First Posted: 9/5/2014

FAYETTEVILLE — In the first two games that Lumberton played this season, the key to wining was simple — get ahead, stay ahead.

But in Friday’s win against South View, the Pirates faced their first bit of adversity, being pushed to the literal last minute in a 35-33 win against South View.

“We had a lot of adversity, we had a lot of mistakes but all in all we found a way to win,” said Lumberton coach Mike Setzer. “Our kids answered the call and were very proud of them.”

The win triples Lumberton’s total from last season and keeps the team undefeated through three games. The team’s previous best start was seven straight wins to start 2011.

The Pirates went ahead in the first quarter after a 20-yard run by Josh Sheridan, followed by a Dylan Scott kick to go up 7-6. From there, it was slim pickings until after the half.

The Pirates fell behind 12-7 entering the break but had another touchdown run by Sheridan and a touchdown pass from Auston Foley to Stefhan Green put the team up 21-18 to end the third.

Troy Mitchell scored on a six-yard run and Josh Sheridan put Lumberton up 35-33 after a two-yard run, but a final touchdown by the Tigers with a minute left narrowed the lead to two points.

Setzer said the Pirates didn’t do anything differently after struggling offensively in the first half.

“We didn’t make any changes. We knew what we needed to do.” he said.

Sheridan finished with 237 yards on 26 carries and Mitchell had 79 yards on 11 takes. Foley finished 10-for-15 for 78 yards.

The Lumberton defense, which caused numerous turnovers in the first two games went without an interception and forced several fumbles but couldn’t recover any of them.

St. Pauls stalls against Southern Lee

SANFORD — St. Pauls couldn’t build on their momentum after beating South Brunswick last weekend, and fell to Southern Lee 27-7.

The Bulldogs had chances according to head coach Trey Sasser, but turnovers on the offensive end hampered the teams efforts.

“We played well on defense at times,” Sasser said. “The offense had turnovers that put the defense in tough situations, especially in the first half.”

The Bulldogs were only down by 14 at halftime, and Sasser said the team didn’t feel like they were out of the game.

“We felt like we had put (Southern Lee) in position to win,” Sasser said. “We were just telling our guys that we gave them the short field and just keep working.”

Sasser said the biggest problem came in the way the two teams played.

“We were just getting out-physicaled. They were playing bigger than us on defense,” he said. “The offensive line just has to have a tougher mentality. They are a young group and they have to learn to work together.”

The Bulldogs will turn their attention to West Bladen this weekend in another tough test, and Sasser said it is important for them as a team to not go into a bye week after a loss.

“It would be nice to win going into an open week,” he said “You don’t want to let that sit for two weeks. But you try to treat them all the same, and you try to win each one them.”

South Robeson postponed

BEAR CREEK — Construction at North Moore High School led to South Robeson’s game being postponed. The two sets of Mustangs will instead play tonight at 7 at Chatham Central.

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Box scores

Lumberton 35, South View 33

Lumberton 7 0 14 14 — 35

South View 6 6 6 15 — 33

Lumberton scoring

1st quarter

Josh Sheridan 20 run (Jace Ward kick)

3rd quarter

Sheridan 2 run (Ward kick)

Stefhan Green 26 pass from Auston Foley (Ward kick)

4th quarter

Troy Mitchell 6 run (Ward kick)

Sheridan 2 run (Ward kick)

Lumberton stats

Rushing: Josh Sheridan 26-237; Troy Mitchell 11 carries, 79 yards.

Passing: Foley 10-15-0-78

Receiving: Stefan Green 2-26.

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Southern Lee 27, St. Pauls 7

St. Pauls 0 0 0 7 — 7

Southern Lee 6 8 7 6 — 27

Scoring summary

1st Quarter

SL — 4 yard TD run. (Kick failed)

2nd Quarter

SL — 8 yard TD run. (Conversion good)

3rd Quarter

SL — 8 yard run (Kick good)

4th quarter

SL — 5 yard run (Kick failed)

STP — Tim Billinger 12 pass from Cody McKenna (Kick good)

St. Pauls stats

Passing — McKenna 8-28-4-69.

Rushing — Trey Johnson 10-37, Trey Thompson 3-10, Cody McKenna 9-9, Charles Spears 1-9.

Receiving — Tim Billinger 2-24, Sayvon Sampson 5-44.