North Murray turns it on after half to pull away from Southeast

Published 11:43 pm Friday, October 8, 2021

Southeast Whitfield High School (1-7) trailed just 21-14 at the half at North Murray (4-2, 2-2 Region 6-3A) Friday night, but a second-half explosion from the Mountaineers led the hosts to the 49-14 win.

North Murray stepped out of Region 6-3A action to take on Southeast.

On the opening drive of the game, North Murray flew down the field for a score, with Ethan Dempsey finishing things off on the ground.

Then, Seth Griffin hit Jadyn Rice for a 60-yard touchdown to put North Murray up 14-0 late in the first.

Southeast responded with a long drive that ended with a Jordan Trevino four-yard touchdown.

Griffin hit Rice again for another long touchdown, this time a 75-yarder, before another Southeast drive was capped by a three-yard Brady Ensley rush.

After the half, Griffin used his legs this time for a 27-yard rushing touchdown to begin the second-half avalanche. A third touchdown pass for Griffin was a 50-yard score to Dempsey, then Dempsey punched in a one-yard rushing score to start the fourth quarter.

Rice capped the scoring with a rushing touchdown with 3:51 left in the game.

Griffin had 267 yards passing, with 206 of those going to Rice. Dempsey compiled 96 rushing yards.

The short break from Region 6-3A competition is over next week for North Murray. The Mountaineers play at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe Friday to begin a stretch of four more region games to end the season.

Southeast has an open date Friday after playing eight straight weeks to start the season as the Raiders host Northwest Whitfield on Oct. 22.