TABOR CITY – There were a few tears and plenty of hugs among West Bladen players and coaches in the end zone Friday night prior to boarding the bus back to school.
The 38-0 loss to South Columbus in the opening round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3A football playoffs meant the end of the season for the Knights and the final high school football game for the seniors.
“It’s always tough,” second-year West Bladen coach Preston Worley said about elimination from the playoffs. “We’re not the only team feeling it tonight. There’s a lot of teams around the state feeling the same feeling.”
Master sports schedule | Standings
Tenth-seeded South Columbus (7-4) is scheduled to travel to Elizabeth City next Friday to play No. 7 seed Northeastern (7-3).
The Knights (2-9) never were in the game unlike two weeks ago when they led the Stallions 19-14 in the third quarter at The Castle before losing 34-19 in a Southeastern Conference meeting.
South Columbus scored three touchdowns on its first five plays from scrimmage Friday. Briar Johnson then returned an interception 53 yards for a score that gave the Stallions a 28-0 lead with 3:52 in the first quarter.
“The trench play really hurt us,” Worley said about the play along the offensive and defensive lines. “That first series we had offensively, we drove right down the field, but couldn’t quite punch it in. Then we just couldn’t really gather ourselves.”
South Columbus, which shared the Southeastern Conference championship with Whiteville and South Brunswick, opted to receive the opening kickoff. On the second play from scrimmage, Easton McPherson took the handoff on a counter play and ran 79 yards for a touchdown 18 seconds into the game. Oscar Valdez’s first of five successful extra point kicks was good.
West Bladen’s first play from scrimmage was a 59 yard run by Ahmarie White to the South Columbus 23, but the Knights were stopped on downs at the 18.
McPherson ran 65 yards on the Stallions’ first play following the change of possession. Quarterback Jackson Greene then passed to Kameron Johnson for a 17 yard touchdown.
West Bladen’s second possession ended with a punt being blocked and South Columbus taking over at the 1. Briar Johnson barrelled into the end zone on the first play that gave the Stallions a 21-0 lead with 6:11 remaining in the first quarter.
Johnson was back in the end zone again after picking off a Hunter Hester pass and returning it for the Stallions’ fourth touchdown in the opening quarter.
After West Bladen had a three-and-out possession, South Columbus drove 59 yards in eight plays for its final touchdown, a 7 yard run by McPherson, that made it 35-0 with 11:16 left in the second quarter.
“My message at halftime was let’s just fight,” Worley said. “I don’t care what the score is. Let’s go out there and let’s just fight. In life, you’re going to get knocked down and you have to learn how to get up and fight for yourself and push forward. We did a better job of that in the second half.”
The second half was played with a running clock because of the 35 point margin. South Columbus’ final points came on a 23-yard field goal by Valdez with a minute to play.
West Bladen never got inside the South Columbus 45 after its opening possession.
“Whether it’s the first round, second round or fifth round, the hurt (of losing in the playoffs) is going to feel the same,” Worley said. “We’ve got to love these guys and let them know there’s better things to come in life. I’m proud of how they fought. I’m proud of our seniors. Their goal was to make the playoffs and they made the playoffs.”
White ran for 97 yards on 17 carries to lead the West Bladen offense, which was held under 100 yards. Hester, who played quarterback in place of an injured Devan Stanley, was 2-for-7 with both completions going to Keon Whittington for 15 yards.
Defensively, Demarie Gayle finished with nine tackles for West Bladen. Justin Spaulding had seven tackles and a quarterback sack. Sincere McKinley and Omarion Brown each had fumble recoveries.