Rosewood avenges loss to Lejeune

By Trevor Dunnell
Published in Sports on November 4, 2012 1:53 AM

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Daily News Correspondent

JACKSONVILLE -- The Rosewood Eagles soared into Camp Lejeune and got a 34-20 win over the Devilpups on Friday night in the first round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A (small-school) football playoffs.

Lejeune ended the season at 5-7 overall. The Devilpups, who hosted a first-round game for the second consecutive year, concluded the season with a 3-game losing streak.

"First off, I gotta say that I am extremely proud of my kids," Lejeune coach Darryl Schwartz said. "Tonight, and the entire year, we competed every down of every game and that's all you can ask for."

Meanwhile, the win for the Eagles (4-7 overall) avenged an earlier loss. Rosewood (3-8) plays host to Jones Senior, which stunned Southeast Halifax, 7-6.

"It feels real good," Rosewood coach Robert Britt said. "We only had about 8 players come back from last year and we had some growing pains early as well as an injury spell. But we are not your average 3-7 team.

"Coming off a big win last week and being able to hold No. 23 (Lejeune's Jamaz Richardson) after he scored five touchdowns on us earlier in the season, it's huge and we get to move on and play another day."

Jamari McGowan gave Rosewood the lead for good at 27-20 on an 8-yard run with nine minutes to play in the contest. Joshua Davis topped off the night with a 20-yard touchdown catch to bring the lead to 34-20.

At the start of the game it looked like Lejeune was setting up to rout Rosewood again.

On the first play from scrimmage, Devilpups' quarterback Chad Collins hit Christian Waterhouse for a 50-yard gain to bring Lejeune into Rosewood's red zone. Later, Richardson hit the sideline for a 9-yard touchdown run to give Lejeune a 6-0 lead.

Rosewood's Spencer Garrison tied the game at 6 on a 3-yard run with 5:33 left in the first quarter.

After a big drive from the Devilpups that had two plays of 20-plus yards, Collins dashed five yards into the end zone to give Lejeune a 13-6 lead. Still, the Eagles would not be denied as Garrison scored his second touchdown of the game on a 4-yard run to tie the game at 13 a piece.

With Lejeune forced to go three and out for the first time in the game since midway through the second quarter, Rosewood decided to use the old "ground-and-pound" game to control the clock. Garrison's five-yard touchdown run gave the Eagles a 20-13 lead at halftime.