DOBSON — Life could not have been much better for Dave Wilmoth Friday night.

Surry Central won its first game of the season, its senior signal caller rushed for 150 yards and three scores and Wilmoth’s girlfriend, Whitney Joyner, was named homecoming queen during halftime of the game.

“Yeah, it was pretty good,” Wilmoth said after the game as a smile crept across his face.

Wilmoth, along with several other Golden Eagles, put together their best game of the season and defeated North Surry 48-26 Friday night. The triple option was out in full force, as the Golden Eagles (1-8, 1-4 Northwest 1A/2A) scored five rushing touchdowns and limited the Greyhounds (1-8, 1-4) to six second-half points.

Wilmoth, who has “WIN” etched across his spikes, and Casey Felts, also a senior, both came up with big plays down the stretch. Felts, who rushed for 100 yards, scored on a 69-yard run in the third quarter to break a 20-20 halftime deadlock. In the fourth quarter, Wilmoth iced the victory with a pair of 35-yard touchdown runs.

A freshman worked his way into the mix as well. Wes Brown opened the scoring when he returned a kickoff 86 yards for a score. He later found the end zone on a 3-yard plunge and finished with 173 all-purpose yards.

Alex Wilmoth also stepped up for the home team when he hauled in a 44-yard touchdown pass from Dave Wilmoth. Alex Wilmoth had a big fourth-quarter interception that thwarted a Greyhounds drive.

“I think offensively we just got into a good groove early,” Surry Central coach Monty Southern said. “We ran the ball really successfully and we were able to mix in a few passes. That kept them on their heels.

“Wes had a lot of nice runs, then Dave had a lot of nice runs and we had some nice runs off the pitch. That’s the way it’s supposed to look like.”

Misdirection plays haunted the Greyhounds.

“We felt coming in their defense overpursued and we tried to take advantage of that,” Wilmoth said.

North Surry running back Joston Phipps scored on runs of 30 and 38 yards in the first half. When starting quarterback Tanner Hiatt came out of the game in the third quarter, Phipps moved under center and fired a 22-yard scoring strike to Jonathan Brown in the final quarter.

The Golden Eagles’ defense broke through the line and harassed Hiatt when he was in the game and also had some success bottling up Phipps. When Hiatt left the game, Surry Central was able to pin its ears back and concentrate on stopping Phipps. Golden Eagles defensive end Wade Dawson was a staple in the North Surry backfield.

“When Joston’s in the game, everybody can key on No. 1,” North Surry coach Brian Hampton said. “And they ought to because he’s a pretty good player. With just Joston at quarterback, well, Joston’s either going to throw it or Joston’s going to run it and they can key on him.”

Hampton said it was too early to tell what ailed Hiatt as of last night.

“We’re not exactly sure what’s wrong with Tanner right now,” Hampton said after the game. “He’s going to get looked at. He wasn’t himself, he wasn’t feeling good. Right now, we’re not sure.”

Southern said he was proud of the way his team played hard and practiced hard all week, even though the winless season was becoming a burden.

“It feels good,” he said of the victory. “You work so long and hard and the guys put in so much time in the offseason and then you play eight games and nothing comes out like you want it to. Most of the credit goes to the players. When you get to 0-5, 0-6, it can just snowball. But these guys came out ready to play tonight.”

Contact Ed Phillipps at ephillipps@mtairynews.com or 719-1921.