Burke County routs Josey

Burke County was literally unstoppable Friday night at Josey.

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Scoring on all nine of its possessions, including six in the first half, Burke County piled up 508 yards en route to a 57-12 trouncing of Josey.

The only time the Bears had to settle for anything short of the end zone was a 30-yard Untorrey Thomas field goal on second down as time expired before halftime, raising the lead to 38-6 and setting up a continuous running clock after intermission.

"It felt good after a tough opening ball game with Baldwin," Burke County coach Eric Parker said, referring to last week's 14-8 loss. "We just felt like we needed to take a step in the right direction, and tonight gave us a little confidence."

That would be an understatement given the ease with which Burke County ran through and over the Josey defense. The Bears alternated using quarterbacks Corey Mayton and Donquell Green to perfection, as both thrived either on the ground or through the air.

Mayton quickly set the tone with a 41-yard rush to the Josey 6 on Burke County's first play from scrimmage. By halftime, Mayton had 104 yards rushing and 116 passing, including touchdown completions of 50 and 19 yards to Nathan Ketchup and William McGee.

Green rushed for 47 and threw for 30 in the first half, helping to set up three of the touchdown drives. He capped his night with a 33-yard weaving touchdown scamper as time expired in the third quarter.

"We probably have a situation where one is better throwing it and both can run it," Parker said of his two-headed quarterback system. "The good thing is we can use both and our offense doesn't have to change. We'll continue to use them both."

Still smarting from a 56-6 thumping last week in a rivalry renewal with Laney, Josey wasn't ready to handle Burke County's diverse attack.

"We have trouble matching up with speed, and they have that," Josey coach John Noah said. "They've got one (quarterback) that can run power and the other is quick as a cat. Yeah, we were overmatched tonight."

Six players scored touchdowns for the Bears, including three short scoring runs from Montres Kitchens and a closing 20-yard burst from freshman Antonio Harold.

Burke County also had a perfect varsity debut from freshman placekicker Thomas, who converted all five extra points and a field-goal attempt before giving way to Pedro Nunez-Paredes.

Josey (1-2) struggled to sustain any momentum against the Burke County defense. The only highlights were touchdown passes in each half.

Markquis Burton threw a cross-field screen to Johnny Franklin in the first quarter, which Franklin took 31 yards up the left sideline for the Eagles' first touchdown.

In the fourth quarter, Burton heaved a deep pass to Juwan Tolbert for a 58-yard touchdown.

"A little something to build on," Noah said. "One thing I like about tonight was we didn't quit. We have to play to get better. We're going to have to toss it around a little bit more when we go against speed like this."