Roanoke Rapids, which hammered Northside Friday night, 56-0, will face Tarboro next week in the second round of the state 2A playoffs.

Defensive pressure and interceptions helped the Jackets (11-1) handle the Monarchs (6-5).

“We came in with a game plan and we executed,” said D.J. Epperson, who had an interception and touchdown reception in the game. “We listened to the coach and took care of business.”

Epperson said the Monarchs came out and fought hard. “It was a good game at first but then we came in and took over.”

Epperson said his interception and one by Justin Rawles, which Rawles returned for an 80-yard touchdown, was the turning point. “It’s a new season for us so we had to come out hard. We’re trying to prove something.”

Rawles, who despite pressure from the Northside defense threw one touchdown pass and ran for another, said, “They just penetrated good and had a well organized defensive scheme against me. It’s a good defensive ball team. They just did a good job.”

As far as the Jacket defense, Rawles said, “Our defense played well. We studied film the whole weekend. Our defensive coordinator just did a good job with the secondary guys and coach (Russell) Weinstein did a good with linebackers and their read and the D-line played good when it came to the running game.”

Rawles said the team is ready for the second round. “We’re ready, but we’re doing a lot of things to get better.”

The Yellow Jackets scored on their opening drive after receiving the kickoff. After a 38-yard ramble by Rawles on the fourth play of the opening drive, three plays later A.J. Alston ran the ball in for a touchdown from 12 yards out at 9:29 to give the Jackets a 7-0 lead.

Epperson got a 13-yard touchdown reception with 1:36 left in the first to give Roanoke Rapids a 14-0 lead.

It wouldn’t be until 4:49 left in the second quarter the Jackets got their third touchdown of the evening on a 44-yard run by Rawles, which gave Roanoke Rapids a 21-0 lead.

Then, with 56 seconds left in the first half, Rawles picked off a Northside pass and ran it back 80 yards to give the Jackets a 28-0 lead at halftime.

Tyrell Everette, who was targeted as much as Rawles by the Monarch defense finally scored a touchdown with 9:17 left in the third quarter, when he crossed goal line on a 25-yard run, making the score, 35-0.

After Rawles got his second interception of the evening, he ran the ball 17 yards for a touchdown with 6:27 left in the third, capping a five play drive and making the score, 42-0.

Four seconds into the fourth quarter, Everette scored his second touchdown on a 1 yard run that was set up by a 44-yard Epperson reception and lifted the score to 49-0.

The final score of the game came on a 4-yard run by Temere Rountree with 7:40 left in the game.

Weinstein said the Jackets had a good week of preparation for the first game of the playoffs. “Northside, traditionally, has been a strong playoff team. We had some things go our way the first half. There was a couple of huge defensive plays and I think the play that probably determined the football game was the ball where their receiver had it going down and it bounced off his chest right into Justin’s hands and he was able to take it for a score. That was probably the biggest play of the game. Defense definitely made some huge plays in this game to get some separation for us.”

The coach said the Jackets had to prepare for the different formations Northside typically shows. “You just got to be in the right position. The biggest thing is you just got to make sure that whoever’s got the ball you got enough bodies there to get to them to get them down. I thought our defense did a great job tonight of gang tackling. We played a lot of the football game across the line of scrimmage tonight.”

Epperson, Weinstein said, a had a tremendous football game. “I thought he was good on special teams returning punts, I thought he was fantastic at corner tonight. He had a good night offensively as well.”

Weinstein said the team has worked hard to get to the second round of the state playoffs. “There was a commitment by this group to football and it’s paid off.”

Steven Bradford, the coach said, has been unbelievable the last two weeks. “He seemed to be in on an awful lot of tackles tonight so it was, overall, a real good night for Steven.”

Weinstein said there is nothing the Jackets can do differently to prepare for Tarboro. “I think you’ve got to continue to prepare and follow the same type schedule that you always do. You start trying to make changes at this point in time, I think it can be counter productive. I just feel like we need to continue to do what we’ve been doing.”