FARMVILLE — North Lenoir hung with Farmville Central through the first quarter Friday night, but that was the closest the Hawks would get.
The Hawks (0-2) ultimately fell 46-16.
They led 8-7 before a Josh Jones 7-yard touchdown gave the Jaguars a five-point lead with two minutes into play. The scoring run would be the first of 33 unanswered points from the Jaguars (1-0) over the next 20 minutes.
Three of the Hawks four turnovers — two fumbles and an interception — occurred in Jaguar territory. The third fumble happened just five yards from midfield.
“We moved the ball pretty well, but we did cap off a lot of drive, a lot of opportunities that we had,” Hawks coach Calvin Sutton said. “We’re trying to fill a lot of spots, so it’s going to be like this — a fight week in and week out.”
On Farmville’s opening set of plays, the Jaguars capped off a seven-play drive with a 12-yard pass from quarterback Shaft Parker to wideout Edward Davis for a quick 7-0 lead.
North Lenoir lost a fumble on its first possession but held Farmville to no yards on its second possession. A botched snap by Jags punter Michael Clooney helped set the Hawks up 29-yards from the end zone.
Cedric Summers, who led all rushers with 122 yards, ran twice to help give the Hawks the early lead.
After Jones’ run to give the lead back to the Jags, the Hawks’ drive stalled on their own 32 yards line. With the Hawks’ Rodrigo Castenada forced to punt, a bad snap — one of many on the night that plagued the kicking game —caused enough delay for the Farmville defenders to break through the line. Jaguars Jake Nicholson snatched the ball off the end of the punter’s foot and carried it back for the score.
North Lenoir also had a 28-yard field goal blocked at the end of the third quarter.
The Jags would add touchdown runs of 36, 8 and 67 through the middle quarters before North Lenoir’s Donyae Hopkins would answer with a 33-yard run of his own with 6:06 remaining in the third quarter. James Durant’s two-point conversion run would be the last points of the night for the Hawks.
Farmville’s Malik Smith scored a 1-yard touchdown to give the game’s final score.
Arkeveion Crandall, who score Farmville’s 36-yard touchdown, led all Jag runners with 87 yards. Kashon Baker added 74 yards on the ground.
North Lenoir faces C.B. Aycock next Friday.