Warriors start playoff journey at home

By Brandon Davis
Published in Sports on November 12, 2015 1:48 PM

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bdavis@newsargus.com

Win, lose ... wait ... losing means a team goes home.

And that's not an option for Eastern Wayne.

The sixth-seeded Warriors kick off the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 3-A (small-school) football playoffs at home Friday against South Johnston. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m.

"We're taking the games one game at a time," first-year head coach Phil Gray said. "This point of the season is do or die. You win (and if) you look past that (next) game, you go home."

Eastern Wayne (4-6 overall) finished the regular season with back-to-back wins over county and conference foes Southern Wayne and Charles B. Aycock.

Gray's team looks to continue that streak this week against the physical Trojans. A former conference opponent, South Johnston (7-4 overall) overpowered Smithfield-Selma, 49-8, last week.

"We're focusing on South Johnston this week," Gray said. "(We're) trying to prepare for them. They're a very aggressive, physical team. They got a great running back and a great receiver. Their defense is pretty solid so we're looking for a very physical game Friday night."

Gray made a slight offensive tweak against D.H. Conley on Oct. 23. Zeke Best took over the quarterback duties and KK Best returned to the backfield.

Since that change, Zeke has thrown for nearly 1,000 yards. KK Best is close to 700 yards rushing after a season-high 221-yard game against Aycock.

"He's (Zeke) doing great at the quarterback position," Gray said. "It's always a learning experience to watch you take somebody and switch them over to quarterback, but he's coming along real good."

Eastern Wayne is 7-11 all-time in the postseason and has been the eastern 3-A regional runner-up to Havelock each of the past two years.