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ELIZABETHTOWN — Masion Brooks and Gabriel Washington put on an offensive show Friday night at Lenon Fisher Stadium.

At the end, Brooks and his East Bladen Eagles outscored the Fairmont Golden Tornadoes 42-26 to notch an important Southeastern Athletic Conference victory in their bid to qualify for the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs.

Brooks rushed for 230 yards on 23 carries and scored on runs of 4, 80, 16 and 26 yards as the Eagles (3-5 overall, 2-2 SAC) won their homecoming game. The junior, who also plays defense, has 1,126 rushing yards this season.

Washington, the Fairmont quarterback, ran for 108 yards and two touchdowns and completed 12 of 22 passes for 223 yards and a pair of scores. The Golden Tornadoes (2-7, 1-4) close their season in two weeks at home against Robeson County rival Fairmont.

East Bladen is scheduled to play at Red Springs (0-8, 0-4) next Friday and close the regular season Oct. 28 at home against St. Pauls (5-2, 3-1).

Fairmont’s defense held the Eagles on downs on the first possession of the game. The Golden Tornadoes needed only three plays to go 29 yards for an early 6-0 lead. Washington connected with Jamir Jones for the final 17 yards.

East Bladen ran 14 plays to move to the Fairmont 4 before losing possession on downs, but quickly regained possession when Christopher Harding intercepted a Washington pass at the 25 on the first play from scrimmage.

Kalec Autry scored on a 15-yard run for the Eagles on the first play of the second quarter. Blaine Pope’s conversion kick gave East Bladen a 7-6 advantage. The drive was kept alive when Jadon Pridgen recovered an East Bladen fumble.

A blocked punt set up East Bladen at the Fairmont 21. Brooks scored the first of his four TDs on a 4-yard run. The conversion kick bounced off the goal post.

The Eagles scored again after Zamar Lewis picked off Washington’s pass at the East Bladen 20. On the first play, Brooks broke through the middle of the Fairmont defense and didn’t stop until he crossed the goal line 80 yards away. Brooks caught a pass from Kewane Maynor for the two-point conversion that gave East Bladen a 21-6 lead with 3:27 remaining in the second quarter.

Fairmont got on the board with just over a minute remaining in the first half. Washington passed to Micah Roberts for 34 yards and to Travelius Leach for 23 yards before scrambling the final 9 yards and slipping into the right corner of the end zone. The conversion failed, but the Golden Tornadoes had cut the deficit to 21-12 with 1:15 to play in the half.

Fairmont pulled within a point at 21-20 with 4:58 left in the third quarter on Washington’s 9-yard run. The score was set up by Jayden Smith’s fumble recovery.

East Bladen countered with a 7-play, 56-yard drive on the ensuing possession with Brooks running the final 16 yards. Pope’s conversion kick gave the Eagles a 28-20 lead with 30 seconds left in the third quarter.

The East Bladen defense stopped Fairmont at the 2 on fourth down as Washington threw an incomplete pass. After a first down, Maynor passed to Malikah Moore along the left sideline where the sophomore receiver broke a tackle and ran to end zone on an 86-yard play. Pope’s kick made it 35-20 with 6:54 remaining to play.

Washington wasn’t finished. He passed to Travelius Leach for a 48-yard touchdown that pulled Fairmont within 35-26 with 5:44 left.

East Bladen put the game out of reach on the ensuing possession when Brooks capped a 6-play, 56-yard drive with a 26-yard run that made it 42-26. The drive began with two procedure penalties against the Eagles.

Autry added 72 yards rushing and a touchdown as the Eagles ran for 382 yards on 46 attempts for 8.3 yards per carry average. Maynor completed 2 of 7 passes for 88 yards, both catches by Moore.

Defensively, Harding and Lewis had interceptions. Zach Williams had 1.5 sacks, Brooks and Autry each had a sack, and Aniyaes Bethan was credited with 0.5 sacks.

For Fairmont, Leach caught six passes for 148 yards and a score.

East Bladen’s homecoming queen was Ciara McKoy and the homecoming king was Taran McNeil. Members of the court were Ziair Antone, Acee Campbell, Skye Hunt, Molly Keiper, Kytera McCall, Trinity Ross, Emma Turberville, Jor’Dane Brooks, Weston Hatcher, Jeffery Jernigan II, Christopher Monroe and Cameron White.

EAST BLADEN 42, FAIRMONT 26

Fairmont 6 -6-8- 6—26
East Bladen 0-21-7-14—42
F — Jamir Jones 17 pass from Gabriel Washington (run fail)
EB — Kalec Autry 15 run (Blaine Pope kick)
EB — Masion Brooks 4 run (kick failed)
EB — Brooks 80 run (Kewane Maynor pass to Brooks)
F — Washington 9 run (run fail)
F — Washington 9 run (Washington pass to Tyrek Thompson)
EB — Brooks 16 run (Pope kick)
EB — Malikah Moore 86 pass from Maynor (Pope kick)
F — Travelius Leach 48 pass from Washington (pass failed)
EB — Brooks 26 run (Pope kick)