Hite, Moore carry Emerald past Woodruff

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>WOODRUFF |</strong> Beau knows.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For Emerald on Friday night, so did Joe.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Playing for the first time without star running back [player_tooltip player_id='1772596' first='Chris' last='Dean'], who suffered a season-ending leg injury last Friday, quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='1467847' first='Beau' last='Hite'] and running back [player_tooltip player_id='2190455' first='Joe' last='Moore'] more than picked up the slack in an early battle of unbeaten teams at Woodruff. Hite and Moore accounted for all 467 of the Vikings total yards of offense before the final play of the third quarter then took the fourth quarter off as Emerald rolled to a 52-31 victory.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"Our o-line played great. We had a lot of room to run and had some big runs and big throws to start it off. After starting strong, we just kept it going," said Hite (pictured). "With Chris out, Joe stepped up in a major way. We needed him to be big tonight and that's what he did."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A failed fake punt on fourth down by Woodruff on the game's opening possession set up Emerald at midfield. The Vikings ended up having to settle for a 23-yard field goal by [player_tooltip player_id='1772774' first='Warner' last='Wright'], but from that point on the game turned into a bit of a track meet.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It took the Wolverines just two plays to answer. After Emerald sent the house on a blitz, Woodruff executed a screen pass to perfection. [player_tooltip player_id='1604037' first='Micah' last='McClintock'] took the short throw from [player_tooltip player_id='1823657' first='Connor' last='Davis'] and turned it into a 44-yard touchdown as Woodruff took a 7-3 lead. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, that was McClintock's last touch of the game as he left with an injury.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Emerald answered when Moore twisted his way into the end zone on a 17-yard run. Emerald then had a fake PAT as [player_tooltip player_id='2249215' first='Camelle' last='Hill'] took a backwards pass from Hite and ran it in to push the lead to 11-7.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1633095' first='Curtis' last='Bell'] personally had a big response for Woodruff. After returning the ensuing kickoff 33 yards to the Wolverines' 38, he made a diving reception for a 35-yard gain on the next play. Three plays later on third-and-long, Bell made an over-the-shoulder catch in the end zone on a perfect strike from Davis for a 27-yard score. Unfortunately again for Woodruff, Bell only had two more receptions in the second quarter before his night ended early due to injury as well.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Later in the second quarter, Emerald had a three-play touchdown drive in which Moore carried for gains of 36, nine and finally four yards. That touchdown put the Vikings ahead to stay at 18-14.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A critical portion of the game occurred in the final two minutes of the first half. Woodruff had an eight-play drive following Moore's touchdown, but had to settle for a 30-yard field goal by [player_tooltip player_id='2098894' first='Diego' last='Tranquilino'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It took Emerald just 56 seconds to answer as Hite connected with [player_tooltip player_id='2249216' first='Keirion' last='Brown'] on a 27-yard touchdown.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In a game filled with offensive highlights, the Vikings' defense may have made the biggest play of the night on Woodruff's next possession. It came on third down when defensive end [player_tooltip player_id='2249820' first='Tyrell' last='Cloud'] had a strip sack and fellow defensive end [player_tooltip player_id='1825020' first='Adrien' last='Wideman'] pounced on the loose ball at the Wolverines' 44-yard line with 33 seconds left.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With the huge swing in momentum back to the Vikings, they went to their bag of tricks. Moore took a handoff from Hite to the left before he pulled up and fired a pass to Hill. Hill stopped to make the catch and then spun his way to the end zone to help push the lead to 32-17 with 18.7 seconds left.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"It was supposed to go to [player_tooltip player_id='1822754' first='Desiray' last='Christian'], but I saw Camelle get open and the safety came down, so I just blasted it right over them," Moore said. "It felt like a huge play."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>All the air of an exciting back and forth game just kind of went away after that score and Woodruff could never make up that deficit.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"That turnover was huge. It was a Mississippi tornado right there before halftime, boom boom," Emerald coach Tad DuBose said. "Then [player_tooltip player_id='2190455' first='Joe' last='Moore'] is left-handed and he slings that thing down there to Camelle. It was a great play call by our coaches and great execution by our kids.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"These kids played with a heavy heart tonight and a lot of emotion. Chris is one of our captains and he's still laid up in the hospital. [player_tooltip player_id='2190455' first='Joe' last='Moore'] stepped in and filled some shoes. I'm just tickled to death for our young people and the way they play."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Vikings got the ball to start the second half and looked poised to keep the momentum going, but Moore was stripped of the ball and Woodruff's [player_tooltip player_id='1823664' first='Jayden' last='Hunter'] recovered at the Wolverines' four-yard line. While the turnover prevented an Emerald score, it kept the ball on Woodruff's side of the field.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Emerald's defense responded with the first of three consecutive three-and-outs. The Vikings got the ball in Wolverines territory after every one of those and scored on all three of those possessions.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hite is a junior who's already committed to South Carolina as a baseball player. Midway through the third quarter, he looked like another "Bo" who excelled in both football and baseball. Hite had one of those "Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl" style of touchdowns when he somehow slipped free out of a sack, looped around to his left and took off down the sideline for a 52-yard score</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>That was Hite's only run of the second half. On the Vikings' next possession, his second and final pass of the second half was a perfect strike to [player_tooltip player_id='1822754' first='Desiray' last='Christian'] in the end zone. Christian maneuvered his way between two defenders to haul in the 42-yard pass.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"Beau's electric, he's smart and he's a three-year starter. The game has really slowed down for him," DuBose said. "A lot of people don't understand just how much he can hurt people with his feet."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hite completed 8-of-13 passes for 162 yards with no interceptions and he ran six times for 101 yards. [player_tooltip player_id='1773739' first='Coleson' last='Marino'] caught two passes for 64 yards, while Christian caught two for 48.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With the game firmly in hand, Emerald's third running back, [player_tooltip player_id='1824649' first='Collin' last='Partlow'], got in on the act. He carried on the final play of the third quarter and then the first five of the fourth. The last of those was a four-yard touchdown to push the lead to 52-17.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The last two Woodruff scores came on a 65-yard pass from Davis to [player_tooltip player_id='1816164' first='Grae' last='Smith'] and an eight-yard touchdown run by [player_tooltip player_id='1825426' first='Julian' last='Sullivan'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cloud and Wideman wreaked havoc in Woodruff's backfield all night as the Wolverines had just eight yards rushing in the first three quarters. Cloud finished with three sacks and another tackle-for-loss in which he rag-dolled a running back to the ground. Wideman also had a sack.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Davis completed 18-of-25 passes for 250 yards with no interceptions to lead Woodruff (2-1). Bell caught six passes for 76 yards, all in the first half.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["2190455"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":["override_image"],"_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_player_featured_image":2374799,"_player_evaluations_0_player_featured_image":"field_62f141137ead9","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6a9ba1a40d055"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Moore showed great patience on his steady running all night, waiting for lanes to be opened by his offensive line. He finished with 160 yards on 20 carries to go along with the 44-yard touchdown pass.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"Losing Chris was a lot, but stepping up is part of the game," Moore said. "My offensive line made it a lot easier to do that."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->