03/29/2024
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East Bladen’s Eagles open the NCHSAA Class 2-A Play-offs Friday night when they entertain the Graham Red Devils.

Coach Robby Priest’s Eagles have only lost to Four County Conference foes Clinton and Wallace-Rose Hill who were both in the state finals last season. Meanwhile Graham comes in with a 4-7 record as the No. 3 seed from the Mid-State Conference.

Senior quarterback Ty McMillian will be back to direct the Eagle offense after missing 4 weeks with an ankle injury. “Ty’s good; he’s ready to go,” said Coach Priest.

Sophmore Xavia McDowell ran for 132 yards and a touchdown to lead the Eagles to last week’s 14-3 victory over rival West Bladen. McDowell has now rushed for 383 yards since moving to fullback four games ago.

Junior Kyle Tatum gained 44 yards against West and has totaled 564 rushing yards and 9 touchdowns on the season. Senior Nikita Owens picked up 40 yards Friday night and now has 419 yards and 5 touchdowns for the season.

“We have got some help coming from the jayvee team with James Higgins and Xavier Wooten,” said Coach Priest. “We are going to try and rotate 6 backs against Graham.”

The Eagles have outscored their opponents by an average margin of 29-16. Senior lineman Chris Cromartie leads the East defense with 65 tackles, 5 sacks and a blocked punt.

Junior Derrick Burney follows with 59 tackles, and McDowell has made 55 tackles and recovered 4 fumbles. Junior Michael Walter has 5 sacks and 4 fumble recoveries.

Sophmore Sincere Smith came up with a pair of big pass break-ups in the win over West Bladen and also scooped up a teammate’s fumble and scored the clinching touchdown.

Despite their 4-7 overall record, the Red Devils posted a 3-2 conference record and have key wins over Jordan-Matthews and Bartlett Yancey.

Senior Jamie Newman directs the Graham spread offense and has thrown for 667 yards and 8 touchdowns and run for 6 more TD’s. “He is 6-4, 230 (lbs.) can run it and throw it and has already committed to Wake Forest,” said Coach Priest.

Senior Daniel Graves (614 yards and 12 touchdowns rushing; 15 receptions for 359 yards) sparks the Red Devil attack. “He has just returned from an injury,” said Coach Priest. “He is fast and so quick that he would be hard to tackle in a flag football game.” Graves is also dangerous on special teams and has returned 5 kick-offs and a punt for touchdowns.

Junior Jordan Falls has caught 9 passes for 145 yards, and senior Genorval McKeithan, Jr. has 10 catches for 147 yards. “ They are fast and can really stretch the field,” noted Priest.

“They really fly around on defense and I like the way #52 (Taymond Reed) plays,” continued Coach Priest.  Reed, a 224-lb. junior linebacker, leads the Red Devil defense with 153 tackles.

Junior linebacker Germar Buchanan (92 tackles) and junior safety Eric Brown (91 tackles) are other Graham defensive leaders.

The recent rainy weather has really muddied up the Eagle practice field, but the East Bladen soccer team has provided assistance. “Coach Jay Raynor really helped us out by letting us use his soccer field for practice,” said Coach Priest. “He didn’t have to do that.”

The winner of the East Bladen/Graham game will advance to play the winner of No. 2 seed Southwest Edgecombe and No. 15 Farmville Central.

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