Broughton football comeback effort falls short to Eastern Guilford
Broughton rallied for a strong second half, but it wasn’t quite enough as the Caps fell to Eastern Guilford, 17-13, Friday night.
The Caps are 0-3 this year and have not won since defeating Cary in the opener last season. Eastern Guilford (2-1) jumped to a 17-0 halftime lead by notching three scores in the final 3 minutes, 14 seconds of the first half.
After that, though, Broughton controlled the second half, offensively and defensively for the last two quarters.
Turning point
The Caps trailed just 8-0 late in the first half but Wildcats corner Isaiah Finerty picked off a Broughton pass and returned it 58 yards to set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Eastern quarterback Bryant Barr that pushed the lead to 15-0.
They said it
“These guys have played hard all three games and we told them at halftime if they would just keep pressing we could get back in the game and we did,” said Broughton coach Billy Lane.
Three who mattered
Bryant Barr, Eastern Guilford: He broke up a defensive stalemate with a 65-yard scamper up the middle for the first score of the game with just 3:14 left in the half. He ended the game with 90 rushing yards despite being stopped for negative yardage five times by the Caps defense.
Austin Bell, Broughton: The senior leader caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from Owen Wilkinson to put the Caps on the board, while also standing out at linebacker.
“Austin saved several big plays for us on the outside, he was all over the place,” coach Lane said. “The whole defense played well in the second half. (Linebacker) Ty Warren was also flying around out there.”
Sherrod McKoy, Broughton: Gave the Caps a boost with the second half kickoff return of 30 yards to midfield. From there, Wilkinson led the team to a touchdown and put the Caps back in the game.
By the numbers
78: Rushing yards for Broughton workhorse running back Stephen McGowan.
44: Second half rushing yards for the Caps’ Nick Cattano, whose 17-yard touchdown run pulled his team to 17-13 with 2:35 to play in the third quarter.
This story was originally published September 4, 2015 at 10:48 PM with the headline "Broughton football comeback effort falls short to Eastern Guilford."