FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS: Five area teams qualify, Rebels No. 1 seed in Midwest Region

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on November 13, 2016 9:40 AM

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By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

Some consider college football's bowl season the most wonderful time of the year.

The high school football playoffs rank right up there with that sentiment.

Back on Aug. 1, nearly 400 teams began early-morning workouts for this moment -- a chance to play for a N.C. High School Athletic Association state championship in their respective classification.

Just 256 teams start their respective quests Friday evening, and five qualifiers are from the News-Argus readership area -- Eastern Wayne, Rosewood, Spring Creek, North Duplin and Princeton.

Seeded No. 2 in the East 3-A (small school) region, Eastern Wayne (4-6 overall) received the playoff bid after Charles B. Aycock suffered a season-ending loss to South Central.

The Golden Falcons vacated four wins, including a victory that created a three-way tie with EW and Southern Wayne for first place at 1-1 in the split-classification Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference. The Warriors advanced based on the better overall record.

Coach Leander Oates' team entertains South Johnston, the No. 7 seed from the Mideast. It's a rematch of last year's game won by the Trojans, 21-6, on EW's home field.

Kickoff is 7 p.m.

"I do think we had a lot of positives coming out of the Rose game even though the score didn't reflect that," said Oates of the 70-28 loss. "But I think it's some we can build on to help us in this first round."

Eastern Wayne, according to NCHSAA records, is 7-12 all-time in 12 postseason trips. The Warriors have emerged victorious in six of their last nine playoff games.

North Duplin, Princeton and Lakewood finished in a three-way tie for the Carolina 1-A Conference title. ND is the No. 1 seed in the Midwest 1-A (small-school) region. The Rebels welcome Smoky Mountain Conference member Rosman, which traveled to Calypso in 2006.

Lakewood drew the No. 1 seed in the Mideast 1-AA (large-school) region. Princeton (6-5) got the No. 5 Mideast seed and is the guest of Martin Riverside, the No. 4 East seed.

Spring Creek, the No. 8 seed from the East, travels to Lakewood. The Gators are making their fourth consecutive appearance and have yet to post a victory in eight playoff trips overall since the school's inception in 2001.

"You've got several teams in this conference that are run-heavy football teams," said Sanders, who noted that six of the seven Carolina teams earned either an AQ or wild-card bid.

"Traditionally, with run-heavy football teams, you're able to do some good things in the playoffs at the 1-A level, and I think that's going to bode well for some of those 1-A teams."

Sanders pointed out North Duplin, which has won seven of its last eight games after an 0-3 start.

"I'm excited to see what North Duplin is going to do," he said. "He's (Coach Hugh Martin) got them running that option attack really well. They're playing really good football right now."

The Rebels, should they continue to win, would not leave the friendly confines of H.E. Grubbs Field for at least the first three rounds of the playoffs.

Rosewood (3-8) hits the road for an opening-round game at state-ranked East Carteret. The Eagles dominated the Mariners, 54-20, in the opening round of the 2014 playoffs.