By Sonny Jones
Happy homecoming games for both Bladen County high school football programs Friday night. Plenty of offense and enough defense to post Southeastern Athletic Conference victories.
It also was a rarity for East Bladen, which beat Fairmont 42-26, and West Bladen, which defeated Red Springs 39-20, both to win on the same night. Last time it happened was Oct. 13, 2017.
Yep, it’s been five years since all of Bladen County celebrated football wins on the same night. West Bladen outscored West Columbus 49-28 and East Bladen knocked off St. Pauls 34-28.
It was one of four times during that 2017 season that both Bladen football teams won on the same night. The others were:
• Sept. 22, 2017: East Bladen beat Red Springs 34-6 and West Bladen beat East Columbus 38-8.
• Sept. 4, 2017: West Bladen beat Midway 20-6 and East Bladen shut out North Brunswick 34-0.
• Aug. 25, 2017: East Bladen beat Clinton 35-16 and West Bladen beat South Brunswick 39-36.
Hopefully, it won’t be another five years before both Bladen teams win on the same night.
• Fairmont quarterback Gabriel Washington put on quite a show at Lenon Fisher Stadium, proving to be an elusive target for East Bladen defenders and displaying a strong arm when passing. He ran for 108 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 223 yards and two touchdowns.
• West Bladen had been shut out its last three games and four of its last five prior to Friday. The one game during that stretch that the Knights scored came during a 23-0 win against East Columbus. So, it’s the first time since Aug. 26 that the Knights played a game that both teams scored.
• Clinton took over first place in the SAC following its 23-20 win against St. Pauls. The Dark Horses won on a hook-and-lateral pass play with about 90 seconds remaining.
• Division champs Atlanta and the Los Angeles Dodgers face elimination in the MLB playoffs while the New York Yankees are tied at a game apiece in their series against Cleveland. How much is sitting out five days instead of playing in the wild-card round affecting those teams? We’ll never know, but baseball players at that level aren’t accustomed to not playing for such a long period.
SATURDAY’S PICK TO CLICK
Drake Maye passes for three touchdowns and 250 yards and also runs for a score as North Carolina beats Duke at Wallace Wade Stadium. Maye’s day would match that of Sam Howell, who threw for three TDs, rushed for another and had 235 passing yards in the Tar Heels’ 56-24 win in Durham in 2020.
FRIDAY’S PICK: Shane Bieber pitches 7 solid innings and Jose Ramirez drives in a pair of runs as Cleveland evens the ALDS against the New York Yankees. RESULTS: Bieber gave up 2 runs on 5 hits with 7 strikeouts in 5.2 innings. Ramirez was 1-for-5 with a run scored. He led off the 10th with a bloop double, went to third on a throwing error and scored the go-ahead run on a single by Oscar Gonzalez.
TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
• 1995 — The Carolina Panthers beat the New York Jets 26-15 for their first NFL victory.
WHAT TO WATCH TODAY
• DP WORLD TOUR: Andalucia Masters, 7:30 a.m., GOLF
• FOOTBALL: Iowa St. at Texas, noon, ABC
• FOOTBALL: Auburn at Mississippi, noon, ESPN
• FOOTBALL: Kansas at Oklahoma, noon, ESPN2
• FOOTBALL: Penn St. at Michigan, noon, FOX
• FOOTBALL: Old Dominion at Coastal Carolina, noon, ESPNU
• FOOTBALL: Miami at Virginia Tech, 12:30 p.m., BALLY SPORTS
• MLB PLAYOFFS: Atlanta at Philadelphia, 2 p.m., FS1
• PGA CHAMPIONS: SAS Championship, 2 p.m., GOLF
• FOOTBALL: Oklahoma St. at Texas Christian, 3:30 p.m., ABC
• FOOTBALL: N.C. State at Syracuse, 3:30 p.m., ACCN
• FOOTBALL: Alabama at Tennessee, 3:30 p.m., CBS
• FOOTBALL: Arkansas at Brigham Young, 3:30 p.m., ESPN
• FOOTBALL: Maryland at Indiana, 3:30 p.m., ESPN2
• NASCAR XFINITY: Alsco Uniforms 302, 3:30 p.m., NBC
• MLB PLAYOFFS: Houston at Seattle, 4 p.m., TBS
• FOOTBALL: Tulane at South Florida, 4 p.m., ESPNU
• FOOTBALL: Wisconsin at Michigan St., 4 p.m., FOX
• FOOTBALL: LSU at Florida, 7 p.m., ESPN
• NHL: Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m., NHLN
• MLB PLAYOFFS: NY Yankees at Cleveland, 7:30 p.m., TBS
• FOOTBALL: Clemson at Florida St., 7:30 p.m., ABC, ESPN2
• FOOTBALL: Memphis at East Carolina, 7:30 p.m., ESPNU
• FOOTBALL: Stanford at Notre Dame, 7:30 p.m., NBC
• FOOTBALL: North Carolina at Duke, 8 p.m., ACCN
• FOOTBALL: Southern Cal at Utah, 8 p.m., FOX
• MLB PLAYOFFS: LA Dodgers at San Diego, 9:30 p.m., FS1
• FOOTBALL: Air Force at Nevada-Las Vegas, 10:30 p.m., CBSSN
• BOXING: Devin Haney vs. George Kambosos Jr., 10:30 p.m., ESPN
• FOOTBALL: San Jose St. at Fresno St., 10:45 p.m., FS2
• PGA: ZOZO Championship, 11 p.m., GOLF
Sonny Jones can be reached at wibbyj@gmail.com and follow on Twitter @FOSonnyJones.
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