North Shore too much for Christian Liberty

Updated: October 1, 2011 6:13PM

North Shore Country Day capitalized on four first-half Christian Liberty turnovers en route to sizzling 53-7 victory. The Raiders (6-0) are tied for first place in the Northeastern Athletic Conference along with Longwood and Mooseheart. The winner of the conference should be determined within the next three weeks when the three unbeaten teams meet up against each other. The Raider defense kept constant pressure against Charger quarterback Gabe Grob.

The sophmore quarterback showed his inexperience with his erratic passes. Elias Butler and Zach March each intercepted a pass to set up a Raider first-quarter touchdown. Christian Liberty (0-6) had a difficult time solving the North Shore offense. The Charger turnovers gave North Shore excellent field position throughout the first half. The Raiders Ayo Okesanya gave the Raiders quick 7-0 lead on a two-yard run following the Butler interception. March made it 14-0 on 38-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Steve Smith. March set up his own touchdown when he picked off the first of his two interceptions. Okesanya made it 21-0 with his second of his three touchdowns on a three yard run.

North Shore continued to pour it on in the second quarter to take a (31-0) lead into the break. The second half belonged to Okesanya who rambled through the Charger defense. For the sixth straight week, Okesanya had big numbers rushing this time for 194-yards on 16 carries. Smith also excelled by completing 11 of 17 for 167 yards and three touchdowns. Two of his three touchdown passes were caught by March for 38 and 24 yards. Butler relieved Smith in the fourth quarter and fired a nine-yard scoring strike to March.

“We didn’t have a very good week of practice because our field was under water so we had to practice mostly inside,”said North Shore’s head coach Jim Deuble. “During our practice week one of our main receivers Austin Curren sprained his right ankle and we felt that we should hold him out of the Christian Liberty game.” Christian Liberty broke the North Shore shutout bid with 0:26 seconds left to play on a five-yard run by Marcus Silva.

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