Millbrook’s offense clicks early in rout of East Wake
Millbrook impressed in its season-opener Friday night, scoring on its first five possessions en route to a 38-14 victory over host East Wake in a nonleague football game.
Larry Rountree III rushed for 143 yards and two touchdowns for the Wildcats, No. 12 in the News & Observer’s preseason rankings. Rountree scored on touchdown runs of 44 and 3 yards, and Kenneth McCray tossed a pair of touchdown passes to Tyler Snead to help stake Millbrook to a 38-7 halftime lead.
Mikekale Engles had a 5-yard touchdown run and Daniel Anderson caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Tyshaun Milam for the East Wake touchdowns.
Millbrook scored 31 straight points to seize control, Rountree capping the scoring stretch with a 3-yard touchdown run with 6.3 seconds remaining in the second quarter that made it 38-7.
Turning Point
After Millbrook’s Andre Freeman recovered a fumble and returned it 9 yards for a touchdown to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead less than a minute into play, East Wake came back with an impressive 18-play, 78-yard drive that chewed up over seven minutes, capped by Engles’ touchdown to tie the score at 7. However, Millbrook answered with a quick three-play scoring drive capped by McCray’s 48-yard touchdown pass to Snead with 3 minutes, 33 seconds left in the first quarter and the Wildcats were not seriously threatened the rest of the way.
Three to know
Larry Rountree III, Millbrook: The 5-foot-10, 205-pound senior showed why he’s one of the area’s top running backs. He gained 118 of his 143 rushing yards in the first half, including a nifty 44-yard touchdown scamper in which he busted up the middle before making a quick cut outside just past the line of scrimmage past several East Wake defenders to give Millbrook a 21-7 second-quarter lead.
Kenneth McCray, Millbrook: Despite playing little more than a half with Millbrook taking a big halftime lead, the junior quarterback completed three of four passes for 75 yards and two touchdowns and also proved adept running the ball, lugging it eight times for 52 yards.
Tyshawn Milam, East Wake: The senior enjoyed some solid moments against a relentless Millbrook defense, going 17-for-37 passing for 158 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Milam also ran 17 times for 88 yards.
By the numbers
7: The number of first downs picked up by East Wake on its impressive 18-play scoring drive early in the first quarter. The drive included four third-down conversions and a fourth-down conversion.
12: The number of carries Rountree needed to accumulate his 143 yards rushing. He rushed only three times after halftime.
32: The length in yards of Will Gentile’s field goal in the second quarter that gave Millbrook a 31-7 lead.
288: Total offensive yards for East Wake, 130 on the ground and 158 via the pass.
291: Total rushing yards accumulated by Millbrook. Seven players carried the ball, with Rountree the lone individual to tally double-digit carries.
This story was originally published August 19, 2016 at 11:04 PM with the headline "Millbrook’s offense clicks early in rout of East Wake."