FOUR OAKS — West Johnston senior quarterback Lincoln Morton threw five touchdown passes to lead the Wildcats to a 35-28 victory over rival South Johnston on Friday night.

The Wildcats defense forced four turnovers by the host Trojans, including two inside the West 20-yard line to help preserve the win.

West (2-0) led 15-14 after a lengthy first half that included a 30-minute delay for lightning in the area.

Just as South (1-1) looked like it might take the lead again in the third quarter, West’s Devon Henderson turned things around, intercepting a Patrick Dunigan pass on a fake field goal and returning it 55 yards.

Morton needed just two plays to put the Black and Teal brigade back in the end zone, throwing to Deonte Anderson for 26 yards, then hitting Christian Ohiaeri on a 9-yard TD pass for a 22-14 lead with 8:26 to play in the third quarter.

The Trojans got back within a point after Tony Davis’ third TD run of the night, a 16-yarder on the final play of the third quarter.

Early in the fourth, Morton hit Anderson on a 34-yard quarter route to put West back up by one touchdown.

The Wildcats defense made it stick when Eddie Graham and Devon Henderson stacked up Davis for no gain on fourth-and-1 at the South 49.

Seconds later, Mallie Umphrey turned a spot pass from Morton into a 49-yard touchdown play for West with 7:59 left.

Amir Justice picked off a Trojans pass on the next drive, but Jamel Rhodes got the ball right back for South with an interception of his own. Two plays later, Dimetrius Mannie caught a 14-yard TD pass from Dunigan to pull South within seven points with 4:37 to play.

But the Wildcats were able to run out the clock, with Morton picking up a key first down to keep the ball out of South’s hands at the end. Davis, the Trojans’ standout running back, finished with 202 yards rushing on 26 carries.

“South Johnston really tried to stack it up in the box to start with, so that forced us to took to throw more,” West Johnston coach Bennett Jones. “Morton just did a great job getting the ball to our guys. And they just made plays with the ball.”

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