With inclement weather forecasted for Friday night, East Bladen’s Eagles, the No. 9 seed in the 2A East, will travel to Pinetops Thursday night to battle No. 2 seed SouthWest Edgecombe in a first round NCHSAA Class 2A football playoff game.
Coach Robby Priest’s Eagles won 4 of their final 5 games to finish the regular season with a 5-5 record and claim fourth place in the Three Rivers Conference. Coach J. C. Cobb’s SWE Cougars won the Eastern Plains Conference title with a 5-0 record and own a 10-1 overall record.
Junior Rasean McKoy has rushed for 1,373 yards and 15 touchdowns to lead the Eagle attack. Senior Lawson Hester has racked up 575 yards rushing and 7 touchdowns, and senior fullback Kasey Price has gained 528 yards and scored 8 touchdowns.
Senior ZaQuis Leach has totaled 367 yards of return yardage for East Bladen, and senior Gabe Barber has made 27 of 32 extra point kicks.
SouthWest Edgecombe has outscored their opponents by an average of 45-12. The lone Cougar loss was to top 1AA seed Tarboro 24-7. The Cougars defeated Eastern Plains runner-up Wilson Beddingfield 60-22.
Cortezz Jones, a 227-pound senior, leads the Cougar offense with 1,140 yards rushing and 21 touchdowns. Jones has snagged 11 passes for 184 yards and has 214 yards of return yardage.
Junior Demari Mabry has rushed for 997 yards and 12 touchdowns. 6-4 senior Keishon Porter has caught 26 passes for 531 yards and 8 touchdowns. Junior quarterback Ray Wooten has thrown for 623 yards and 6 touchdowns.
Game time Thursday will be 7:30 p.m.
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