After opening the playoffs a week ago at home with a 57-14 thrashing of North Edgecombe, the East Bladen football team will “hit the road.”
The 13th-seeded Eagles, 6-5, are scheduled to play No. 4 Northside Panthers (8-2) on Friday in Pinetown. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. for the second-round N.C. High School Athletic Association game.
Admission is $8 cash only. Northside is located at 7868 Free Union Church Road, Pinetown.
East Bladen scored at will in its first-round win against North Edgecombe. Masion Brooks only carried the ball five times, but scored four times and ran for 122 yards. Quarterback Keyshawn Kemp was 4-for-4 passing for 103 yards and touchdown passes to Malaki Moore and Jadon Pridgen.
The Eagles’ second round contest is expected to be more of a challenge.
Northside won the Coastal Plains 1A/2A Conference and are 8-2 overall. The Panthers had a first-round bye for the playoffs.
The Panthers have outscored their opponents 350-77. Their two losses were against non-conference foes North Dupline (14-13) and Rosewood (13-0). Both of those teams qualified for the playoffs.
Offensively, Northside is led by Jamie Corprew, who has run for 1,413 yards and scored 23 touchdowns in nine game. On defense, Gus Vansant leads with 75 total tackles while Dashawn Smith has 16.5 tackles for loss and Griffin Johnson has 11.5 tackles for loss.
For East Bladen, Brooks leads a powerful running game with 1,718 yards gained and 31 touchdowns. He has averaged 11.7 yards per carry through 11 games.
Malaki Moore has caught 26 passes for 574 yards and eight touchdowns.
The winner of Friday’s game will play the winner between No. 5 Bear Grass Charter and No. 12 Rosewood next Friday in the third round. If East Bladen beats Northside, the Eagles again will play award from home.
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