After winning the 4A East last season, (3) Hoggard is off to the fourth round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association football playoffs after a 28-21 win over (11) Millbrook.

Hoggard’s Ja’quay Locke returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown to give the Vikings an early 7-0 lead.

Hoggard forced a Millbrook punt on its ensuing possession, but the Wildcats returned the favor and blocked a Hoggard punt. That gave Millbrook the ball on the Hoggard 34-yard line. Brilison McCullers crossed the goal line on 4th & 1 to tie the game at 7-7 with less than a minute left in the opening quarter.

The Vikings managed to score on a one-yard run by Matthew Boring with 18 seconds left before halftime to take a 14-7 lead into the break.

Millbrook answered right back on the opening drive of the second though. After converting multiple third downs, Malachi Gilchrist made a diving catch in the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown. That tied the game at 14-14 early in the third quarter.

Hoggard responded immediately with a 14-play drive, which included a fourth down conversion, and ended with a one-yard run by Isaiah Newkirk for a touchdown. That put the Vikings back on top 21-14, a score that held through the rest of the third quarter.

McCullers broke a big run for Millbrook in the fourth quarter, scoring his second touchdown of the night from 52 yards out. The score tied the game at 21-21 with just over seven minutes left in regulation.

There was a lot of time left though. Boring completed a 27-yard pass to Demetrius Smith to get the Vikings inside the 10-yard line. Then Newkirk broke an eight-yard run on the next play to give Hoggard a 28-21 lead with 2:34 left in the fourth quarter.

Millbrook had a chance to drive the field to tie, but the drive ended on fourth down just inside the Hoggard 40-yard line with one minute left.

Hoggard will travel to (2) Cardinal Gibbons in the fourth round of the state playoffs next week.