Eastern Wayne holds off South Central

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on September 5, 2008 1:10 PM

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Two points, three yards and one play.

That's all that separated Eastern Wayne and South Central from a 28-28 tie and a nearly inevitable overtime on Thursday evening.

Montrell McCotter's 11-yard touchdown run with 56 seconds remaining pulled the Falcons to within 28-26. But Eastern Wayne's Ceron Bailey penetrated into the South Central backfield and stuffed Justin Williams on the two-point conversion attempt.

The defensive stop gave the Warriors a 28-26 victory at Little Big Horn.

"Those plays are always nerve racking," said Eastern Wayne head coach Jeff Price. "There was an agreement for overtime and of course we're still in it with overtime. I'm just glad we were able to stuff that so that was a big play.

"That was a great play by our defense after South Central got down the field so quick."

McCotter's 86-yard touchdown pass to Jaquell Cherry trimmed the Warriors' lead to 28-20 with 4:31 to play. The Falcons' two-point conversion attempt failed.

Moments before McCotter's touchdown pass, Lamar Best broke out of several tackles and shook past a handful of defenders on his way to a 21-yard touchdown run. Steven Hall's extra point put Eastern Wayne in front 28-14.

After struggling to control the line of scrimmage in the first half, the Warriors' offensive line dominated the final two quarters. Quarterback Dan Price had time to find open receivers while Eastern Wayne's running backs had large holes to navigate through for considerable yardage.

With his brother Hassan Best knocked out of the game with an ankle injury, Lamar (5-foot-5, 135 pounds) finished with 106 yards on 16 carries. Price described Hassan's injury as a "tweaked" ankle and he expected his starting tailback to be ready to play when the Warriors (2-1 overall) host Wilson Fike next Friday.

"When we went to our power game with eight minutes to go, we were able to just pound the ball down the field," said Price. "That's easy play-calling right there. Our offensive line just took over right there.

"We always challenge our offensive line and of course Lamar did a great job stepping in there."

Dan Price's 13-yard scoring strike to Hall gave the Warriors a 21-14 advantage with less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter.

South Central led 14-7 at the half before Mac Stover recovered a Falcons fumble and raced 14-yards to the endzone. Hall's extra point tied the ballgame at 14-14 early in the third quarter.

Cameron Grice hooked up with Cherry from 34-yards out midway through the third quarter giving South Central a 14-7 advantage.

Tyrell Carmon's 7-yard touchdown run and Torrell Phillips two-point conversion gave the Falcons an 8-7 lead early in the second quarter.

Hassan Best's 29-yard touchdown run capped Eastern Wayne's opening drive early in the first quarter.