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Hickory Survives Farrell 35-31

Tagged under: District 10, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

| August 25, 2024

Farrell – In a battle of defending District 10 champions, Hickory edged Farrell 35-31 Saturday night at Anthony J. Paulekas Stadium,  Lou Falconi Field.

However, the two schools no longer compete in the same region as both teams moved from Region 3. Farrell is now a member of Region 1, while Hickory plays in Region 4. Bragging rights and pride were still very much on the line.

Hickory entered the season as the defending District 10 3A champions, while Farrell entered as the 3-time reigning 2A champions.

Though the Hornets led throughout the contest, the game wasn’t settled until they recovered an onside kick with 32 seconds remaining.

“This is super special, said Hickory head coach Bill Dungee. “My nephew is coaching over there, and I have coaches that I call brothers because we coached together here at Farrell for ten years. It’s personal, but you try not to get the emotions. We knew it was going to be hard-fought. Even when we went up ten with two minutes left, we knew Farrell wouldn’t quit because they’re a championship program. You have to earn respect. Hopefully, we did a little bit of that tonight.”

After being locked in during practice all week, Hickory started quickly. They took the football and methodically marched down the field, opening the scoring when Zander Telesz threw a 2-yard touchdown to Trevor Borowicz.

On their initial possession, Farrell went 3-and-out and had hiccup special teams as punter Jason Marshall was tackled for a 6-yard loss.

On the next play from scrimmage, Kelvin Morrison scored on a 29-yard run, making the score 14-0 after a quarter.

“That was huge. We talked about that because the last two years, we’ve been down two touchdowns to Farrell right off the bat,” Dungee said. “We had to start fast; we were down 14-0 two years ago before we got the ball. Last year it was 12-0. We call it perfect Thursday’s Friday this week because we had a Saturday game; we were going to run our 10-play sprint on our opening drive, and we were perfect on it.”

After recovering a fumble midway through the second stanza, Farrell drove 43 yards in four plays on four carries by Juelz Johnson as he scored on a 24-yard run, cutting the deficit to half.

Christrian Dungee returned the ensuing kickoff 72 yards for a touchdown.

“When my son ran that kickoff back, I wanted to turn into a dad there, but I can’t because you have to coach the game,” Dungee said. “But I’m just so proud of all these guys tonight.”

The Steelers came back and drove 55 yards as Johnson scored his second touchdown of the night on a 1-yard run with 32 seconds left in the half.

Farrell kept the momentum going as the second half got underway, with the Steelers driving 65 yards in 11 plays on a drive that ate up half of the third-quarter clock.

Finding paydirt for the third time, Johnson scored on a 5-yard run, pulling Farrell to within 21-19 after a failed 2-point conversion.

Hickory answered the bell almost immediately in four plays as Morrison scored his second 29-yard touchdown. Kelvin Morrison led the Hornets with 100 yards on 12 carries.

“It means a lot to us,” said Morrison. “We looked forward to this game all week. It really means a lot. I’ve been working hard, and it’s nice to see things work out in the opening game. Now it’s time to move forward.”

The two teams continued trading haymakers as the third quarter progressed to the fourth.

Farrell closed the gap to 28-25 with a 57-yard drive capped off by Johnson’s fourth rushing score of the night from 22 yards out.

Juelz Johnson rushed for a game-high 226 yards on 36 carries while catching seven balls for 45 yards and scoring all five of the Steelers touchdowns.

“There’s a reason why he’s been voted the number one player in District 10,” said Farrell head coach Anthony Pegues. “The kid is a dog.”

On the succeeding drive, Hickory drove 67 yards in ten plays, converting a 4th-and-1 on a 4-yard run by Jamal Calhoun, leading to Zander Telesz scoring on a 2-yard run with 2:09 to play.

“It’s about responding,” Dungee said. “You know Farrell is going to punch you in the mouth. How do you respond? Our coaches told them that Farrell would make plays, and they had dynamic players all over the field. You must bounce back, recover, and go on to the next play. I thought we did that, there were moments we could have folded but everytime we needed a play we made one.”

Following a 33-yard kickoff return by Stevie Dean, Farrell gave one last-ditch effort to pull off a miracle as Aaron Pegues threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Johnson with 32 seconds to play.

The Hornets recovered the onside kick to hold on for their first victory over Farrell since a 60-14 win in 2013.

“For sure Hickory played a good game,” concluded Pegues. “They were well-coached tonight, and we were just not ready. But we will get better moving forward.”

Hickory will host University Prep next Friday night while Farrell travels to Fort LeBoeuf.

Stats by Ryan Briggs

Game Highlights

Hickory 35 Farrell 31

Score by Quarters

Hickory – 14 7 7 7 – 35

Farrell – 0 13 6 12 – 31

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

H – Trevor Borowicz 2 yd pass from Zander Telesz, (Logan Stanford pat), 5:49 – 11-57

H – Kelvin Morrison 29 yd run, (Stanford pat), 3:01 – 1-29

Second Quarter

F – Juelz Johnson 24 yd run, (Elijah Jackson pat), 5:26 – 4-34

H – Christrian Dungee 72 kickoff return, (Stanford pat), 5:12

F – Johnson 1 yd run, (kick failed), 0:32 – 9-55

Third Quarter

F – Johnson 5 yd run, (rush failed), 6:03 – 11-65

H – Morrison 29 yd run, (Stanford kick), 4:36 – 4-51

Fourth Quarter

F – Johnson 22 yd run, (rush failed), 8:02 – 7-57

H – Telesz 2 yd run, (Stanford pat), 2:18 – 10-67

F – Johnson 7 yd pass from Aaron Pegues, (pass failed), 0:32 – 6-45

Individual Stats

Rushing: H – Morrison 12-100, Jamal Calhoun 4-49, Telesz 11-32, Brody Bishop 2-9, Sarmod Shakoor 1-1, Team 2-0. Totals: 32-191. F – Johnson 36-226, Dorean Cain 1-4, Stevie Dean 3-3, Jason Marshall 1-(-6), Aaron Pegues 6-(-11). Totals: 47-216.

Receiving: H – Jadon Phillips 2-25, Borowicz 2-16. F – Johnson 7-45, Nemo Jones 2-19.

Passing: H – Telesz 4-for-6, 41 yards, 1 TD. F – Pegues 9-of-14, 64 yards, 1 TD.

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