Eastern Wayne starts slow, picks up steam on offense

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on October 31, 2015 11:31 PM

• Print
• Email

rcoggins@newsargus.com

DUDLEY -- It's been a common occurrence that's happened in the pre-game coin toss all season.

Eastern Wayne always seems to start on defense, gives up a touchdown and has to work from behind during the early stages of the opening quarter.

Friday night was no different.

Quentin Carlton's 23-yard touchdown gallop on the Saints' first offensive series -- a 9-play drive -- put the Warriors in a six-point hole. And as has been the case throughout the season, Eastern Wayne answered on its initial possession of the game.

Zeke Best's 1-yard dive ignited a 27-point run and eventually led to a pivotal 35-18 victory on the Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference football scene. The Warriors snapped a four-game skid and entertain Charles B. Aycock next Friday with the league's top 3-A playoff berth at stake.

"(Answering the touchdown) was big for us," EW head coach Phil Gray said. "We just had to get the offense to come out and answer, and get the defense ready to come back for the next play. Offensively, we executed well ... had some little mishaps that we have to work on when we prepare for (CBA) next week."

Eastern Wayne amassed 448 yards of total offense, including 308 on the ground. Hartsfield and KK Best led the ground attack with 96 and 92 yards, respectively.

Zeke Best threw a pair of second-quarter touchdown passes to Austin Hite that covered 22 and 1 yard, respectively. Blake Hartsfield's 75-yard touchdown burst gave the Warriors a commanding 27-6 advantage past the midway point of the third quarter.

However, Eastern Wayne (3-6 overall, 1-4 ECC) lost two fumbles, including one in the end zone. Best threw interception on the Warriors' first offensive possession of the second half.

Southern Wayne (0-10, 0-6) capitalized on just one of the three miscues. The Saints also fumbled inside the red zone and had a dropped pass in the end zone as time expired in the second quarter.

"I thought our kids came out ready to play ... competed very, very hard," Southern Wayne head coach David Lee said. "Hat's off to Eastern Wayne because they just made plays when they had to. We just still made a few mental mistakes (that) we've been making the all year but they're not effort mistakes.

"We had some pass coverage breakdowns in the first half."

Hite's touchdown receptions, which came within a 3 1/2-minute span, occurred on a second-and-21 play and a third-and-goal play. Ranked among the area's top five receivers, Hite ended the night with a team- and game-high 52 yards on three catches.

Over the past four games, Hite has accumulated 326 receiving yards and three touchdowns on 19 total receptions.

"Austin has been playing real well over the past couple of weeks," Gray said. "He's not the fastest on the team, he's not the shiftiest on the team, but if you throw him the ball, most of the time he's going to bring it in ... make a play."

Eastern Wayne's defense contained the Saints' dual threat - Manny Walker and Carlton - for most of the night. The duo combined for 259 of Southern Wayne's 263-yard offensive output.

Walker threw his first touchdown pass of the season - a 30-yard strike to Ronnie Thompson with four minutes left in the game. He returned a 77-yard kickoff to the house moments after Hartsfield broke free for his 75-yard touchdown.

"We had more people to the ball," Gray said. "We got a little more pressure on the quarterback. The D-line played well and the outside linebackers contained and tried to keep everbody boxed inside."

Now if only the Warriors could win that pre-game coin toss.