Overhills Beats Cavaliers 38-17 in Season Opener

The Southern Lee Cavaliers opened the 2025 season with new hopes, new aspirations, and a new conference. With a young team and having lost several key ingredients from last year’s squad, the Cavs knew they would see some learning curves along the way. After moving the ball well on their first two series and taking an early 3-0 lead, turnovers and untimely penalties they could not overcome, resulted in a 38-17 loss to Overhills at Cletis B Gore Stadium. 

After an opening drive, which saw two key first down conversions on passes by Sophomore Quarterback Ben Harrington to Junior Kessler Petrarca and Junior Kaiden Blackshear-Watson, the drive stalled with an interception at the five-yard line. On the second Southern Lee Drive, Petrarca drilled a 47-yard field goal giving the Cavs a 3-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. 

Overhills scored the next points on a 20-yard touchdown pass and then scored again on a 90-yard return of a Cavalier missed 55-yard field goal to go up 12-3. On the first play after the kickoff, Harrington threw a swing pass to Petrarca, who went straight up the Jaguars sideline 77 yards for the touchdown, and after he added the extra point, the Cavs were down just 12-10. However, all that momentum they gained back went away quickly as Overhills scored on an 80-yard run on their first play from scrimmage to take an 18-10 lead into halftime. 

The second half saw more Cavalier penalties and turnovers that put the Jaguars up 32-10 at the end of three quarters. A 47-yard fumble recovery by Senior Defensive Back, Jaylin Barnes gave the Cavs their final score of the night. 

Southern Lee (0-1) will hit the road next week to face South Garner (1-0). 

Overhills            0    18   14    6      38   

Southern Lee     3     7      0    7      17 

Scoring Summary 

SL– Kelser Petrarca 47-yard FG 

O – Gabriel Valenzuela-Sherman 20-yard pass to Josiah Bedford (2pt try failed)  

O – Jordan McKinnon 90-yard missed FG return (Kick failed) 

SL – Ben Harrington 77-yard pass to Petrarca (Petrarca kick) 

O – Braden Bryant 80-yard run (Kick failed) 

O- Cyrus Fielding 37-yard pass to Jadyn Goldwire (Kick good) 

O – Valenzuela-Sherman 14-yard pass to Deron Rogers (Kick good) 

SL – Jaylin Barnes 47-yard fumble return (Petrarca kick) 

O – Ryan Coley 34-yard interception return (Kick failed) 

Passing 

O – 0-28-65yds-3TD-1 INT 

SL – Harrington 10-24-181yds-1TD-3 INT; Caleb Coro 1-4-6yds: TOTALS 11-28-187yds-1TD-3 INT 

Rushing 

 O- 16-155-1TD 

SL – Tommy Lineberry 8-24; Amari Britton 8-24; Kendall Hawkins 1-8; Kaiden Blackshear-Watson 13-0; Ben Harrington 1-(-2); TOTALS 31-54yds. 

Receiving 

O – 6-62-3TD 

SL – Kessler Petrarca 6-141-1TD; Blackshear-Watson 1-24; Jamir Butler 3-16; Jaylin Barnes 1-6; TOTALS 11-187-1TD. 

• Southern Lee had 241 total yards to Overhills 240 

• Southern Lee had nine first downs to Overhills 6. 

• Teams combined for eight turnovers and 27 total penalties. 

• Junior Wide Receiver/Kicker Kessler Petrarca was named the Wilkinson Chevrolet/WWGP Offensive Player of the Game. 

• Senior Defensive Back Jaylin Barnes was named the Wilkinson Chevrolet/WWGP Defensive Player of the Game.  

• The 77-yard Catch and run by Kessler Petrarca was the Bubba’s Subs & Pizza Impact Play of the Game. 

• The Bubba’s Subs and Pizza/Coach Blanks Player of the Game will be announced Tuesday evening on the Coach Blanks Show and posted on the wfjawwgpradio.com website. 

• Visit wfjawwgpradio.com and go to High School Football for more stats and information on Southern Lee Football and the Carolina Pines 6A Conference.