TABOR CITY—In a close and exciting game, Swansboro edged South Columbus 23-18 Monday at Vinegar Hill.
Trailing by five, the Stallions could not punch it in with less than a minute to go to take the lead and the victory. Most of the first half was a defensive struggle with both teams finding it hard to get offensive momentum.
Swansboro missed a 26-yard field goal early in the contest. South Columbus provided the first score of the game as Gentry Thompson crossed the goal line from two yards out with 2:41 remaining on the clock in the second period to give the Stallions an early 6-0 lead.
Swansboro didn’t wait long to respond as Carmelo Beasley found the endzone from 78 yards away to give the Titans a 7-6 advantage with the Cameron Nilson PAT with 2:14 left in the second period. A Stallion miscue resulted in a short Titan drive with Cameron Nilson hitting a seven-yard field goal with 16 seconds in the second quarter to push the Swansboro advantage to 10-6 going into the half.
The Titans added to their lead with 2:03 left in the third quarter to give Swansboro an 16-6 lead with the PAT from Nilson. In the fourth quarter, the Stallions showed their mettle. Gentry Thompson scored a 15-yard touchdown run to cut the Titan lead to 16-12 with 10:28 remaining on the clock. The two-point conversion failed. The Stallions got the ball back after a fumble from Swansboro.
Cam Bellamy crossed the end zone from 22 yards out to give South Columbus a 18-16 lead with 4:13 left in the fourth quarter. With under one minute to go, the Titans took the lead for good 23-18 with a 10-yard touchdown run by Carmelo Beasley.
South Columbus gave a great last shot at the win but failed to complete a pass in the endzone in the finals seconds to seal a Swansboro victory.
South Columbus falls to 0-1 on the young season. They will travel to Cerro Gordo to face county rival West Columbus (0-1) Friday as the Titans (1-0) will visit Pamlico County (1-0).
