WINSTON-SALEM— The Mount Tabor-Carver football game on Friday night lit up the scoreboard at an almost record pace.
The final score was no misprint: Mount Tabor downed a scrappy Carver team 87-52 in a battle of two excellent football programs. The total of 139 points combined by the two teams was just four points off the state record and the third highest total recorded in NCHSAA history.
A combined total of 142 is the record, achieved on October 26, 1995 when Cardinal Gibbons defeated the Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf by 100-42. Windsor had also beaten Creswell way back in 1930 by 142-0.
In another wild game, Fuquay-Varina outscored Southern Durham 83-58 on September 29, 1995, in a game that featured 141 points combined.
According to reports published in the Winston-Salem Journal, Mount Tabor had 654 total yards, spearheaded by quarterback Mike Eldridge, who completed 17 of 21 passes for 391 yards and five scores while also rushing for 111 yards in 10 carries. Carver ran up 367 total yards itself for a total offense output between the two teams of 1,021 yards, with Madison Mills passing for 303 and four scores and also rushing for 67 yards..
Mount Tabor led 31-7 after one quarter, 52-24 at the half and 80-38 after three periods.