By KAYLA MORTON

For the Daily News

TARBORO — Southside could not defend the run against defending 1A state champion Tarboro tonight, as it surrendered 349 yards on the ground on just 23 attempts and gave up six rushing touchdowns en route to a 55-0 loss.

Senior Clifton Joyner Jr. led the way for Tarboro (6-0, 2-0 1A Coastal Plains Conference), as he was the only 100-yard rusher on the night. He ran for 102 yards and two touchdowns on five attempts. Junior Jaquez Edge had two touchdowns of his own on his only two rushing attempts of the game while picking up 57 yards from scrimmage. Senior Ty’trez Higgs and senior Jyron Albritton also each had a rushing touchdown in the contest and both combined for 73 yards on three carries.

“We’ll go back to fundamentals, read over our keys, go over blocking assignments, but they’re a really good team. But, that’s also no excuse. We have to show up and play and do better defensively than what we did,” Southside head coach Jeff Carrow said.

One of the other two touchdowns came on a nine-yard fumble return when the ball was broken-up mid handoff as the defender broke through the line and grabbed it before the Seahawk running back could get his hands on it. The only passing play for Tarboro on the night, a 16-yard pass to tight end Maquez Edge, accounted for the other score.

Southside (2-3, 0-1 1A CPC) managed just 36 yards on the night, rushing 27 times for 24 yards and going 1-for-4 for 12 yards in the air against a stout Tarboro defense that has given up only one touchdown all year.

However, in the lopsided game, Southside quarterback and punter Will Warren averaged 35.8 yards per punt on his six kicks, with two going more than 45 yards. This helped pin Tarboro back further after Southside couldn’t get anything going on offense. Although many drives resulted in long running plays, with Warren’s kicking, he pegged them back in field position that made it further for the Vikings to push up the field and exposed some short yardage struggles for Tarboro.

The Seahawks also only allowed one passing completion in a game they were getting dominated in. Although they had no rush defense, they did break up a few pass plays, including a few one-on-one battles that could’ve driven up the score. On each play, however, the line never looked to give up in a game they were clearly outmatched in.

“Our pass protection wasn’t as bad,” Carrow said. “But we have to be able to make our reads and get the ball out faster.”

Before Southside plays undefeated Pamlico County (4-0) next week it will need to work on giving Warren more time in the pocket and on offense in general. On handoffs, the defensive line was parallel with Warren before he was able to hand the ball off and he was chased on all four passing attempts. Pamlico County has only allowed 42 points combined in its last three games combined while scoring 225 on the season. After tonight, Southside has allowed 169 points and have only scored 77.

“(This week) we’ll be able to watch film and build off our mistakes,” Carrow said.