Prep football: Great escapes for Tigers, Patriots in league play

Asheboro’s Garrison Cheek goes up for a catch in front of Northern Guilford’s Sloan Littleton during Friday night’s game. (PJ Ward-Brown / Randolph Record)

Randleman and Providence Grove pulled out one-point victories in high school football Friday night, while Asheboro suffered its first loss of the season.

It turned out to be a compelling slate of action for Randolph County teams. Here’s a look:

Randleman 22, Central Montgomery 21, OT: At Randleman, quarterback John Kirkpatrick scored on a couple of late-game fourth-down plays and then ran in the winning two-point conversion in the Piedmont Athletic Conference game.

Randleman (5-2, 3-0) won its fourth game in a row.

Kirkpatrick threw to Connor Cassidy for a 6-yard touchdown with 1:04 left in the fourth quarter as the Tigers pulled even.

Montgomery Central’s Noah Rodriguez scored on the first play of overtime. It took Randleman four plays, including overcoming a penalty, to score when Kirkpatrick reached the end zone from 1 yard out. Then he scored on the winning conversion play to cap the homecoming thriller.

Randleman’s Nazir Staton scored on a 63-yard pass play for the game’s first points. Kirkpatrick finished 22-for-36 for 227 passing yard as the Tigers won their second tight game in a row.

Montgomery Central is 3-3, 1-1.

Providence Grove 23, West Davidson 22: At Lexington, Carson Jones kicked a game-winning 41-yard field goal in the final minute as visiting Providence Grove overcame a nine-point, fourth-quarter deficit in the Central Carolina 3-A Conference opener.

Patriots (4-2) scored 16 fourth-quarter points, beginning with Jackson Lawver’s touchdown pass to Andrew Thomas. After West Davidson scored again to go up 22-14, Lawver tossed a pass to Holden Swift, but the Patriots looked doomed when a potential tying two-point play failed.

The Patriots regained possession and Jones connected on his sixth field goal of the season.

West Davidson (3-3) led 10-7 at halftime and 16-7 through three quarters. Thomas had Providence Grove’s first points on a 2-yard run.

Northern Guilford 31, Asheboro 27: At Asheboro, the visiting Nighthawks overcame an early deficit and then held on in the Triad Area Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

Asheboro (5-1) scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns after trailing 31-14.

Dallas Brinton threw two touchdown passes and accounted for 172 yards through the air and rushed for 132 yards. Jayden Spruill and Garrison Cheek made touchdown grabs.

The Blue Comets led 14-7 in the second quarter before Northern Guilford (5-1) surged to a 23-14 lead at the break.

Eastern Randolph 38, Northwood 0: At Pittsboro, the Wildcats won a road game for the second week in a row, this one opening play in the Four Rivers Conference.

Eastern Randolph (5-2) notched its first shutout of the season after blanking four foes last year.

Northwood (1-5) has lost three in a row.

East Davidson 28, Trinity 20: At Trinity, the visiting Golden Eagles kept the Bulldogs in check for most of the second half of the Central Carolina 3-A Conference opener for both teams.

Trinity’s Zaire Gill scored on a run and on a pass from Khad’n Fuller in the first half, but East Davidson pulled ahead at 14-13 before the break and led the rest of the way. Cohen Wolfe also scored for the Bulldogs.

Fuller compiled 95 rushing yards and 110 passing yards.

Trinity (1-5) reached the 20-point mark for the third time this season, but won only one of those. East Davidson (1-5) matched last year’s conference win total.

Thomasville 37, Wheatmore 19: At Trinity, the host Warriors matched their season-high point total but that wasn’t enough in the Central Carolina 3-A Conference opener for both teams.

Thomasville (3-3), after scoring a touchdown in the final minute of the first half, led 21-13 at the break. The Bulldogs were up 24-13 going to the fourth quarter.

Connor Benton, who earlier threw to Gavin McPherson for a touchdown, scored on a late touchdown run for Wheatmore (0-6).