PEMBROKE — Following his team’s 58-7 loss to Pinecrest at home, Purnell Swett football coach Jon Sherman knew who was to blame for the plentiful mistakes the Rams had on Friday night at home.
According to Sherman, the fault fell on his shoulders for the countless errors that led to the second-half meltdown the Rams had.
“I didn’t have my team motivated to the point where they wanted to play football,” Sherman said. “That’s 100 percent on me. The mistakes, the false starts, the offsides and being out of position, that all 100 percent on the head coach.”
Coming out of the break 21-7, Pinecrest scored 23 points in the third quarter courtesy of big plays to put the game out of reach from the Rams. The loss meant Purnell Swett (2-3, 0-2 SAC) dropped its second straight game to open Sandhills Athletic Conference play as Pinecrest (4-2, 1-1 SAC) rebounded from being shut out to open league play.
“I thought we came out understanding what we needed to do to get it done because we gave up points that we knew we shouldn’t have on errors,” he said. “Defensively I thought we played well to be where we were in the first half.”
Purnell Swett’s lone scoring drive in the game came early in the second quarter to knot the score at 7-all when Micah Carter connected with Chandler Brayboy for a 38-yard touchdown toss with 10:03 left in the first half. Brayboy has scored the Rams’ last five touchdowns, dating back to his three-touchdown performance against Douglas Byrd.
After the score, things started falling apart in all three phases for Purnell Swett. Two costly plays in special teams that were turned into 14 Pinecrest points, while the defense was unable to get stops on the other end after the Rams were unable to put drives together.
With 3:30 left until halftime, Tobias Epps muffed a punt that was recovered by the Patriots. Two plays later, quarterback Greg Van Steen scored on a 20-yard rushing touchdown to go up 14-7. Van Steen passed to Mantra McManus later in the quarter on a 36-yard strike to stretch the Pinecrest advantage to 21-7.
Pinecrest scored on big plays and short drives in the second half, including on the first drive of the third quarter. Van Steen hit McManus for a 60-yard touchdown toss on the second play of scrimmage, and then with Alex Roberts for 54 yards two drives later to make it 37-7.
Those passing touchdowns sandwiched a Garrett Karres safety of Carter in the endzone at the 9:24 mark of the third quarter to make it 30-7.
Corey Patterson added a 44-yard rushing touchdown with more than three minutes left in the third period. Patterson led all rushers with 89 yards on the ground, while Van Steen was 11-for-18, including a perfect 3-for-3 in the second half, for 209 yards.
Purnell Swett’s Carter went 7-for-22 passing without a completion in the second half, while Brayboy received 58 of his 94 passing yards. Running back Zeke Snell rushed for 55 yards on a frustrating night for the Rams’ offense.
“I thought it come down to not executing at the fullest,” Sherman said of the offense.
The Rams return to action next week on the road against Jack Britt, while Pinecrest makes the second stop on its Robeson County tour when it travels to Lumberton.
