The good news is that West Bladen’s Knights return to the play-offs Friday night after a one-year absence. The bad news is that the Knights have to travel to the top seed in the Class 2-A East – undefeated Kinston.
“I was a little disappointed with the No. 16 seed,” said Knight Coach Russell Dove. “I thought with the strength of our conference we might have pulled a #14 seed, but if we had won one more game that would have taken care of that.”
Last week East Bladen made a couple of big plays in the second half and clinched a 14-3 victory over the Knights midway the final quarter. “The boys played hard, played tough and had a chance to win in the second half,” said Coach Dove.
Senior Malique McDowell led the Knights against the Eagles with 67 rushing yards that raised his season total to 778 yards. McDowell has run for 4 touchdowns. Other Knight leaders are: junior James Moore (603 yards and 3 TD’s), sophmore B. J. Drake (546 yards, 4 TD’s) and senior Daquan Lennon (444 yards, 3 TD’s).
Senior quarterback Stefan McDonald has thrown for 236 yards and 2 touchdowns. Senior Hunter Prevatte has 5 receptions for 48 yards. Senior Ray Jones drilled a 31-yard field goal for the only West points against East Bladen. Jones has booted 14 of 14 extra points.
Senior David Gittens – the Knights leading tackler – junior linebackers Hunter Pait and Traquan Smith and defensive back Ricky McLaurin lead the West Bladen defense.
The Kinston Eagles have outscored their opponents by an average of 44-11. “They are scary,” said Coach Dove. “#1 (Jeremiah Fields) is a lightning bolt, and #22 (Tavon Herns) is another athlete.”
“They run a spread and trip wide-outs,” continued Dove. “The only time they get under center is to close out games late when they are ahead.” Quarterback Thomas Vermillion directs the Eagle spread and 225-lb. fullback Malik Bryant is another stand-out runner. “They are big up front and athletic everywhere,” continued Dove. “They are a lot like the Northeastern team that we played 2 years ago.”
Senior Dy’quan Waters, a 6-3, 240 lb. linebacker, anchors the Kinston 4-3 defense.
“We’ve finally been able to get out of the boats and get to some dry land to practice,” chuckled Coach Dove about all the rain of the last two weeks. “We will prep just like we always do. Lot of changes from playing East’s power running game and now adjusting to Kinston’s spread and speed.”
“The kids are upbeat and ready to go Friday,” concluded Coach Dove. “We will go up there and give it our best shot.”
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