GREENSBORO – The Dallas County Hornets needed a win Friday to stay in playoff contention. They took advantage of a young Greensboro Raider team to post a 12-0 win.

“This is a big win for us,” said Hornets coach Rick Bush. “This lines us up for a chance to get into the playoffs.”

The Dallas County defense allowed just 44 total yards and three first downs in the game. Quarterback Derrick McGhee passed for 209 yards, including a 20-yard strike in the corner of the end zone to Courtney Stubbs to lead the Hornets.

Dallas County crossed the goal line in the first quarter on its first possession. The drive was capped by a 1-yard run by Brandon England to go up 6-0. The 76-yard drive featured a 31-yard pass from McGhee to Michael Williams that put the Hornets on the Raiders’ one.

After neither team was able to put points on the board for the remainder of the first half, the Hornets opened the third quarter by moving the ball from their own 31-yard line to inside the Greensboro 10. But Raiders’ defensiveback Rashad Hobson intercepted a McGhee pass at the one to stop the drive.

On its next possession with 4:50 left in the third, Dallas County drove from its own 30 to the Raider 20-yard line with the help of a Greensboro pass interference call and a 20-yard toss from McGhee to John Andrews that set up the Hornets at the Greensboro 20-yard line as the third quarter ended.

Penalties slowed the offense in the final period, but Dallas County kept the ball all of 10 minutes in the quarter.

On the opening play of the fourth, McGhee hit Courtney Stubbs for a 20-yard scoring strike to give Dallas County a 12-0 advantage.

Not much offense was produced by either team for the remainder of the game.

“We’re a young and inexperienced team, and it showed tonight,” Greensboro coach Mike Reynolds said after the game. “We made too many mistakes and we had too many penalties. We played a team that had a few more good athletes than we did.”

Greensboro falls to 1-6 (0-5 in the region).

“I’m proud of these kids, they’ve secured a .500 season at least and we’re looking for more,” Bush said. “We hope to get better each week.”

The Hornets improve their record to 5 – 2, 3 – 2 in region play.