Sanderson football
PHOTO BY CHRISTIAN WORSTELL
Sanderson running back Derrick Powell looks for a hole during Saturday night's game at Southeast Raleigh. The Bulldogs bested the Spartans 43-14.
Bulldogs batter Spartans
August 30, 2009
By Christian Worstell, NorthRaleighSports.com correspondent
A steady rain on Friday night postponed Sanderson’s football game at Southeast Raleigh.
On Saturday, it was the Bulldogs' offense that poured down on visiting Spartans in a 43-14 victory.
The Bulldogs reached the end zone on each of their first five possessions and scored the first 36 points of the game to send the Spartans to a 0-2 start to the season.
“We just weren’t a very good football team tonight,” Sanderson coach Tony Lewis said. “This was a great test to see where we’re at. It’s a crossroads to see where we’re going to go.”
Where the Bulldogs were going was the end zone. The five scoring drives averaged 72 yards in length but only two touchdowns — Keith Tucker’s 32-yard catch in the back of the end zone and Jamar Satterwhite’s 78-yard scamper after a short completion — came from outside the 10-yard line.
Tommy Branch, C.J. Okwara and Jabari Balogum each added short scoring runs to round out five Southeast touchdowns by five different players.
The Bulldogs used 18 rushing plays and 12 passing plays during the spurt.
“We established the run really well and sucked them into some blitzes and then threw the ball,” Southeast coach Daniel Finn said. “If we have to throw all the time we’ll be in trouble and if we have to run all the time we’ll be in trouble. But if we can keep it around 50-50 we’ll be okay.”
The Spartans came to life in the third quarter to score a pair of Matt James touchdowns just over three minutes apart to cut the Bulldog lead to 36-14.
James hauled in an 11-yard pass from quarterback Sam Bauckham and after a three-and-out by Southeast, reached the end zone on a 10-yard run.
James, who will be suiting up for Wake Forest next year, finished with 11 catches for 128 yards and also led Sanderson with 30 rushing yards on four attempts.
“He’s a good player. We’ve known him since middle school and he’s always been good,” said Okwara, who added the game’s final score on a 10-yard run.
“Our game plan was to jam him at the line of scrimmage and try to slow him down,” Finn said. “We did a good job of that early in the game but he’s just a heck of a player.”
Bauckham finished 16-for-27 passing with 201 yards but was sacked five times. Devin Laws caught two passes for 24 yards, Kevit Ott grabbed a pair of passes for 21 yards and Daniel Brown had 20 yards on two receptions.
Josh O’Neal made a 32-yard catch and Derrick Powell caught one pass for seven yards.
Members of the Sanderson football team get themselves pumped up prior to Saturday's game.
For the Bulldogs, Okwara, Branch, Sean McClean and quarterback Gabe Henderson combined for 161 yards on the ground despite none of them gaining more than 47 yards apiece.
Henderson passed for 271 yards on just 10 completions. Satterwhite (three catches, 107 yards) and Quentin Todd (4-102) accounted for the majority of the Bulldogs’ yards through the air.
The Southeast defense made a pair of highlight reel plays late in the fourth quarter.
Tristan Walker returned an interception 81 yards for a touchdown that was called back for a penalty. And on the game’s final play, Brenton Hodge picked off a pass at the goal line and returned it 95 yards but was dragged down at the Spartans' five-yard line.
“Southeast has a great team and we’re tested now,” Lewis said. “”We’ve got to learn from this and we’ve got to grow. It’s a character test.”
The Spartans look to post their first win of the season at Cary Friday, Sept. 4. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
