North Brunswick football survives defensive battle to beat Topsail
Ugly.
That’s the best way to describe North Brunswick’s 15-12 football win at Topsail on Monday. The score, weather and on-field play all seemed a little bit off.
As both teams searched for a needed conference win, it became apparent that this game was more about preventing mistakes than creating highlights. North Brunswick (5-1, 2-1 Mideastern) won that battle, and its second game in a row, despite a myriad of offensive struggles.
“We got lucky to be honest,” said North Brunswick coach Bryan Davis, whose team rebounded after allowing an interception return for a touchdown that tied the game.
North Brunswick has experienced a roller coaster of emotions in the last three weeks. Quarterback TT Green was injured in the team's only loss in Week 4 against New Hanover, but both he and the Scorpions have come back with low-scoring wins over Laney at Topsail despite not being at 100%.
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Davis spoke about the challenge of keeping players healthy as North runs through four consecutive games vs. 4A schools to open conference play.
"It’s been back-to-back-to-back 4As. It’s not fair to the 3As that this happens this way because we’re so banged up, we don’t have the bodies to show what we’re really made of. I’m disappointed that the schedule has fallen like this two years in a row,” he said.
Things won’t get easier for North Brunswick as they host Hoggard (5-1, 4-0 Mideastern) on Friday with only three days rest.
Topsail (3-3, 1-2 Mideastern), meanwhile, was plagued by unfortunate errors and a bad break in the first half, creating frustration on both sides of the ball. The Pirates recovered a fumble late in the second quarter and appeared to return it for a touchdown. Officials eventually, and incorrectly, ruled the returner down by contact and the score did not count.
Then, tied at 6-6, the Pirates surrendered a safety as a high snap went out of the back of their end zone in the third quarter. The Topsail offense eventually scored in the final two minutes, but it was too late as the Pirates could not recover the proceeding onside kick.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: North Brunswick survives defensive battle in win over Topsail
