CHOCOWINITY — A sloppy start from Southside tonight enabled an explosive opponent in Pamlico County to come flying out of the gates, scoring 19 points in the first seven minutes. The Seahawks showed improvement as the game played out, but it wasn’t nearly enough to catch up to the Hurricanes, as Southside fell at home, 45-14.

Southside (2-4, 0-2 1A Coastal Plains Conference) looked to be in trouble from the very first play from scrimmage, as Pamlico County’s (6-0, 2-0 1A CPC) Jarqez Jones ran 43 yards down to the Southside 15. The Hurricanes’ leading rusher, Sayvone Tutt followed up with a 15-yard touchdown run, reaching the end zone untouched. The game was barely 30 seconds old and Pamlico already had a 7-0 lead.

A quick three-and-out from the Seahawk offense and Tutt was lining up to return a punt. Picking up the ball on the bounce, Tutt returned the punt 58 yards for the touchdown, scoring for the second time on only his second touch of the game. The Hurricanes got the ball back after another Southside three-and-out and it was Jones’ turn to score, hesitating before exploding through a hole in the line, recording a 50-yard touchdown run.

There were still five minutes to play in the opening quarter and Southside already trailed 19-0.

Southside head coach Jeff Carrow said his team was sloppy, with players missing their assignments.

“I felt like we didn’t come out to play physically. We didn’t wake up until the end of the half, right before the half. We made halftime adjustments. I felt like we did well defensively in the second half, besides giving up a few big ones right there on long yardage plays,” Carrow said. “We didn’t execute the small things offensively to take advantage of what we needed to. We really didn’t start clicking on that until the fourth quarter, the way we’re supposed to.”

Tutt added another touchdown, a 54-yard run, with 9:39 left in the second quarter, but that was his last positive impact on the game. The sophomore was ejected on Southside’s next possession after striking Seahawk receiver Sion Kinlaw in the face after the two got into a scuffle.

That seemed to energize the Seahawks, as they responded with their best drive of the game. Kenjray Coffield, Will Warren and Hayden Mayo all had long runs on the drive, helping move Southside down to the Pamlico 14. After several runs for no gain, Warren found Aeron Wright in the end zone on fourth down for a 14-yard touchdown pass, making the score 26-6 with 4:37 left in the opening half.

The Hurricanes didn’t let the Seahawks enjoy the touchdown for too long. On the third play of their next drive, Lamont Murray hit a wide-open Stephan Misa for a 45-yard score, giving Pamlico a 32-6 lead at the half.

The adjustments Carrow and his staff made at halftime worked, as the Seahawks kept the Hurricanes from scoring in the third quarter.

“We played disciplined football in spurts there and we got 11 (players) to the ball, finally. (We) took back some of the cutback lanes,” Carrow said.

Southside showed signs of improvement in the second half, limiting Pamlico’s scoring compared to early on, as well as finally getting its offense going a bit. Mayo, especially, had a good second half, scoring on a five-yard run and finishing with 102 yards on 15 carries. But it wasn’t enough to overcome the damage down by the earlier mistakes.

“It wasn’t one person’s fault all night. It was somebody messing something up each and every single play until we got it all together,” Carrow said. “And then when you play together and you block right, you do it the right way, stuff works. But that’s on us, that’s just execution. That’s on us, we got to get better at it.”

Southside has a bye next Friday and will return to action on Oct. 19, when it travels to Williamston to take on Riverside.