Hickory's offense rebounds in rivalry win over Sharon

HERMITAGE – After a disappointing week one for the Hickory Hornets offense, it was all about bouncing back against rival Sharon after last year's District 10 Championship. Christian Dungee and Kelvin Morrison scored three touchdowns each, and the Hickory rolled to a 40-21 win over the Tigers. "It was a big team win for us today. They sent us home last November, and I've just felt like it was my fault. I threw two picks in that game. That's why I had to bounce back after I gave glory to God," Dungee said. "Game one we came out nervous. That was bad. But we bounced back, and we put up 40. That was a goal and we got it done." The offense had 344 yards this week compared to just 150 last week. Morrison alone had more yards, and team had 300 rushing yards. "I don't care if you win by one or 20, it just feels good to get that region win. You don't want to fall to 0-2. Our guys were ready and we had one of the best weeks of practice I could even imagine. So proud of how they responded," Hickory head coach Bill Dungee said. "It was about execution. We converted our third downs and scored in the red zone. We just need to keep progressing." Both teams scored a rushing touchdown on their first drive of the game, but in very different fashions. Sharon ran a 10-play, methodical drive with Marius Best and Gha'Fir Lampkins each running the ball. It set up a 4-yard touchdown run for Cassius Hosey on a pitch. Hickory's first drive was a 79-yard touchdown run with Kelvin Morrison bobbing and weaving his way past defenders. The Tigers' second drive was far less successful, as Ja'Kyi Husband punched the ball out of Lampkins' hands, and Dante Evans was right there for a recovery. Now in great field position, Christian Dungee capitalized for the Hornets with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Jason Phillips in the back of the end zone for the first completion of the game. Morrison began the second quarter by breaking off another big run on his second carry of the day, this time for 47 yards and another touchdown. Hickory was struggling on extra points though, failing to score on the first three touchdowns. Before momentum shifted too much, Sharon's offense finally got going again. Best led another big drive with his powerful running. He soon bulldozed his way into the end zone from 14-yards out to cut the lead to 18-15 a few minutes before half. Dungee and the offense came back onto the field looking to chew clock and rebuild a two-score lead before the break. They executed perfectly as Morrsion, Dungee and Phillips all contributed as they marched into the red zone. Dungee capped the drive off with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Dante Evans with just a few seconds on the clock. Hickory led 25-15 at halftime. At the start of the second half Hickory's offense began to march once again. They drove into the red zone, and as Dungee looked to pass, the ball got batted at the line of scrimmage. Sharon's defensive tackle Lucas Perks saw the play perfectly, and dove to the ground to intercept the deflected ball. It wouldn't matter though as Sharon was called for illegal touching in the end zone resulting in a safety for the Hornets. Hickory added to the lead just a few plays later with Morrison, who missed a few plays to deal with an injury, checking back in and scoring a 16-yard touchdown run. Sharon's offense had one final touchdown drive in the fourth quarter capped off by a 2-yard run from Lampkins. Dungee sealed the day for Hickory on the next drive by chewing the clock, and scrambling on 4th-and-long while making multiple defenders miss for a 23-yard touchdown. "It was just about keeping the ball in bounds and not doing anything dumb, no turnovers. I just looked to run and just found my way to the end zone," Christian Dungee said. "This offense is scary when we all do our jobs. We can't be stopped. If we do our jobs like that, we'll win every game." Hickory's Dungee threw for 45 yards and two touchdowns, and added 55 yards and another score on the ground. Morrison had 216 yards on the ground and three touchdowns. Phillips caught four passes for 40 yards and a score. "That's 1-2-3 for us. Unos-dos-tres. They work so hard, they're great friends and they put it the work on the practice field," Bill Dungee said. "I tell them all the time that you can't cheat the game. You get out of it what you put into it. I'm so proud of them, and let's just keep getting better." Best led Sharon with 145 yards on 24 carries with a touchdown. Lampkins rushed for 42 yards and a score, while going 3/7 for 26 yards through the air. Hosey had 20 receiving yards, 12 rushing yards and a touchdown. Hickory will have another region matchup next week against Grove City while Sharon searched for its first win of the year at Oil City. "First of all the goal is to get back healthy. It'll be a short week and they are waiting for us," Bill Dungee said. "It was a close game last year, and we know they'll be ready for this one. We have to lock back in and get ready for it, absolutely." --- SHARON 7 8 0 6 21 HICKORY 12 13 9 6 40 Scoring plays S - Hosey, 4 run (Litman kick) H - Morrison, 79 run (kick missed) H - Phillips, 21 pass from Dungee (kick missed) H - Morrison, 47 run (run failed) S - Best, 14 run (Lampkins pass to Hosey) H - Evans, 5 pass from Dungee (Darrough kick) H - safety, illegal touching H - Morrison, 16 run (Darrough kick) S - Lampkins, 2 run (pass failed) H - Dungee, 23 run (pass failed) Team stats SHARON HICKORY 12 First downs 14 199 Rushing yards 299 26 Passing yards 45 7-3-0 Att-comp-int 11-7-1 225 Total yards 344 2-1 Fumbles-lost 1-0 9-59 Penalties-yards lost 12-105 Individual stats Rushing: SHARON - Best 24-145, Lampkins 13-42, Hosey 2-12, White 1-1, Perks 1-(-1); HICKORY - Morrison 15-216, Dungee 11-55, Gardner 3-39, Team 1-(-11). Passing: SHARON - Lampkins 3-7-0-26; HICKORY - Dungee 7-11-2-45. Receiving: SHARON - Hosey 1-20, Wilbon-Venable 1-5, Perks 1-1; HICKORY - Phillips 4-40, .Evans 1-5, Morrison 1-(-2) Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved. This story was originally published September 7, 2026 at 3:25 PM.