East Bladen during an offensive possession.
ELIZABETHTOWN — The 13th-seeded East Bladen Eagles hit the road for their third round playoff matchup with the 12th-seeded Goldsboro-Rosewood Eagles this Friday. Mascots isn’t the only thing these teams have in common, both teams come into Friday’s matchup with identical 7-5 records and they’ve both finished third in competitive conferences. East Bladen have been dialed-in this postseason as they showed their dominance in their first round game against North-Edgcombe and showed their heart in a comeback victory away from home against Northside-Pinetown.
Rosewood will be yet another obstacle on their journey as they take on another quality football team with a winning record at home. Rosewood’s offense has been averaging 45 ppg this postseason and their defense has allowed their first two playoff opponents an average of 22.5 ppg. Rosewood’s defense has been stout when it comes to defending the run as they’ve only given up 368 yards on the ground this whole postseason and they’ve forced five total turnovers to get them to Friday’s match-up.
East Bladen’s offense’s biggest strength is their run game as they’ve rushed for a total of 534 yards and scored eight rushing touchdowns in their first two postseason games. Senior running-back Masion Brooks has spearheaded the rushing attack by scoring those eight rushing touchdowns and he’s been key for the hometown Eagles for much of the season. He’s been East Bladen’s leading scorer this season with 31 total touchdowns on the year, which ranks second most in the 1A Classification for NC .
Brooks recovered the game deciding fumble as East Bladen completed their second half comeback against the fourth-seeded team in the East region. Northside-Pinetown were held to minus six-yards rushing in the final quarter after their running-back Jamie Corprew trotted for 158 yards and a touchdown in the first three quarters of last week’s game. East Bladen’s defense settled into hostile territory as they went on to play lights-out in the fourth quarter to get them to their Eastern quarter-final match-up this Friday.
Rosewood played against Northside-Pinetown in Week 5 of the regular-season and claimed a 13-0 victory as they continued a five game winning streak. Junior quarterback Giovanni Pineda has thrown for 1249 yards and is responsible for 20 touchdowns this season for the Rosewood offense. He has six touchdowns so far this postseason and he’s backed by a solid receiving core spread out wide. Senior running-back David Lamm has also been electric in the Rosewood backfield this season and has been a major component of his teams postseason run.
Teams have barely attempted a pass against this Rosewood’s defense but East Bladen coach Robby Priest isn’t scared to draw up a play to get his playmakers on the outside involved. Junior wideout Malaki Moore is one of those playmakers and he’s quick to become an explosive runner after the catch. The East Bladen defense has been impressive since the postseason started as they’ve allowed 41 ppg over the last two weeks.
Admission for Friday nights game is $8 per person at the gate or purchase can be made online. The third round match-up will kickoff at 7 pm under the lights at Rosewood High School in Goldsboro. Friday’s winner will meet the victor of Southeast Halifax-Tarboro in the fourth round of the NCHSAA 1A Playoffs.