Northside needed a spark.

Scoreless after four possessions – three of which ended with punts and the fourth on a fumble at the James Kenan 2-yard line, seniors Jireh Wilson and Demetrius Jones cooked up a little special teams magic to get the Monarchs on the scoreboard.Wilson hauled in the punt at about midfield as headed slightly to the right. As he was about to get tackled, Wilson pitched the ball to Jones, who raced down field the remaining 40 yards to give the Monarchs a 7-0 lead.

And while that quickly evaporated, Northside eventually took control, scoring 35 points in the second half for a 42-7 win Friday night.

So exactly what happened on that nifty special teams play?

“I didn’t call the pitch on the kick, but I’m glad he pitched it back,” coach Kendrick Pollock said. “Those two guys, they were talking about it. I saw Demetrius calling for it on the first punt, telling him to pitch it. Second punt. It didn’t get to him.

“Third punt, he got it. Jireh’s going down. He’s yelling pitch, and Jireh was smart enough to pitch it back to him and Demetrius just made a couple plays down on the goal line (to score).”

Pollock agreed it is a risky play.

“It is dangerous,” he said. “I tell the guys I don’t like to say the word luck. Luck is nothing but a word losers use to describe their shortcomings.

But that play was luck, and we’re not going to survive on luck.”

Running far

Senior Jamari McMullen rushed for a career-high 247 yards on 20 carries, including a 53-yard touchdown, while junior Rashard Anderson scored three second half touchdowns on runs of 9, 3 and 46 yards. He finished with 68 yards on 8 carries after a first half in which he ran the ball 3 times for minus-5 yards.

“That’s big,” Pollock said. “He (McMullen) did an excellent job tonight. I thought he ran the ball well. I thought Rashard Anderson ran the ball well. I’m expecting big things out of both of those guys, especially Rashard.

“I had a chance to coach his uncle at Jacksonville a few years back, Robert Anderson, and if he’s anything like his uncle, he’s going to be something special.”

And what did McMullen think about his night?

“It feels amazing,” he said. “But we’re on to next week.”

Taking a break

Jacksonville is now 4-1 after Friday’s 56-21 win over New Bern going into next week’s open date. Then the Cardinals visit Hertford County on Sept. 29.

So what will the Cardinals do during their off week?

“We will fix the little technical stuff,” coach Beau Williams said. “We will work on turnovers.”

Jacksonville certainly had its share of turnovers as the Cardinals gave it away six times, including five fumbles.

Still, when you have 625 yards of total offense, mistakes can easily be overcome.

“But we have to fix those things now so once we get (in the playoffs), we don’t have to worry about them,” said quarterback Justyn Benton, who ran for 118 yards and threw for 193 yards and 3 TDs.

Halftime chat

With Northside (3-2) tied 7-7 with James Kenan (1-3) at halftime, Pollock let his team know he wasn’t pleased with much of anything, including two lost fumbles at the James Kenan 15- and 2-yard lines, ending great scoring chances.

“Coach Pollock did light some fire in us,” senior wide receiver Demetrius Jones said. “We played down to their potential and we weren’t playing like we normally do ... and we just came out and played Northside football in the second half.”

Said Pollock: “We had to jump ‘em at halftime.”

Lesson learned?

While not pleased with his team in the first half, Pollock was glad the Monarchs rebounded and that they may have learned a lesson without the pain of a loss.

“That’s a good team. They had us on our heels. I think our guys took them lightly and I’m glad they came in here and punched us in the face in the first half and make us wake up,” Pollock said. “It needs to let them know that they cannot take anybody lightly.

“They cannot come out and play around with anybody. They cannot wait until the second half to play because if you’re playing somebody like Havelock (or) Jacksonville or even Beddingfield next week, if you come out and take them lightly in the first half, you’re going to be way behind on the scoreboard and there’s no coming back.”

Costly penalties

Northside was only called for five penalties for 35 yards, but three of the flags were for offsides on the defensive line. Two came on second-and-5 and second-and-4 in the same drive in the first half. The other came on fourth-and-1 at the James Kenan 23-yard line.

Ouch.

“That can’t happen,” Pollock said. “We’ve got to do a better job there, giving up first downs on situations like that. You’ve got teams behind the sticks. It was an excellent catch by the wide receiver. I think it was like third-and-20 or something like that ... now it’s fourth-and-1 and we jump offsides.

“It goes back to even Wallace last week. We got them third-and-22. You hit the guy in the backfield for a 4-yard loss, but you let him go and he broke 61 yards for a first down. So we just got to do a better job of tackling, a better job of discipline on the ball.

“If we do those things, I think we could end up being something special.”

Big win

Jacksonville win’s marked the Cardinals’ second consecutive victory over New Bern, where Williams’ father, Chip, coached for many years.

So a win over the Bears means a lot for the Williams family.

“Me and dad being from there, the guys decided to play well,” Beau Williams said.

Big win for another

reason

Jacksonville's win put coach Beau Williams above the .500 mark in his eight-year tenure with the Cardinals.

Williams is now 46-45.

The third three-headed monster

While Benton and Rashaud Whittington (186 yards rushing, 3 TDs) were the stars in the win over New Bern, a third player also made big contributions.

Junior Graham Brinker added 100 yards on 10 carries, including a 9-yard touchdown run.