St. Luke's 42, New Brockton 21: Wildcats pull away in second quarter to advance

St. Luke’s would advance to the second round of the Class 2A playoffs.

Brown threw three touchdown passes and ran for another, while Neutze ran for a pair of touchdowns and caught another as the Wildcats trounced New Brockton 42-21 in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs Friday night.

St. Luke’s jumped out to a 14-0 first-quarter lead when Neutze scored on touchdown runs of 26 and 10 yards. But New Brockton tied it in the second when William Adkinson threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Gordy and scored on a 1-yard run.

The Wildcats answered when Brown, scrambling to his right under pressure, hit a diving Neutze on a 5-yard touchdown pass. And with only 51 seconds remaining in the half, hit a wide-open Jacorey Jacobs on a 31-yard scoring strike to make it 28-14.

Brown’s 47-yard touchdown run in the third quarter stretched St. Luke’s lead, and a fourth-quarter touchdown pass -- this one for 14 yards to Hardy Demeranville -- sealed the win. New Brockton got a 1-yard touchdown run from Cameron Davis late.

Game ball: Brown and Neutze could easily share top billing, but give the St. Luke's defense some props, too -- it allowed only 85 yards rushing.

Play of the game: This one came from the defense. Trailing 28-14 in the third quarter, New Brockton drove to the Wildcat 7-yard line. But on first-and-goal, a pass attempt by Adkinson was intercepted by Charles Yates at the goal line and returned to the 12. It set up Brown's 47-yard touchdown run.

Key sequence: After Yates' interception, St. Luke's advanced to the Gamecock 47. A holding penalty on the ensuing play, however, pushed the ball back to the Wildcat 43. Brown gained 10 yards back to the original line of scrimmage, and on the next play, broke through the hole for the score.

Stat sheet: For St. Luke's, Brown finished the night with 193 yards on 22 carries, and completed 7-of-10 passes for 119 yards. Neutze rushed five times for 79 yards and had five receptions for 84 yards. ... For New Brockton, Adkinson rushed 20 times for 51 yards and completed 6-of-10 passes for 73 yards and an interception. Caleb Griffin completed 5-of-10 passes for 91 yards.

By the numbers: 47, total number of first-half rushing yards for New Brockton. ... 15, number of first-half first downs for St. Luke's. ... 104, total number of first-half rushing yards for Brown. ... 2, number of touchdowns for St. Luke's called back because of penalties. ... 3, total number of unsportsmanlike penalties called against New Brockton.

Coachspeak: "We knew that we were going to struggle against them (New Brockton) offensively. They're a team that stands in and battles, and we don't see a whole lot of that down here. … Charles Yates came up with a big, big interception. Jermaine did a good job keeping the offense focused in the right direction, as well as our senior leadership. I can't say enough about those guys up front -- Lincoln Hammons, Max Franklin, those guys keep it going offensively…" St. Luke's head coach Ronn Lee.

They said it: "We had a great drive, and the kid (Yates) made a good play and we made a bad read. And from there, they just took the momentum from us." -- New Brockton coach Justin Jones.

Next week: St. Luke's hosts Abbeville in the second round of the Class 2A playoffs next Friday night, while New Brockton finishes its season at 5-6.