VICTORY BELL: Eagles roll by Knights in record-setting 20th renewal

BLADENBORO — East Bladen scored touchdowns on its first eight possessions and crushed West Bladen 58-14 in a record-setting renewal of the 20th annual Victory Bell high school football game Friday night.

Five of those Eagles drives were three plays or less. The most distance covered was 65 yards, and that was in one snap.

West Bladen lost a fumble on its first play and threw two interceptions before halftime, when it trailed 50-14. A running clock ensued three plays into the third quarter following junior Javius Brooks’ 4-yard scoring run.

• Playoffs: East Bladen finished 5-2 in the Three Rivers Conference and overall. The Eagles finished in third place and did not make the playoffs for the first time since the school opened in 2001. St. Pauls beat Red Springs 42-25 for the league title Friday, and each team represents the Three Rivers in the postseason.

• Empty: West Bladen came up empty in the win column for the first time since 2012, finishing 0-6. The Knights have lost nine in a row dating to fall 2019.

• Lightning: Overhead bolts stayed in the distance from the stadium in the first half and never stopped play, but the Eagles flashed four touchdowns in a mere three minutes, nine seconds of action bridging intermission. Senior RaSean McKoy scored twice sandwiching a Raymond Autry touchdown run in the final 2:04 of the second quarter. Pivotal was junior Tim McLean’s interception with 20.8 seconds left that was converted into points as time expired. Brooks’ score completed the spree.

• First downs: East Bladen averaged 22.3 yards on its seven first downs in the opening quarter, scoring on three of them to lead 24-0. West Bladen, for the night, averaged 7 yards to go on second downs.

• Real McKoy: McKoy completed his bid for league Player of the Year by running 12 times for 176 yards and catching two passes for 50 yards. He had rushing touchdowns of 2, 65, 5 and 19 yards, and a scoring reception of 44 yards. He finished the season with 15 rushing touchdowns and 1,163 yards rushing on 118 carries — a 9.9 yards per carry average, and 166.1 yards per game. He also returned a kickoff for touchdown, and caught three scoring passes among seven receptions for 127 yards.

• Senior Night: West Bladen honored Andrew Pait, Ethan Davis, Shy’ron Adams, Jaheem Gilbert and Kai Belle.

• Series: Records were set for points by a team (58), margin of victory (44), and combined points (72). East Bladen has won the last 19 since losing the first meeting in 2001.

• Series first: For the first time in the series, nobody playing for either team had been born the last time West Bladen won.

• Said it: “I liked my kids’ fight. The guys for the future fought hard. Shy’ron, Ethan, Andrew Pait — we had tough-nosed kids that stuck it out in the senior class,” said West Bladen second-year head coach Jon Sherman.

• Said it: “We did a good job of staying out of trouble, with the COVID thing, the kids made a lot of sacrifice to stay out of trouble with that. That’s a good testament to them. We were the only school to get all of our games in,” said East Bladen ninth-year head coach Robby Priest.

• Next: Both schools have wrapped up their time in what was once a 10-team Three Rivers Conference with three 1-A schools and seven 2-As. East Bladen was 26-7 in the four years, finishing tied for first, second, third and tied for fourth. West Bladen was 5-27, finishing seventh, eighth twice, and tied for eighth. The 2021 fall season will have both schools in a league that includes Three Rivers holdovers Fairmont, Red Springs and St. Pauls, and Sampson County members Clinton and Midway.

East Bladen … 58

West Bladen … 14

East Bladen | West Bladen

18 First downs 11

36-348 Rushes-yards 27-148

113 Passing yards 72

4-7-0 Passes 5-16-2

0 Punts 0

3-0 Fumbles 1-1

2-25 Penalties 3-25

East Bladen 24 26 8 0 — 58

West Bladen 0 14 0 0 — 14

EB — Javant McDowell 35 pass from Zach Meares (Nazire Smith pass from Zach Meares), 11:35, 1st.

EB — RaSean McKoy 2 run (Javant McDowell pass from Zach Meares), 6:11, 1st.

EB — RaSean McKoy 65 run (Raymond Autry pass from Zach Meares), 1:03, 1st.

EB — RaSean McKoy 5 run (pass failed), 8:55, 2nd.

WB — Gary Parker 55 run (run failed), 7:05, 2nd.

EB — RaSean McKoy 19 run (Raymond Autry run), 2:04, 2nd.

WB — Shy’ron Adams 42 pass from Devon Strange (Damarius Robinson run), 1:17, 2nd.

EB — Raymond Autry 5 run (pass failed), 0:48.7, 2nd.

EB — RaSean McKoy 44 pass from Zach Meares (run failed), 0:00, 2nd

EB — Javius Brooks 4 run (RaSean McKoy run), 10:55, 3rd.

INDIVIDUALS

Rushing: EB — RaSean McKoy 12-176, Raymond Autry 7-86, Javius Brooks 6-46, Tim McLean 3-20, Donevin Keith 4-11, Darius Williams 1-6, Masion Brooks 1-4, Jake Garrison 2-(-1); WB — Gary Parker 14-94, Damarius Robinson 5-21, Raymone Gillie 1-17, Devon Strange 2-16, Pernell Hooper 1-3, Shy’ron Adams 1-1, Dawson Bryant 3-(-4).

Passing: EB — Zach Meares 4-7-0, 113 yards; WB — Devon Strange 5-16-2, 72 yards.

Receiving: EB — RaSean McKoy 2-50, Javant McDowell 1-35, Nazire Smith 1-28; WB — Shy’ron Adams 5-72.