MARIETTA – A pair of undefeated teams hooked up at Walton on Friday night, as North Paulding visited the national ranked Raiders, ranked No. 23 in the latest SBLive/Sports Illustrated Power 25. The Wolfpack put up a fight, but Walton quarterback Jeremy Hecklinski, a Wake Forest commit, threw for four touchdowns and rushed for one more to lead the Raiders to a 44-24 win.
Hecklinski passed for 341-yards in the contest and now stands just two yards shy of 7,000 for his career.
All four of Hecklinski’s touchdown passes came in the second half, as tossed a pair to Hunter Teal and one each to Cameron Lloyd and Jordan “Bam” Bride to finally shake free of the determined Wolfpack (5-1).
The teams traded blows in an exciting first half with Walton (5-0) jumping out to an 8-0 lead on a 12-yard touchdown run by Austin Williams and a Hecklinski two-point shovel pass to Makari Bodiford. North Paulding countered with a pair of sensational long touchdown passed from Tyler Niehr to Javarius George, but in between Walton’s Jake Thorner sacked Niehr in the end zone for a safety and Hecklinski scored on a QB sneak, as the Raiders led 17-14 at the break.
North Paulding got back within six late in the final minute of third quarter on a 36-yard field goal by Aiden Noble, but Hecklinski immediately found Lloyd on a crossing pattern and he raced free up the left sideline for a 61-yard score, with just nine seconds to play in the third, to give Walton a 30-17 lead.
In addition to the safety, the Walton defense came up with six interceptions in the game, including two by Bride.
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— Gary Adornato | gary@scorebooklive.com | @sblivega
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