Another Road Win, Another Step Closer: Kinston Tops Pasquotank, Northeastern Awaits
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. – The fog was so thick by the fourth quarter you couldn’t see the goal posts from the press box. Didn’t matter. Kinston’s seniors could smell the fourth round from a mile away.
No. 14 Kinston (10-3) punched its ticket to the NCHSAA 3A East regional semifinals for the second straight year, dismantling No. 6 Pasquotank County 34-20 on a chilly, misty Friday night. Next up: a Black Friday collision at No. 7 Northeastern – a team these Vikings know all too well.
They’ve already traded shots with the Eagles this year in summer 7-on-7. Northeastern ended Kinston’s basketball season last winter. And while the two programs both reached the fourth round of the football playoffs a year ago, the bracket never gave them the matchup everyone wanted.
Now it’s here. And Kinston’s 17-senior class – a group loaded with three- and four-year starters – isn’t in the mood to wait another 365 days.
“That’s a big-time player making a big-time play,” head coach Ryan Gielseman said of the 35-yard dagger Brennan Chambers snagged over three Pasquotank defenders with 20 seconds left in the first half. “It was two or three guys on him. We got a big-time player like that who stays ready for the moment.”
Chambers, the 6-foot-5 Marshall commit, made good on every inch of that height, finishing with 5 catches for 86 yards and the back-breaking touchdown that turned a 20-13 lead into a 27-13 cushion right before halftime.
The night, though, belonged to the whole senior crew.
State passing leader Tyler Jones carved up the Panthers for 201 yards and three touchdowns on 14-of-20 efficiency. NC State commit Tyreek Copper – now with a receiving touchdown in 14 consecutive games – hauled in 6 balls for 90 yards and a score, then took a punt 80 yards to the house (his second straight week with a punt-return TD) to push the lead to 34-13 early in the third. Sophomore Pap Brown added 3 catches for 25 yards and the game’s first touchdown.
Pasquotank scratched back, cashing in a 60-yard drive and recovering a Kinston fumble at the 1-yard line, but the Viking defense that surrendered just 26 passing yards all night slammed the door with two late punts and a fourth-and-1 stop.
“Defense has been huge,” Gielseman said. “You gotta play your best ball late in the year. When our defense is playing like that, we can do some great things.”
Thanksgiving practice is becoming tradition for this group – the second consecutive year they’ve spent the holiday grinding instead of eating second helpings.
“I’m very blessed, I’m very thankful,” Gielseman told his team afterward. “Practicing on Thanksgiving says a lot about your program.”
Message for the week ahead? Simple.
“We gotta come back up here next week,” Gielseman said. “They want a piece of us. We’ll be ready.”
Kickoff Friday at Northeastern is 7 p.m.
For a senior class that’s been starting since they had learner’s permits, one more trip up Highway 17 feels less like a road game and more like a receipt that’s been a long time coming.
