cordale Scott on a 26-yard scoring pass on Northside’s first possession of the second half. That play broke a 7-7 tie and gave the Patriots some much-needed momentum and energy. The team would turn that energy into 24 more points in the contest.

Difference makers: Valero recovered from a first half that saw protection break down several times, resulting in negative plays. He would throw for a pair of scores and settled in at the QB position, leading his team on five second-half scoring drives for Northside.

For Shaw, running backs Nick Beason and Marcus Newsome had solid performances. QB Andrew Tillery threw for one score.

Individual stats: For Northside, David Apiag had a big game. Apiag made Raider tacklers miss all night as he ran up 69 yards on 9 carries. As a receiver, Apiag caught four passes for 26 yards. He also a nice 37-yard return of the opening kickoff and had a 52 yard punt return for a score called back on a penalty. Carson Parker was also impressive as he carried 14 times for 83 yards and a pair of scores. Valero was 12-13 for 163 yards and two touchdowns passing.

For Shaw Newsome carried 19 times for 74 yards, but his numbers should have an asterisk as a 21-yard loss was credited to him as the carrier after the ball was tossed to him under duress and he was tackled for a big loss. Nick Beason only carried for 19 total yards, but had the only rushing touchdown for Shaw and also had three catches for 29 yards and had kick returns of 37 and 27 yards. Andrew Tillery was 6-10 for 73 yards with a 35-yard touchdown pass and one interception.

Player quote: “I just came in and tried to do what coach wanted me to do. They wanted to get me more involved and I just wanted to do my job. Overall this was a great team effort by everyone. This win definitely boosts our morale and it is a lot easier to build off a win instead of a loss,” said David Apiag.

Coach quote: “Our first drive was bang-bang-bang and we got off to a good start and then we sort of lost our rhythm and had a hard time clicking and getting things going,” said Northside coach Morgan Ingram.

“In the second half we got a better idea of what (Shaw) was trying to do and got it going. The passing game got going some and opened up the running game and it really helped us.”

“We have big ones coming up with Westover and Cairo and this one really helped us.”

“One of our goals was to get the ball in David’s (Apiag) hands more this week. It worked out great that we could run him and Carson Parker together and that gave our offense a spark. He is a tremendous athlete and makes people miss. And I can’t say enough about our receivers – they go up and get the ball and do a great job.”

This story was originally published October 21, 2016 at 11:12 PM with the headline "Northside pulls away in second half against Shaw."