MERRY HILL – Friday night was ‘Spirit Night’ at Lawrence Academy as the Warriors hosted Arendell Parrott Academy of Kinston.

The good news is that the Warrior faithful turned out in good numbers and the students made banners showing their support for the team. The tough news is that the outcome is the same result as Lawrence has faced in it’s four previous attempts at a victory. Parrott took a 52-0 win leaving the Warriors at 0-5.

&uot;Every week, every week, it’s a learning and a growing process,&uot; said a disappointed, but not downtrodden coach Mike Dail. &uot;We’ve just got to keep working.&uot;

What worked for the Patriots was a superior ground game, as they attempted just four passes, completing three of them.

Two of the Patriots’ tosses were for touchdowns and the rest of their offense came from their ground game.

One of the trio of successful passes for Parrott came on their first series when quarterback Courtney Killenger hit receiver Austin Jessup for a 48-yard strike resulting in a touchdown on their second play from scrimmage.  A two-point conversion run from Tillman Snead made it 8-0 with under two minutes gone in the game.

On Parrott’s second possession the Patriots drove to the Lawrence one-yard line, where Snead took it in for a score, but a failed extra-point attempt left the score at 14-0 at the 8:28 mark of the first quarter.

Lawrence drove into Patriot territory on their next possession, but were stopped near midfield when quarterback Blake Hill was sacked for a loss resulting in the Warriors having to punt the ball away.

Coach Bill Rowe then called for a counter-sweep resulting in Snead’s third touchdown of the night.  This time a Killenger keeper for the point-after succeeded and it was 22-0, Parrott.

Tailback Keith Thompson combined with quarterback Hill on the next series that took Lawrence down to the Parrott 30, but this time the Warriors failed to convert on fourth-down.

Parrott then passed for just the second time on the night and again it was for a score: Killenger 70 yards to Davis Smith for another TD and a 30-0 lead following another two-point conversion.

Lawrence drove once more within sniffing distance of the Parrott red-zone, but were turned away again on downs and Parrott ran out the clock to halftime.

Parrott got two more touchdowns in the third quarter and pushed the lead out to 44-0. 

Meanwhile, Lawrence had two of their drives stopped on downs and another pair failed when the Warriors fumbled the ball away.

Parrott got a late score with under a minute remaining for the final margin and broke a two-game losing streak.

&uot;We had two rough games with Trinity and Rocky Mount,&uot; said a relieved coach Rowe after the game. &uot;It was nice to come back and put everything together. Our defense played well and our running game worked really well.&uot;

The Patriots finished the night with 295 total rushing yards to only 20 on the ground for Lawrence. 

The bright spot for the Warriors was the 120 yards passing of Hill and 42 yards rushing on the ground for Lawrence’s Thompson

&uot;Our fan support has been great,&uot; said Dail.  &uot;It’s just a long process, but we’re in it for the duration.&uot;