Northern wins big over Ragsdale, 49-8
Sep. 18—JAMESTOWN — Jack Mercer passed for five touchdowns and Terrell Timmons Jr. returned two punts for scores as Northern Guilford defeated Ragsdale 49-8 in the Metro 4A Conference opener for both schools at Kenneth T. Miller Stadium.
With the Nighthawks (4-0) unable to run the ball, Mercer completed 15 of 31 passes with one interception for 241 yards and two scores to Manny Elliott and one each to Jordan McInnis, Timmons and Zion Crawford.
Devin Hackstall, who made his first start at quarterback because Deshawn Curler was injured, connected with Mason Harris on a 80-yard pass late in the fourth quarter, on the first play after Timmons second punt return for touchdown, a 55-yarder that ended Northern's scoring with about 11 minutes remaining.
Heckstall completed 11 of 22 passes for 187yards with two interceptions as the Tigers dropped to 1-3.
Timmons's first touchdown return was 66 yards as part of a wild last four minutes of the second quarter in which the Nighthawks essentially put the game away with three scores that turned a 13-0 lead into a 36-0 at halftime cushion.
The flurry followed Ragsdale's second drive deep into Northern territory on the strength of Heckstall's passing. The Tigers reached the Nighthawk 19 but a four-yard pass and three incompletions ended the threat.
After a 2-yard loss, Mercer threw a 83-yard pass to Elliott streaking down the sidelined in front of the Northern bench with 3:48 left in the second half. After Ragsdale failed to pick up a first down on its next possession, Timmons cut through the Tigers coverage for his 66-yard score.
Northern showed no mercy after that, going with an onside kick that it recovered just on Ragsdale's side of the 50. A penalty in the second play of the possession pushed the Nighthawks back to their 28. They quickly recovered, covering the 72 yards in plays of 20. 13, 28 and 11 yards, the last one the scoring play to Crawford.
LeQuan Robinson intercepted Heckstall in the middle of the third quarter and returned the ball to the Ragsdale 14. A holding penalty on the next play wiped out a touchdown but Mercer connected on a 19-yard pass to Eliiott three plays later and with 6:12 remaining in third, increasing the margin to 43-0 and prompting a continuous running clock for the rest of the game.
Mercer threw a 13-yard pass to Jordan McInnis for the Nighthawks first second and a 3-yard pass to Timmons made it 13-0 with 47 seconds left in the first quarter.
Ragsdale plays host to Page on Friday.
