Down 28-7 at the half, the New Hanover Wildcats looked like a team whose season was about to be ended by Smithfield Selma. Not much had gone their way. Their offense wasn’t clicking and the defense couldn’t prevent the run around the right side of the o-line.

But the Wildcats kept plugging away and slowly scratched their way back into the game, only to have their dreams shattered in overtime.
Down 7-0, New Hanover evened the score when, on a critical third and twelve play, Colton Benford hooked up with Jermaine Jones who was able to shake a defender and go in for the 50 yard score. With 8:11 left in the second quarter, the Wildcats had tied the score at seven.
But the next three touchdowns all belonged to Smithfield. They scored on a four yard run with 3:58 to play before halftime and when they stuffed New Hanover on a fourth and seven, they took over with excellent field position. After hitting a big pass play and a couple of runs on first and second down, Smithfield worked the ball inside the one. The Wildcats stuffed the third down run up the middle, and appeared to have them stopped again on fourth down. According to the instant replay, courtesy Bob Bonner who of course was right on the play, it appeared that just as the runner was going down, just short of the goal line, the ball came out and Smithfield recovered the fumble in the endzone with just two ticks left on the clock.
New Hanover came out of the locker room needing a lift, but instead, less than four minutes into the third quarter, they found themselves trailing 28-7 after a Smithfield five yard touchdown run.
But that is when the spark came. On the kickoff, Jamar Barnett juked his way close to midfield igniting the New Hanover offense.
The Wildcats worked the ball down close to the shadow of the Smithfield goal posts and senior Jared Jones made the score 28-14 with his touchdown run.
The defense, which could not stop the run, had apparently figured out the key. They took Nick Becton, recruited by division I colleges as an offensive lineman, and put him on the strong side of the defensive line.
The Wildcats would score again on their next possession on a five yard run by Jamar Barnett that was set up by Darryl Pulliam’s long punt return, and with :21 left in the third, they were right back in the game.
Momentum had clearly shifted, and with Uncle Mo behind them, the defense held and New Hanover took over at midfield. New Hanover Head Coach Kevin Motsinger would say after the game, “We started to play. It’s the playoffs, you gotta come to play.”
Still trailing and with time dwindling, the Wildcats were playing their best football of the night, but needed to move the ball. On a key third and eight play, Benford hit Travis Middaugh on a slant to move the sticks and kept the momentum rolling. New Hanover continued to move the ball and after Jared Jones carried tacklers down to the five on an impressive run, Jamar Barnett capped the drive. It was #5, from 5 yards out, with 5:55 to play in the game.
After evening the score at 28, Smithfield had a chance to win and it looked promising when they completed a deep pass at the New Hanover 10 yard line, but a holding penalty brought the play back.
The teams went to overtime with each getting a possession on the opponent’s 10-yard line. New Hanover lost the coin flip and Smithfield decided to take the ball second so that they would know how many points they would need in their possession.
The Wildcats were about to go in for the score but as the Wildcat receiver reached the ball out over the goal line, it was stripped and recovered by Smithfield. What had seemed like it was going to be a glorious play, wound up being the difference. On their ensuing possession, Smithfield was able to squeak into the front corner of the endzone on a tough run, ending the Wildcats season, in heartbreaking fashion.
Coach Motsinger said after the game, “Once we decided to kick it in, I thought we were going to win the football game.” Indeed they were so close to capping a spectacular comeback, but the difference in the season was a couple of plays that could have gone either way, however they didn’t go in favor of the Wildcats. “This was an awesome bunch of kids. Their backs were against the wall, and they kept on plugging. I didn’t want my time to be up with these seniors.” I’m sure they didn’t want their time to be up with Coach Mot either, that’s what makes the end of the season so tough.