Generals can’t hang with Bulldogs

NARUNA — If Jonthan Hinson is raw, William Campbell coach Brad Bradley doesn’t want to see what the Thomasville junior looks like when he actually gets a little experience at tailback.
“That’s the best running back we’ve ever coached against,” Bradley said after the Bulldogs beat William Campbell 28-14 in Friday night’s season opener.
Hinson ran for 186 yards and scored three touchdowns, the final one a 55-yard back-breaker that quieted a late General rally.
And this was Hinson’s first start at tailback.
He was a receiver last season when Thomasville, a Group AA school from North Carolina, ran a spread offense. Bulldogs coach Allen Brown switched to more of a traditional pro-set offense this season, and he needed a tailback.
So he looked to Hinson.
“Hinson’s not as big as what we’d like, but he’s quick, so we try to make a match of it,” Brown said. “He’s a better receiver than he is a running back, but we’re forced to use him that way.”
Hinson did most of his damage on zone stretch runs, as he darted behind the right side of his massive offensive line, finding creases and holes. Even when the Generals hit him, they couldn’t tackle him. He used an array of jukes and spin moves to break free from trouble.
Hinson wasn’t the only Bulldog the Generals had trouble tackling. William Campbell was sloppy defensively in the first half, with missed assignments leading to wide-open plays for Thomasville’s passing game.
With the Bulldogs up 7-6 in the second quarter, quarterback Chris Brooks spotted D.J. McLendon wide open on the left side of the field in a soft spot in the William Campbell zone. McLendon caught the pass, cut across the middle of the field, shook three William Campbell tacklers and raced 35 yards for a touchdown.
“You can’t come out and make mistakes like we did in the first half against a team like Thomasville,” Bradley said. “Whether it be missed tackles, or little mental mistakes here or there, I think their speed and the physicalness of the game, it took us a second to control it.”
William Campbell, playing without injured starting quarterback Baron Adams, struggled to move the ball in the first three quarters. Seven of the Generals’ 11 first downs came in the fourth quarter, when they were already down 21-6.
But Baron’s little brother, BeBe Adams, found a rhythm in the final five minutes, leading the Generals on a five-play, 76-yard scoring drive, capped by Adams’ 20-yard touchdown pass to Stanley Peerman.
Adams ran in for the two-point conversion, cutting the lead to 21-14 with 1:17 left. Thomasville recovered the on-side kick, but William Campbell was energized nonetheless. A motion penalty pushed the Bulldogs back five yards, and the Generals stuffed Hinson on first down.
But on second down, Hinson broke through the right side of the line and got loose in the secondary, sprinting 55 yards for the clinching score.
“That’s a good team, and they don’t give up easy,” Hinson said. “They came out in the second half trying to show us something. But it wasn’t enough.”