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Southside High School recognized 11 seniors before the game and Tequon (Tater) Moore made sure his classmates ended the game with a victory as the Seahawks routed East Carteret, 40-7, for their third straight win.

Moore led the way with two 27-yard touchdown runs and a 16-yard pass reception from sophomore Luke Bullock to help the Seahawks to a 34-7 halftime advantage.

Moore finished with 150 yards on 13 carries and the scoring catch for 166 total yards.

“He’s been big for us all year and played very well tonight,” coach Jeff Carrow said. He had some big hits on defense and made several plays on his own. He’s been important for us all four years and he wanted to win tonight in what could be the seniors last game on this field.”

East Carteret (1-8, 1-3) caught the Seahawks (3-6, 3-1) off guard with a 48-yard scoring run on the second play of the game, but Moore responded with runs of 25 and 27 yards on consecutive plays for an 8-7 lead.

Moore recovered a fumble at the Mariner 48-yard line on the next possession and covered the final 27 yards for a 16-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Southside took the second half kickoff and marched down the field for another score, a four-yard run from Myquan Clark, that made it 24-7. Moore’s touchdown catch on the last play of the half gave the Seahawks a 32-7 advantage. Clark scored the final touchdown on a 31-yard reception from Bullock.

“They got us early with that long scoring run, but our defense settled down after that and played very well,” Carrow said. “We held them on fourth down a couple of times and came up with a fumble and picked off a pass. We played well in all phases for the most part tonight.”

The victory was the Seahawks third straight and has them tied for second place in the Coastal Plains Conference with Pamlico County. The Hurricanes host first-place Northside, while Southside travels to winless Jones Co. Friday.

“We have developed three ball carriers (Moore, Clark and fullback Brian Salinas) and stopped beating ourselves with turnovers and penalties,” Carrow said. “Our offensive line is young and they’ve started to click, even with a couple of injuries up front. It feels good to put three straight wins together and we’ll be ready to hopefully, do it again Friday.”

Southside ran the ball 36 times for 297 yards, while Bullock was 3-4 passing for 59 yards.

The Mariners had 78 yards rushing and 113 passing, but converted just three of 19 third and fourth down situations.