Broughton opened the high school football season with a win over Cary in the nightcap game of the Wake County Schools Kickoff at WakeMed Soccer Park on Saturday night.

It was the first game at Cary for new tight end Gus Ritchey, a 3-star NC State commit, but it was the Capitals who scored the first three touchdowns of the game and held off a Cary comeback attempt in the second half to claim a 35-14 win.

Special teams proved to be a problem for the Imps. Cary drove the field on its first possession and attempted a field goal midway through the first quarter, but Broughton blocked the attempt. Later in the quarter, Cary was preparing to punt the ball away, but the snap went over the punters head and gave Broughton the ball at the Imps’ 11-yard line.

The second special teams mistake by Cary led to Broughton’s first points. Latrell Brown scored on a three-yard run to give Broughton a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.

After turning Cary over on downs in the second quarter, Matthew Vannoy broke a 12-yard outside run to give Broughton a 14-0 lead at halftime.

The second half started the same way for Cary — with special teams mishaps. Another snap that flew over the punter’s head gave Broughton possession at the Cary 27-yard line. On the very next play, Owen Vogler connected with Jabree Spruill for a touchdown. The Capitals led 21-0.

Cary finally got points in the third quarter though, and it happened after Broughton made a mistake on special teams. The Capitals muffed a punt by Cary and the Imps recovered, which led to a Santonis Wright one-yard run for a touchdown. That cut the deficit to 21-7 for Cary.

But Broughton immediately answered. Vogler, who was named the Most Valuable Player of the game, ran into the end zone, pushing the Broughton lead back to 21 points. The Caps led Cary 28-7 after three quarters.

Cary didn’t quit in the fourth quarter. Imps quarterback Nick Grenna scrambled for a 21-yard touchdown to get Cary back within 14 points with just over 10 minutes left in the game, but the Imps couldn’t get more points.

Broughton added an insurance touchdown with about five minutes left when lineman Saxton Cullett scored on a three-yard run.

Broughton (1-0) returns to play on Thursday night with a road game at Corinth Holders at 7 p.m. Cary (0-1) will also play a road game on Thursday when it travels to Enloe at 7 p.m.

Source: highschoolot.com