WILSON – Barton football coach Chip Hester kept coming back to one sentiment as he assessed his team’s 27-24 loss to West Virginia State on Thursday night.
“Pretty frustrating,” he said. “I’m proud of our guys for fighting and competing. In the end we got the ball back, had a chance … But a pretty frustrating night.”
Frustrating that the Barton offense, known for its rushing prowess in recent seasons, only managed 51 yards on the ground.
Frustrating that the Barton defense gave up 248 yards in the run game, including 178 to slippery West Virginia State back Joel Felder.
Frustrating that a field goal attempt in the third quarter resulted in a block that WVSU later turned into points.
Frustrating that time ran out on the Bulldogs, and that an opening night win slipped away in the final period.
“You know, I’m frustrated right now,” Hester said. “But there’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves, and I know no one is going to do that. We’ve got to find a way to regroup and move forward.”
On a beautiful night in Wilson, the game’s momentum ebbed and flowed between the two teams.
West Virginia State marched 75 yards after the opening kickoff to take an early lead. Felder scored on a 26-yard burst as his offensive line asserted itself up front.
But Barton’s defense seemed to clamp down from there. The teams traded field goals, and new Barton quarterback Trevor Nored rushed up the middle for a seven-yard TD late in the second quarter to tie the contest 10-10.
West Virginia State got a second field goal midway through the third period, and Barton responded with a 56-yard touchdown drive, capped by a 1-yard plunge from Jackson Parrish. The Bulldogs led for the first time, 17-13.
But West Virginia State rediscovered its punch on offense and wore down the Barton ‘D’ over the final quarter. The Hornets got two rushing touchdowns and seemed to put the game out of reach, 27-17 with 8:49 to go.
Barton had to punt it back to the Hornets, and Andrew Bontekoe pinned WVSU back at the five with a 51-yard boot. The Hornets couldn’t move the chains, and Connor Stanley broke through on fourth down to block a punt.
Stanley scooped it up for a 23-yard touchdown to pull Barton within 27-24, giving the home team new life.
West Virginia State drove to the Barton 20 after kickoff before turning the ball over on downs. The Bulldogs took over with 55 seconds left, but Nored couldn’t get the ball in the air on the first two plays, keeping the clock running.
Nored found Jayden Flood-Brown for a 36-yard gain to the WVSU 42 as the seconds ticked down. But Barton was whistled for a penalty on that play, and the game clock hit 0:00.
Despite Hester’s obvious frustrations, he did acknowledge his team did a lot of good things, too.
Nored, a transfer from Rhode Island, made his first collegiate start at quarterback and threw for 310 yards. He was intercepted once, but he spread the ball around to nine different receivers.
“I think we’ve got a talented guy at quarterback,” Hester said. “Our offensive coaches are going to have to figure out exactly the best way to utilize him. I think all of us need to learn from this game and find out ways that we can get better and how we can coach him better. That’s on me to make sure I do that.”
Flood-Brown caught nine passes for 140 yards — the top receiving performance, stat-wise, in our state thus far. “He is sneaky good with the ball in his hands after the catch,” Hester said. “We’ve got to continue to try to find ways to get him involved.”
Linebacker Matt Smith provided 15 tackles, with Dereck Barringer adding nine more. Stanley’s blocked punt kept the Bulldogs in contention until the very end.
Barton will have a few extra days to prepare for its second game, at Chowan next weekend. The Bulldogs blanked the Hawks 41-0 on opening night a year ago. But both teams have much different lineups this season.
“We’ve got to sit around that (game) tape and figure out ways to stop the run,” Hester said. “That is a key. I can’t tell you how big of a key it is for us to win football games this year. We’re going to figure some things out. The other part of it is, we don’t want to put the brakes on our passing game, but we’ve got to be better in the run game. I was expecting better.
“We’re going to have practice tomorrow (Friday) afternoon, and we’ve got to give them a couple of days to lick their wounds and heal up a little bit, and then hit the ground running on Monday.”
