Terry Sanford football falls off AAC pace with loss to Harnett Central
Plagued by six turnovers, including four on special teams, the Terry Sanford Bulldogs slid further off the pace in the 3-A portion of the 3-A/4-A All American Conference race on Friday.
League co-leader Harnett Central took advantage of those miscues to deliver a 45-28 shellacking of the Bulldogs at Bill Yeager Field. Harnett Central's 5-foot-6, 130-pound junior running back Ethyn Muhammad inflicted much of the damage by darting and dashing his way to 193 second-half rushing yards and five touchdowns as the Trojans overcame a 14-13 halftime deficit.
The triumph pushed Harnett Central to 4-0 in All American Conference play and 4-3 overall. The Trojans remain atop the league with 4-A Pine Forest, a 22-0 winner against E.E. Smith on Friday.
LANDING PAGE: High school football in Fayetteville: Complete coverage from the 2023 season
SCOREBOARD: Scores, live updates from Fayetteville-area high school football for Week 8
It was Pine Forest that dealt Terry Sanford a demoralizing 41-38 defeat a week ago when it scored the game-winning points on a Hail Mary pass with 20 seconds to play. The controversial finish led to the ejection of Terry Sanford head coach Bruce McClelland, which caused him to miss Friday's game against Harnett Central.
"No question. We made too many mistakes against a good football team,'' said veteran coach Bill Yeager, who took over in McClelland's absence. "It's hard to recover from that. But give Harnett Central credit. They executed very well and took advantage of our mistakes. It was way too many.''
The Bulldogs (3-4, 2-2) slipped into third place among the All American 3-A squads behind Harnett Central and Triton with regular-season games remaining against the bottom three teams — Westover next Friday (home), E.E. Smith (away) and Western Harnett (home).
Muhammad, who finished with 228 yards rushing on 22 carries for the game, gave Harnett Central the lead for good at 19-14 on a 3-yard run three minutes into the second half. The score came after Trojan cornerback Preston Gainey intercepted a Jaylen Wright pass. He would find the end zone four more times in the half on runs of 21, 37, 30 and 5 yards.
"They figured out something with their (offensive) front. But it is what it is,'' Yeager said. "We'll regroup and get back after it Monday afternoon.''
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Terry Sanford football loses to Harnett Central
