Charlotte Catholic, Hood run over South Meck 41-0

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Elijah Hood picked up right where he left off last season.

After running for a school-record 1,982 yards and 35 touchdowns as a sophomore, the Charlotte Catholic running back started his junior season with 162 yards and three touchdowns in Catholic’s 41-0 win at South Mecklenburg Friday.

And he did it all in the first half.

“It was like a welcome back to football moment,” said Hood. “I was happy. Everybody was happy. It felt like we were getting back into the groove of things.”

Catholic’s (1-0) first touch of the football was a forgettable one, with Jake Priester fumbling the ball to South Meck (0-1) on a punt return. Catholic made the most of their next chance with the ball, taking just three plays to score on a 40-yard run by Hood with 7:30 left in the first quarter.

Catholic scored again on its next possession when Alex Sabates ran the ball in the end zone from one yard out to take a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.

The Catholic Cougar offense got into a rhythm in the second quarter, scoring twice more before halftime. Hood had touchdown runs of two yards and 15 yards to give Catholic a 28-0 lead after two quarters.

“I felt great. We played well as a team,” said Hood. “I just want to give a shout out to my linemen, thank them for blocking so well.”

Though Hood was the leading rusher for Catholic, junior back Drew Tomsho (101 yards) had the longest rush of the game, scoring on a 60 yard run less than two minutes into the second half.

Sabates finished off the Catholic scoring with a two-yard touchdown run to give the Cougars a 41-0 lead with 9:39 left in the third quarter.

South Meck debuted new paw-print helmets and a new offense, shifting from the Wing-T to a spread-style offense under new head coach Rocky White. Senior quarterback Alex Adams, who only attempted 99 passes in 12 games last season, was 13-for-31 with 130 yards and two interceptions with many of the incompletions coming on dropped passes.

The South Meck Sabres were also dealing with injuries. Offensive lineman Brandon Floyd missed the game, offensive lineman Danny Gonzales came out in the first quarter and wide receiver/defensive back CJ Thompson (six catches for 42 yards) dealt with cramps in the second half.

“Everybody’s beat up, that’s the way it is,” said White. “It would be nice to have those guys back. Hopefully we’ll be healthy by conference and make a little noise.”

White said he saw several positive things in the game and he believes his team is much better than the scoreboard showed.

“I think it’s easy to see we’re real close,” said White. “We’re not 41 points worse than Catholic. ... The kids are working, so I’m happy about that. We’re changing the mentality. It’s not going to happen overnight.”