---- — Mike Nardone plunging for scores, DeShawn Coleman tossing TDs, and Matt Voytik managing the game plan. It all was working Saturday afternoon for Hickory High’s football team.

With Nardone notching a pair of 3-yard runs, Coleman collecting a trio of touchdowns in a variety of ways, and Voytik running and throwing for scores, Hickory stung Sharon, 49-7, at Hornet Stadium in the Region 3-AA rivalry.

Hickory (4-1, 5-1) built a 21-0 bulge by the conclusion of the 1st frame, then extended its margin at intermission to 42-0. The teams traded TDs during the moot 2nd half, with Jesse Rodgers scoring for Sharon (1-4, 1-5).

“We hadn’t been getting enough offensive reps in games because our defense had been playing well and special teams were scoring, so we just wanted to be able to come out and execute (Satur)day. We did, and we’re happy,” Hornets’ headmaster Bill Brest explained. “We were able to open up the playbook and see what we can do and what we can’t do, and we were able to use some of our weapons to help us out, hopefully, down the road.

“These kids are starting to understand how to prepare during the week on the practice field and in the film room, studying tendencies. They’re just continuing to get better, week in and week out,” Brest noted.

Coleman collected a game-high 112 yards rushing on 15 totes, including a 14-yard scoring sprint; pilfered a 1st-period Rodgers pass, returning it 63 yards for a Pick Six, and for good measure tossed a 17-yard TD to Davon Tindall late in the 1st half. In addition to Coleman’s pick, Lewis lent another, and Jaylan Sharper sacked Rodgers.

Voytik completed 4 of 5 passes for 98 yards, including a 39-yard 3rd-quarter score off a shovel pass to De’Quan Lewis. Voytik also plunged 4 yards for a  2nd-stanza score in improving to 4-0 as the Stingers’ starting signal-caller.

“We had a game plan going in, that (Hickory’s coaches) were going to run me ... and we came out throwing a little bit, as well, and everything kind’ve meshed together,” Voytik assessed, emphasizing, “I’m very proud of these guys.”

Nardone served as Coleman’s blocking back, as Hickory fullbacks Michael Palumbo and Lou Derloni were sidelined. Nardone quarterbacked the Hornets to the 2011 District 10 Class AA championship, but suffered a high-ankle sprain in this season’s initial scrimmage. That vaulted Voytik to the top of the depth chart.

“Mike had a great year last year, I can’t take anything away from him. But I always felt as though I was just as good to play and these guys have always had faith in me,” Voytik related. “So I just needed that one opportunity.

“I’m used to the guys, I’m used to the game-flow. It was hard for me to step in as a junior, having never played before in varsity and still pick up the game speed,” continued Voytik. “Now I feel like I have.”

Defensively, the Stingers stymied Sharon, which gained only 68 total yards. On Sharon’s final series, Jarrell Lampkins’ 11-yard run, Trenton Mosley’s 18-yarder, and Rodgers’ 35-yard Houdini-like escape from the far sideline — in which he worked diagnonally across the field — set up Rodgers’ 3-yard plunge with 5:01 remaining.

“I was real proud last Friday night (a 21-14 loss to Reynolds), I was extremely impressed with the way they played, but (Satur)day I was more embarassed. I didn’t think we competed (Satur)day at all, and that’s a little disheartening,” Tigers’ taskmaster Bob Fromm admitted.

“Up to this point they’d just been hanging in there, working hard, staying together,” Fromm continued. “I’m not saying that’s what caused what happened (Satur)day; Hickory just played a good game. But there was a little snowball that started rolling and we just couldn’t get on track at all during the first half. Before you know it, it’s like, twenty-eight nothing.

“But we call it ‘choppin’ wood,’ ” Fromm continued. “We told them last Friday, ‘the dam’s gonna break, it’s just a matter of time,’ and if they keep working the way they are, it’s gonna happen, it’s just a matter of time. But (Satur)day was a step back in that regard.”

Center Joey Hines, guards Daulton Linton and Sharper, tackles Alonzo Scott and Dylan Brenneman and tight end Calvin Pryts paved paths for Coleman and Nardone and afforded protection for Voytik.

“I play for a great football team. They make me look good and I make them look good, and I’m very proud,” said Voytik, admitting after adding 48 yards rushing,

“I always thought I’d be a passing quarterback, and I feel like I still am. But, you know, I can run the ball. I ran with DeShawn in track and field, and I was always one step behind him in the hundred meters.”

One step behind Coleman?.

“Well, maybe four,” Voytik added with a laugh.

———

SHARON    0    0    0    7    7

HICKORY    21    21    7    0    49

Scoring plays

H — Nardone, 3 run (Wombacker kick)

H — Nardone, 3 run (Wombacker kick)

H — Coleman, 63 interception return (Wombacker kick)

H — Voytik, 4 run (Wombacker kick)

H — Coleman, 14 run (Wombacker kick)

H — Tindall, 17 pass form Coleman (Wombacker kick)

H — Lewis, 39 pass from Voytik (Wombacker kick)

S — Rodgers, 3 run (Gill kick)

Team stats

SHARON          HICKORY

6    First downs    18

67    Rushing yards    206

1    Passing yards    115

6-3-2    Att-comp-int    6-5-0

68    Total yards    321

2-0    Fumbles-lost    2-0

2-15    Penalties-yards lost    8-85

Individual stats

Rushing: SHARON — Rodgers 15-39, Mosley 2-21, Lampkins 5-20, Hawkins 1-(-1), Gill (-12); HICKORY — Coleman 15-112, Voytik 9-48, Nardone 4-15, Sewell 2-14, Lewis 3-7, Ezi-Ashi 1-6, Mosley 2-2, Bianco 4-2.

Passing: SHARON — Rodgers 5-3-2, 1; Smith-Austin 1-0-0; HICKORY — Voytik 5-4-0, 98; Coleman 1-1-0, 17.

Receiving: SHARON — Hawkins 3-1; HICKORY — Tindall 2-30, Lewis 1-39, Cannone 1-30, Pryts 1-16.