West Bladen’s Keon Whittington (2) catches one of his three touchdowns Friday night against South Columbus.
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West Bladen quarterback Devan Stanley (10) throws a pass Friday against South Columbus. Stanley connected with Keon Whittington on three touchdown passes.
Kenneth Armstrong / kenarmphoto.com
West Bladen’s Keon Whittington (2) celebrates after his second touchdown catch Friday against South Columbus.
Kenneth Armstrong / kenarmphoto.com
West Bladen’s Justin Spaulding (3) on the run against South Columbus.
Kenneth Armstrong / kenarmphoto.com
West Bladen’s Keon Whittington runs toward the end zone to complete a 42-yard pass play for a touchdown thrown by quarterback Devan Stanley.
Kenneth Armstrong / kenarmphoto.com
BLADENBORO – Keon Whittington and Devan Stanley were locked in Friday night at The Castle.
The duo’s third touchdown pass – a 14-yarder from Stanley to Whittington – gave West Bladen a 19-14 lead over South Columbus midway through the third quarter.
However, South Columbus rallied in the fourth quarter, sparked by a 51-yard interception return for a score by Phillip Smith Jr., for a 34-25 win over the Knights in a Southeastern Conference football game played on the first chilly night of the season.
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“Thanks to my quarterback, my offensive line blocking, if it wasn’t for them I would never have caught those balls and got into the end zone,” said Whittington, a junior wide receiver and cornerback, who also intercepted a South Columbus pass in the end zone. “It’s all thanks to God. It felt amazing.”
Stanley, a sophomore, completed 5 of 10 pass attempts for 88 yards and three touchdowns with one pass intercepted.
“I like to pay attention to where the defense is rotating,” Stanley said, “so that backside pass actually helped us a lot.”
The loss dropped West Bladen to 2-7 overall, 0-4 in the Southeastern Conference with the regular season finale at class 5A South Brunswick (6-3, 3-1 Southeastern) scheduled next Friday. The Knights are ranked No. 43 in the state’s 3A Rating Percentage Index. The top 48 teams qualify for the playoffs.
“It was a good back and forth game,” West Bladen coach Preston Worley said. “You had two similar styles so I knew it was going to be a back-and-forth battle.
“We made more mistakes than they did and that’s what really cost us the game. “We’ve got to be more disciplined on both sides of the ball. Defensively, we’ve got to become more physical.”
South Columbus, which is coached by former West Bladen coach and Bladenboro High graduate Russell Dove, was led by Easton McPherson, who rushed for 132 yards and a touchdown, and Cayden Batton, who ran for 114 yards and a score.
The Stallions (5-4, 3-1 Southeastern) ran for 369 yards on 44 attempts compared to West Bladen’s 158 yards on 37 attempts. The Knights were led by Sincere McKinley with 70 yards and Ahmarie White with 63 yards with a touchdown.
“The pick-six hurt where we struggled to regain our composure,” Worley said about Smith’s interception return that gave South Columbus a 27-19 lead with under 10 minutes to play. “Overall, I thought we fought good and just to get better going into the last week of the season.”
The teams exchanged touchdowns in each of the first two quarters with South Columbus holding a 14-12 lead at half as a result of successful conversion kicks by Oscar Valdez. West Bladen’s two scores came on a 42-yard pass from Stanley to Whittington in the first quarter and a 7-yard strike between the pair with 14 seconds left in the second quarter.
The Stanley-to-Whittington third connection with 6:39 remaining in the third quarter gave West Bladen a 19-14 lead.
The Stallions took control in the fourth quarter with three touchdowns for a 34-19 lead. West Bladen’s White scored on a 2-yard run with 2:25 remaining that accounted for the final score.
Prior to the game, West Bladen recognized seniors Justin Spaulding, Jonah Bryan, Hunter Hester, Riley Kline, Demarie Gayle, Isaiah Robinson, Omarion Brown, Wendell Way, Jamius Owens, Davion Burgess and White.
Sonny Jones can be reached at [email protected].