Eastern Guilford blanks Bison, 43-0
Sep. 23—HIGH POINT — High Point Central surrendered three big scoring plays early and fell to Mid-State 3A Conference foe Eastern Guilford 43-0 at A.J. Simeon Stadium on Thursday night.
The first three touchdowns for the Wildcats (2-3, 2-0 Mid-State) were on plays of 59 yards or greater.
Ryan Larkin returned the opening kickoff 71 yards for the opening score, and Tyreik Boyd threw two 59-yard touchdown passes to Steven Murray. That combined with a safety on punt snap out of the endzone put Eastern in front 23-0 with 8:34 left in the second quarter.
Boyd also threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Murray late in the first half, boosting the lead to 30-0. It capped a drive that also included a 43-yard completion.
Boyd finished 10 of 18 passing for 204 yards. The Wildcats also rushed for 175 yards as Jaiden Evans led the way with 90 yards.
Evans scored on a 5-yard run with 6:57 to go in the third, and Caleb Creech capped the scoring on a 7-yard run with 2:16 left in the game.
Eastern could have built a larger lead by halftime. The Wildcats failed to move after a short punt gave them the ball at the Central 31, and a drive aided by four Central offside penalties reached the 2 before it was derailed by two illegal procedure flags and ended in a 33-yard field goal attempt that was derailed by a bad snap.
Central (0-5,0-2) didn't get going on offense until the second half. The Bison mounted their best threat in the latter stages of the third quarter after a kickoff return to the Central 45. That was followed by the Bison's two best consecutive plays, a 25-yard pass by quarterback Corey Crump followed Crump's 16-yard run to the Eastern 5. The next three plays netted 2 yards, and on fourth down, Crump overthrew a receiver in the end zone.
The drive finally flipped the field and a short Eastern punt was downed at the Wildcats 31. Central picked up a first down at the 17 when Eastern was called for offsides, but Crump threw an interception on the next play. That started a sequence in which both teams fumbled the ball away on their next possession.
The Bison mustered just 74 yards of offense, 16 rushing and 58 passing on three completions.
Central travels to Northeast Guilford on Sept. 30.
