Big Second Half Lifts Chapel Hill to 49-28 District 16-3A-Opening Win at Henderson

[By Colby Fleet, Special to ETSN.fm]

HENDERSON -- Chapel Hill started slow, but finished strong Friday night in Henderson.

The Bulldogs scored 35 points in the second half en route to a 49-28 victory in their District 16-3A opener at Lion Stadium.

Senior quarterback Andrew Black passed for 186 yards and two scores and added 67 yards on the ground, while senior Gabriel Robinson hauled in four passes for 54 yards and both scores. Sophomore Reggie King caught four passes for 61 yards.

Henderson (1-4, 0-1) saw its 20-14 halftime lead vanish after the opening possession of the third quarter when Wesley Thompson had back-to-back first down runs — 25 yards and 13 yards — to get the ball to Henderson’s 31-yard line. Black found Robinson for a 31-yard score and gave Chapel Hill (3-2, 1-0) the lead 21-20 with 10:37 left in the third quarter.

That started 35-8 second-half Chapel Hill run.

Henderson senior linebacker Jordan Dickeson had a nice game recording four tackles for a loss, one sack, and forced a fumble and helped hold Chapel Hill to 14 points in the first half. Chapel Hill's Jesse Mumphrey, Wesley Thompson, Ja’Braylon Franklin, and Malik Walker had touchdown runs of 37, 8, 3, and 45 yards, respectively.

Henderson junior quarterback Zane Boles completed 19 of 40 attempts for 253 yards, and connected with three different receivers — Zedrick Lister, Tristan Lary and Vince McNew — for scores. Boles also added 129 yards on 20 carries.

Chapel Hill senior two-way standout Joseph Clark, who is committed to Texas Tech, left the game with an apparent knee injury that could be significant, according to multiple sources.

Henderson forced an early Chapel Hill mistake, when Dickeson forced a fumble and Zach Allen pounced on the ball at the Chapel Hill 33-yard line for an early momentum swing. But Henderson could not capitalize on their opportunity and missed a field goal attempt.

With 4:53 left in the first quarter Boles drove Henderson 82 yards thanks to a 47-yard touchdown strike to Lister for the game’s first score of the night and a 7-0 advantage.

On the ensuing kickoff, a penalty negated the end of a 90-yard kick return by Franklin and netted him 66 yards. But Chapel Hill answered the call on a run-heavy possession that went 12 plays, seven pf which were runs, and Thompson found paydirt from a yard out for a 7-7 tie with 9:48 left in the second quarter.

Henderson and Chapel Hill swapped scores on their next two possessions -- one a Randy Davis one-yard touchdown run and the other a Black four-yard touchdown pass to Robinson to even the score at 14-14 with six minutes until halftime.

Henderson orchestrated its best drive of the game, as Boles moved the Lions down the field completing passes to McNew and Tre Hollins. With three seconds left Boles hit Lary on a four-yard slant and touchdown that gave Henderson a 20-14 lead at the half.

---

Chapel Hill 49, Henderson 28

Lion Stadium, Henderson

Henderson -- 7 13 0 8 -- 28
Chapel Hill -- 0 14 14 21 -- 49

First Quarter
HEN -- Zedrick Lister 47 pass from Zane Boles (Edgar Sanchez kick), 1:29.
Second Quarter
CH -- Wesley Thompson 1 run (Johnny Bonilla kick), 9:48.
HEN -- Randy Davis 1 run (Sanchez kick), 7:04.
CH -- Gabriel Robinson 4 pass from Andrew Black (Bonilla kick), 6:00.
HEN -- Tristan Lary 4 pass from Boles (Sanchez kick failed), :03.
Third Quarter
CH -- Gabriel Robinson 31 pass from Black (Bonilla kick), 10:37.
CH -- Jesse Mumphrey 37 run (Bonilla kick), 2:10.
Fourth Quarter
CH -- Wesley Thompson 8 run (Bonilla kick), 6:16.
CH -- Ja’Braylon Franklin 3 run (Bonilla kick), 3:21.
HEN -- Vince McNew 18 pass (Vince McNew pass), 1:41
CH - Malik Walker 45 run (Bonilla Kick), :40.

                                                        HEN                     CH
First Downs                                        18                        19
Total Yards                                        417                       437
Rushes-Yards                                 35-164                   48-251
Passing-Yards                                   253                       186
Comp.-Att.-Int.                              19-40-0                  11-16-0
Punts-Avg.                                       7-39.1                    5-35
Fumbles-Lost                                     1-1                        5-2
Penalties-Yards                                9-100                     7-62

Individual Statistics
RUSHING -- Henderson: Zane Boles 20-129, Randy Davis 13-24, Zedrick Lister 2-11. Chapel Hill: Andrew Black 14-67, Ja’Braylon Franklin 10-21, Jesse Mumphrey 9-48, Wesley Thompson 8-49, Malik Walker 3-45, Joseph Clark 3-12, Reggie King 1-9. PASSING -- Henderson: Zane Boles 19-40-0-253. Chapel Hill: Andrew Black 11-16-0-186.
RECEIVING -- Henderson: Vince McNew 6-60, Tre Hollins 5-44, Zedrick Lister 3-84, Kyndall Johnson 3-60, Tristan Lary 1-4, Randy Davis 1-1. Chapel Hill: Reggie King 4-61, Gabriel Robinson 4-54, Lex Heckel 2-23, Jeffery Minor 1-48.