Eastern Wayne knocks off Jacksonville

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on November 15, 2014 11:03 PM

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aetzler@newsargus.com

Eastern Wayne quarterback KK Best usually hurts opposing defenses with his feet by escaping sacks and cutting up field for big gains.

And he did that on Friday.

But his real impact came from an unexpected use of his feet -- punting.

The senior booted kicks Friday and dropped all of them inside Jacksonville's 25-yard-line in a 43-14, opening-round win in the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-AA football playoffs.

The fifth-seeded Warriors (9-2 overall) visit fourth-seeded Southern Nash next Friday. It's a rematch of last year's second-round game won by Eastern Wayne at Little Big Horn.

Two of Best's punts backed the Cardinals up inside the 5-yard line, and the Eastern Wayne defense never let Jacksonville put together any sustained drives.

"That makes it real hard to move the ball, because they do a good job defensively," Jacksonville head coach Beau Williams said. "Once you get the ball down that far it's almost impossible to get it going. You have to stay together as a team and a lot of times we shot ourselves in the foot."

Best rushed for 112 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries, including a wizard-like escape of a sack that he turned into a 27-yard TD in the third quarter.

DayDay Pridgen chipped in 62 yards and three TDs.

With the bone-chilling, 38-degree weather, the Warriors knew they had to run the ball. Best sold fake handoffs like a slick used car salesman, and scrambled for big gains on four occasions.

"That's a continued thing for him," EW head coach Bubba Williams said of Best, who surprisingly didn't start the game at quarterback. "He's doing a better and better job of being able to read it. At the same time the other guys are doing a better and better job carrying out the play even though they don't have the ball.

"That's pretty much like a block when they do that and that's what we've been selling them on all year. Now they're all getting into it a little bit more."

A swarming Warriors' defense allowed the Cardinals to gain just 127 yards of total offense. EW forced a turnover on a kickoff and kept Jacksonville's runners from reaching the first-down markers.

"I thought we did a good job flying around to the ball tonight," Eastern Wayne's Chris Pridgen said. "It was important for us to just go out there and play ball."

The only big play the Warriors allowed was a 37-yard touchdown pass from Vincent Siders to Exelman Adams in the third quarter. Adams ran a post route, while another receiver crossed with him on a wheel route.

Eastern Wayne actually had the play covered pretty well, but Siders put the ball right on the money for the score.

"We knew DayDay (Pridgen) was taking away the fly route all game, so we thought we could get something toward the middle and it worked," Beau Williams said.

Chris Pridgen noted how important this game was to him, as his coach Bubba Williams was coaching against his brother Beau and father Chip for the first time in his career. Cousins Chris and DayDay Pridgen have built a relationship with Beau Williams over the years and a mutual respect is there.

"I was having fun with him during the game talking to him, saying little slick things to him," DayDay Pridgen said. "He's a really good guy. Reminds me a lot of coach. It was fun."

But neither of the Pridgen boys were willing to let this one slip away.

"I wanted to win this for my coach," Chris Pridgen said. "I've played for him for four years and I was playing for him today. This one feels very good."