CHOCOWINITY — If there were any questions as to what the Southside Seahawks are capable of doing on a gridiron, they were certainly answered on Friday night in the form of a crushing 50-0 defeat of North Duplin.

Utilizing the entire stable of nine running backs, the Seahawk offensive kept the North Duplin front seven guessing for all four quarters, racking up 304 rushing yards and finding the end zone five times on the ground. Penalty flags, and lots of them, seemed to be the only objects stunting the Southside ground attack, a tiny fragment of Kryptonite in an otherwise dominant performance.

“Last year when we (faced North Duplin) we were learning how to win,” said head coach Jeff Carrow. “We know how to win now after last season’s success. This is a new season, but we decided to come out with a bit of a chip on our shoulder. It’s a quality win against a quality team … It’s good to get the monkey off our back.”

As anticipated, it was a productive opening night for halfback Lawrence Brown, a senior who has become the team’s unquestioned leader. Brown rushed for a game-high 102 yards on 12 carries, picking up a rushing touchdown and a 13-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter. Supplementing Brown in the offense was Matt Baxter (two touchdowns) and fullback Dylan Lewis, who, on top of a sterling defensive performance, rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown on nine carries.

“Everybody put in the hard work this week and I can’t thank the O-line enough,” Lewis said. “Whether it was on the sled, running, everyone worked hard and that’s how you got to do it. A true team effort, that’s all I can say.”

Southside started the scoring with an efficient first drive, as two big runs from Lewis and Brown quickly moved the offense into Rebel territory. Matt Baxter capped the drive off with a bruising run up the middle for a 10-yard touchdown.

A quick fumble recovery on the ensuing series put the offense back on the field and on a seven-play drive that included a 25-yard pass from Johnny Sullivan to Hunter Sparks, Southside eventually found the end zone on another run up the middle from Baxter, putting the Seahawks up 14-0.

At the end of the first quarter, the entire complex suffered a power outage, dimming the field and rendering the scoreboard useless. The Seahawks offense, however, remained electric.

With the lights off, on the second play of the quarter, quarterback Johnny Sullivan connected with Brown for a touchdown. After a quick three-and-out from the Rebels, return man Amari Peele got loose for a 60-yard punt return for a touchdown, but the play was overturned due to a block in the back. In fact, Peele would burn the opposing special teams on two more occasions — two 60-plus-yard sprints in the third quarter — but both would be reversed on penalties.

After the host reclaimed possession with 40 seconds on the clock, using timeouts to do so, a 17-yard run from Sullivan and a short run up the gut from Lewis with 16 seconds left gave Southside a comfortable 26-0 lead heading into the break. It was an impressive night from Lewis offensively, but it was at defensive end where he held the North Duplin running backs to virtually nothing.

“We knew coming into the game I was going to use Dylan offensively to set the tone,” Carrow said. “He’s a hard-hitting rascal. Defensively, we switched him up and put him at D-end and I think that’s the best move we’ve had. He showed up tonight and played a heck of a ballgame on both sides.”

The second half was all Southside, as the defense held North Duplin to a negative yardage total.

On the Seahawks’ first play from scrimmage, Brown jetted down the sideline for a 39-yard touchdown with 9:34 left in the third quarter, a play that activated a running clock. Juking out a host of defenders, sophomore Kyle Hill found the end zone later in the quarter with the most dynamic run of the night, a 35-yard scamper.

Sophomore quarterback Jamone Edwards found Demetruis Ebron on a slant to make it 44-0 and with 8:15 remaining and Peele finally got a little piece of retribution minutes later, recovering a teammate’s fumble and returning it 50 yards to the house.

“Overall a great team effort tonight,” Carrow said. “The defense played their tail off. Special teams stepped up and we were better prepared this year. Offensively, I felt like we struggled with tempo a little bit, but we put points on the board. The whole coaching staff has done an excellent job encouraging the kids, staying on them.

“The kids have realized it’s a total team effort — multiple guys getting multiple carries in certain situations in ballgames. I like how the young guys stepped up and took advantage of their opportunity.”

Southside racked up a total of 417 total yards, while North Duplin failed to break even, finishing with -24 yards on 31 plays.

The Seahawks will look to carry the momentum into next week’s road matchup against Dixon in Holly Ridge.