Bladen teams in football, boys’ soccer high school playoffs

The East Bladen and West Bladen football and boys’ soccer teams qualified for the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs, according to pairings released Sunday afternoon.

Both West Bladen teams will travel for first-round games while both East Bladen teams will play at home for their first games. The East Bladen football has a bye in the first round.

Master sports schedule | Standings

The East Bladen boys’ soccer team (13-6-4) received the No. 10 seed out of 24 East teams and is scheduled to host No. 23 Roxboro Community (1-15-2) on Tuesday in the 2A playoffs.

The 20th-seeded West Bladen boys’ soccer team (6-10-1) is set to play at No. 13 North Moore (6-7-1) on Tuesday in the 3A East playoffs.

In football, West Bladen (2-8), seeded No. 23, is set to play at Southeastern Conference rival and No. 10 seed South Columbus (6-4) on Friday in the 3A East playoffs.

The East Bladen football team (7-3) is the No. 4 seed in the 2A East bracket and will play Nov. 14 at Lenon Fisher Stadium against the winner between No. 13 Northwest Halifax (4-6) and No. 20 Union (2-8).

This is the first year of the NCHSAA’s eight-classification tournaments. Most of the classes are 48-team brackets split into 24-team East and West regions based on location and longitude. The top eight seeds received first-round byes in full 48-team brackets. In 2A football, the top 11 teams in the East received first-round byes.

The East Bladen boys’ soccer team reached the championship match of the Carolina Conference tournament last Friday, losing to two-time defending 1A East champion Hobbton 4-1. The Eagles also finished second to Hobbton in the regular season standings.

Sophomore Ishaq Algozy led East Bladen with 30 goals and 29 assists during the season. He had a school-tying record six goals Oct. 20 in a 7-0 win against Lakewood. Jayce Hatcher scored 19 goals. Keeper Fox Sutton had a 2.2 goals against average.

The Eagles have gone 7-2-1 in their last 10 games with the two losses coming against Hobbton. East Bladen has outscored its opponents 70-45 this season.

Roxboro Community’s lone victory came Sept. 10 against Neuse Charter 3-1. The Bulldogs tied Neuse Charter and Person. The team has been outscored 104-17.

The West Bladen boys’ soccer squad placed fourth in a competitive Southeastern Conference. Class 5A South Brunswick won with a 6-2 record, 4A Red Springs and 3A Whiteville went 5-3 and 3A West Bladen finished 4-4 in league play.

Offensively, the Knights are led by Alejandro Lopez Sandoval and Jonah Bryan. West Bladen scored 33 goals and allowed 37.

West Bladen opened with three losses and a tie and a four-match losing streak midway through the season left it with a 3-9-1 record. The Knights won three of their last four matches.

North Moore lost four of its last five regular season matches and has been outscored 57-46 this season.

The West Bladen football team lost its five Southeastern Conference games, but battled league tri-champion South Columbus on even terms Oct. 24 before losing 34-25. The Knights led 19-14 midway through the third quarter before South Columbus scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

South Columbus beat Whiteville 22-15 on Halloween night to share the Southeastern title with Whiteville and South Brunswick with 4-1 records. The Stallions are coached by former West Bladen coach and Bladenboro High graduate Russell Dove.

West Bladen’s offense relied on the running of Sincere McKinley, who had 745 rushing yards, and Ahmarie White, who had 698 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns. Isaiah Robinson led the defense with 69 tackles, Justin Spaulding had 56 and McKinley had 52 tackles and a pair of interceptions. Keon Whittington had four pass interceptions.

With a first round bye and having its regular season bye on the final week East Bladen will be off three weeks before playing its second round contest against either Union or Northwest Halifax.

The Eagles won their final three games by a combined 114-6 score after losing twice by a combined five points over four days in early October.

Sophomore Jaden Lewis has led the East Bladen rushing attack with 1,205 yards and 14 touchdowns. Senior Dashon Campbell had 973 yards and ran for 13 touchdowns during the regular season. Defensively, Bradley Townsend had 75 tackles and Julius Battle had 65 tackles and 4.5 sacks. Lewis had three interceptions.