LAURINBURG — Scotland’s defense picked up the slack as the team’s error-prone offense struggled at times in a 21-3 win against Hoke on Friday night.
The Scots held star running back Keonte’ Shaw and the Bucks (5-2, 2-1 SAC) to 123 yards of total offense. But the same things that have hampered the Scots (7-0, 3-0 SAC) for weeks on end — bad snaps, botched blocking schemes and dropped passes — put the Scots in bad positions on offense.
We’ve got to block them, and we’ve got to snap the ball better and we’ve got to execute plays better,” Scotland coach Richard Bailey said. “It’s mind-boggling to me, really — I can’t explain it.
“I’m a broken record. We’ve just got to be better. We’ve just got to coach better. Defense (was) outstanding, unbelievable.”
Scotland running back Kyshaun Galberth registered 110 yards on 16 carries, including a 12-yard touchdown run.
“We had some struggles with the blocking scheme, but then second half we came back and got all that right,” said Galberth, a senior who transferred from Hoke to Scotland prior to this season.
R.J. Nicholson had 44 yards on nine carries. Two-way player Savion Leak was held in check when carrying the ball, but he recorded one of the biggest plays of the night on special teams. Leak returned a punt 63 yards for a touchdown to give Scotland a 21-3 lead late in the fourth quarter.
That big play helped put an end to what was almost a disastrous final quarter for the Scots. Scotland lost a fumbled snap on the first play of the final period, but the defense held strong and forced Hoke to punt on the next drive. The Scots took over in their own territory, and things took a turn for the worse again when a snap sailed over quarterback Tyler Barfield’s head. Barfied raced back and recovered the loose ball on Scotland’s 1-yard line.
Bruce Wall gave the Scots some breathing room with an inside run from the wildcat formation. Some big runs by Galberth helped the Scots advance farther down the field, but a third-down play was stalled by a bad snap, and the Scots had to punt.
But Hoke’s offense was neutralized again, and that led to Leak’s touchdown with just over three minutes left in the game.
After the special teams score, Scotland defensive back Kobe McLaurin grabbed an interception to effectively end the game.
Scotland previously scored and took a 14-3 lead on Galberth’s 12-yard run in the third quarter.
(The touchdown) started me off,” Galberth said. “I started getting smooth with it.”
That came after Hoke kicker Malachi Harris connected on a 25-yard field goal.
An 18-yard quarterback keeper by Barfield gave the Scots a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
Shaw led the Bucks’ offense with 99 yards on 19 carries.
