LAURINBURG — While walking into the postgame handshake line after his team defeated Lumberton 40-0 on Thursday, Scotland football coach Richard Bailey almost forgot that he had just picked up the 200th win of his coaching career.
“I knew it was,” Bailey said with a smile. “But I kind of forgot about it until Mr. (Brian) Edkins got me and said, ‘Come out here with me.’”
“I didn’t know. I thought we’d done something wrong. But yeah, that’s a blessing, 200 wins… I’ve been very blessed. I have great coaches, and a bunch of great players.”
Bailey spent 12 seasons as head coach at Jack Britt, where he compiled a 119-44 record. He is currently in his seventh year at Scotland, where his overall record is 81-13.
And his 200th win was a dominant one.
Scotland’s Syheam “Smiley” McQueen rushed for three touchdowns and 64 yards on seven carries against Lumberton. Darrius Dockery rushed for 79 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 10 carries, and R.J. Nicholson had a 31-yard touchdown run on his only carry of the game.
Lumberton (1-8, 0-5 SAC) played without its starting quarterback, Braylan Grice. Grice, who also plays in the secondary for the Pirates, was suspended for Lumberton’s game against Richmond the week before. It was revealed after that game that Grice was no longer with the team, but he was reinstated on Monday.
Grice was in full gear on the sideline against Scotland, but he didn’t see any playing time.
Starting in his place was Jadarian Chatman, who finished 4-for-17 for 65 yards. Chatman threw two interceptions.
It was the fifth consecutive loss for the Pirates and their first-year head coach, Kelly Williamson.
“They’ve struggled this year,” Bailey said. “I talked to coach before the game. He’s been going through some of the stuff we’ve been dealing with a little bit with some injuries, but also some discipline issues we’ve had to deal with. I applaud him for being a man of principle. Trying to teach kids some discipline.”
Lumberton lined up to receive the game’s opening kickoff, but Scotland was able to get downfield and recover a short kick by Andrew Oswald before the Pirates could obtain possession. That helped the Fightings Scots (4-4, 3-2) get set up in Lumberton territory.
Dockery scored on a 6-yard touchdown run later in the drive, but Scotland’s extra point attempt was blocked.
Scotland’s Devin Chavis ended Lumberton’s first drive with an interception near the end zone, but the Pirates’ Kwashek Breeden intercepted an option pass by Matt Sellers to get the ball back later in the quarter.
Scotland stretched its lead to 12-0 on a 9-yard touchdown run by McQueen early in the second quarter. A 52-yard pass from Tyler Barfield to Trey Chavis set up McQueen for his second touchdown run of the night, this time from 3 yards out.
Dockery pushed the lead to 26-0 with a 44-yard touchdown run with just over three minutes left in the first half. The Scots took a 33-0 lead into halftime after a fourth-down conversion attempt resulted in a 30-yard touchdown run for McQueen.
Scotland quickly got back into its offensive rhythm in the second half. Defensive end Jason Romero returned a short kickoff by Lumberton to the Pirates’ 31-yard line, and running back R.J. Nicholson took it the rest of the way for a touchdown on the next play.
Scotland’s Kavon Green notched an interception in the end zone to help the Scots preserve their 40-0 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Lumberton turned the ball over on downs with five minutes left in the game. After Scotland was unable to move the ball on offense with many of its backups in the game, the hosts punted and Lumberton took over on its own 47-yard line.
After two rushes for a total of 15 yards, Lumberton chose to let the clock expire with under one minute left in the game.
