HAVELOCK, N.C. — Terrance McCormick Jr. is the son of a coach — his dad now an assistant at New Bern who was once the head coach of Warren County — and like any son of a coach he knows that bad things will happen throughout the course of a close game.

So when snaps were going over McCormick Jr.’s head, he was poised enough to not get frustrated.

When his team fell behind by 20 at halftime, he was poised enough to not get frustrated.

The rest of the Bears followed suit, slowly chipping away at a three-score lead before a go-ahead score with less than seven minutes left held up as the game-winning play, a 28-27 victory at No. 10 Havelock. The host Rams were shut out by their rivals in the second half, having led 27-7 going into the break.

“I told my boys to keep their head up,” McCormick said. “I believed in (my guys)… Mistakes are going to forever happen, we’re all not perfect, so we’re going to have to go and get it next play.”

McCormick engineered three scoring drives in the second half, the first on a 62-yard pass to Ivion Smith, the second on a 60-yard run of his own, and the last a 12-yard pass to Jussan Wiggins.

New Bern (4-1) had just one touchdown in the first half, a 14-yard reverse run Wiggins to cut Havelock’s lead to 13-7 with 6:36 in the second quarter.

The Bears forced three second-half turnovers against Havelock (3-1), including an interception in the end zone. Havelock had four total turnovers on the night.

Havelock’s four first-half touchdowns had a lot to do with those bad snaps from New Bern, and they made the Bears pay on both of their only turnovers in the game.

Quarterback Jaylen Hewitt ran for two scores, Jayden Howard ran for another, and Hewitt found Jalen Morgan for a 38-yard pas.

For New Bern, McCormick led the way with 10-of-17 passing for 162 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception while adding 26 carries for 76 yards (a number greatly impacted by the number of times he fell on bad snaps).

Wiggins had a rushing score (1 carry, 14 yards), a receiving score (three receptions, 59 yards), and one interception.

For Havelock, quarterback Jaylen Hewitt was 12-of-22 passing for 242 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions while rushing 16 times for 74 yards and two scores.

Jonathan Williams had six receptions for 119 yards and one score while Jaylen Morgan had four receptions for 105 yards and a score.

Most notably for Havelock, standout running back LeBron Sharpe was injured in the first quarter, favoring his lower leg after falling in a non-contact injury. He had six carries for 37 yards.

SCORING SUMMARY

1Q
HAV — Jaylen Hewitt 1-yard run, XP good (7-0, 6:17)
2Q
HAV — Jayden Howard 6-yard run, XP blocked (13-0, 9:30)
NB — Jussan Wiggins 14-yard run, XP good (13-7, 6:36)
HAV — Jaylen Hewitt 2-yard run, XP good (20-7, 4:07)
HAV — Jaylen Hewitt 38-yard pass to Jaylen Morgan, XP good (27-7, 59.6)
3Q
NB — Terrance McCormick Jr. 62-yard pass to Ivion Smith, XP good (27-14, 10:35)
NB — Terrance McCormick Jr. 60-yard run, XP good (27-21, 2:01)
4Q
NB — Terrance McCormick Jr. 12-yard pass to Jussan Wiggins, XP good (28-27, 6:54)

Source: highschoolot.com