CHOCOWINITY — The Butler did it. Four times actually. But it was Rockne Butler’s final touchdown run of the game that would lock up a 46-38 overtime Anchor Bowl victory over Southside to return the anchor to Pinetown for the first time in over four years on Friday.
The Northside junior was nearly unstoppable in the second half as he galloped for scoring runs of 22, 57 and 10 yards, respectively, to allow the Panthers to sidestep a collapse and pick up a win in both team’s Coastal Plains Conference opener.
With the scored tied at 38 at the end of regulation, Butler danced his way up the gut of the Seahawks defense on the first play from scrimmage from 10 yards out and converted the ensuing two-point conversion to go up 46-38.
With the lead in hand, the Panthers (4-3, 1-0) held strong on defense as senior Alex Ramirez recovered Southside’s third lost fumble of the day to cement the victory and kick off a wild celebration.
“I’m very happy for our seniors. I don’t think those kids have won an Anchor Bowl, so I know this meant a lot to them,” Northside coach Keith Boyd said. “They found a way at the end to pull it together and get a win.”
The fact that the game went into overtime was a morale victory of sorts for Southside (2-5, 0-1), who began the game fumbling on its first three possessions and found itself in a 22-8 hole at the end of the first quarter.
The Seahawks were able to force overtime thanks to 22-0 run in the second quarter and a stellar 95-yard drive late in the fourth that ended with a Johnny Sullivan 1-yard keeper and was followed by a Lawrence Brown two-point conversion. However, their momentum would not follow the Seahawks into overtime.
“We were able to answer the call in the second quarter. We put up some points and put up some drives to get ourselves back in the ball game and grab a halftime lead,” Southside coach Jeff Carrow said. “We just didn’t finish.”
Antonio Woods scored Northside’s first TD of the game on 45-yard fumble recovery, and after a 4-yard TD run by Butler on the offense’s first possession, Woods added a 57-yard run that put the Panthers up 22-8.
Though they started off shaky, the Seahawks refused to collapse and struck back with a momentum changing 22-0 run in the second quarter to put them up 30-22 at halftime.
Donshae Miller’s 37-yard TD run in the first quarter kept the Seahawks afloat, while in the second quarter, Dylan Lewis ran for a 3-yard score, which was followed by a 20-yard scoring pass from Sullivan to Miller that tied the game up at 22.
The Seahawks would take their first lead of the game when it received a punt at its own 25-yard line and raced down the field thanks to a 71-yard option pass from Miller to Isaiah Moore that gave them first-and-goal at the one. Three plays later Sullivan plunged across the goal line for the lead.
In the second half it was all Butler as he was the backbone of a 95-yard third-quarter scoring drive that ended with when he broke free from 22-yards out to tie the score at 30. Butler followed up with a 57-yarder in the fourth before his game-clinching 10-yard scoring run in OT.

Northside    22    0    8    8    8    —    46
Southside        8    22    0    8    0    —    38
NHS         SHS
First downs                8           14
Rushes-yards             33-301      47-191
Comp-att-int              0-1        3-11
Passing yards            0            84
Fumbles-lost          2-1           4-3
Penalties-yards      6-55           5-25
Punts                  2-28           3-30

Scoring Summary
N — Antonio Woods 45 fumble recover (Patrick Moore 2 points), 11:11, 1st.
N — Rockne Butler 4 run (Butler two points), 7:36, 1st.
S — Donshae Miller 37 run (Lawrence Brown two points), 3:05, 1st.
N — Woods 58 run (two points failed), 1:35, 1st.
S — Isaac Harrell 3 run (Dylan Lewis two points), 8:47, 2nd.
S — Miller 20 pass from John Sullivan (two points failed), 5:36, 2nd.
S — Sullivan 1 run (Miller two points), 5.4, 2nd.
N — Butler 22 run (Butler two points), 1:07, 3rd.
N — Butler 57 run (Austin Gambriel two points), 10:52, 4th.
S — Sullivan 1 run (Lawrence Brown two points) 1:46, 4th.
N — Butler 10 run (Butler two points), OT.