St. Pauls falls late to East Bladen

ST. PAULS — The St. Pauls football team took the lead late against East Bladen on Friday night, but the Eagles closed with a final surge to earn a 34-28 victory.

Down 28-21 early in the fourth quarter after a two-yard touchdown run by St. Pauls quarterback Noah Wheeler, the Eagles (7-1, 5-1 TRC) closed the game with 13 unanswered points.

Sincere Smith scored the go-ahead touchdown with 15 seconds left to play to lift East Bladen over the Bulldogs (4-4, 4-2). Xavier Wooten finished with a game-high 239 rushing yards and two touchdowns for the Eagles.

Wheeler accounted for 270 yards of offense to lead St. Pauls, throwing for 157 and rushing for 113 with three touchdowns. Caleb Inman rushed for 80 yards and a score for the Bulldogs.

St. Pauls will host West Bladen next Friday.

Pirates come up short at Pinecrest

SOUTHERN PINES — The Lumberton football team rallied late against Pinecrest on Friday, but fell 34-27 in the Sandhills Athletic Conference matchup.

Quarterback Braylan Grice led the Pirates (2-6, 1-3 SAC) with 429 yards of total offense, rushing for 142 yards and four touchdowns. He finished with 287 passing yards.

Trailing 34-13 early in the fourth quarter, Grice scored the game’s final 14 points to give the Pirates a chance. He had touchdown runs of 1, 9, 13 and 4 yards in the contest.

Breighlan Swindell led Lumberton with 19 tackles. Sean Humphrey, Nathan Hunt and Alexander Hammonds logged nine tackles each for the Pirates, who travel to Richmond next Friday.

Zathon Hill had 167 rushing yards to lead the Patriots, who outscored Lumberton 20-6 in the third quarter.

Whiteville tops Red Springs

WHITEVILLE — Denym McKeithan finished with two touchdown passes in Red Springs’ 36-20 loss at Whiteville on Friday night.

McKeithan had a 19-yard touchdown pass to Traveze Billinger and an 18-yard pass to Oliver Brooks to lead the Red Devils (5-3, 3-3 TRC), who were plagued by turnovers in the loss.

Lee McLean capped the scoring with a two-yard run. Red Springs will be back in action on Friday at Fairmont.

In other TRC action, Fairmont fell 41-34 at South Columbus. The Golden Tornadoes and Stallions combined for 47 points in the opening quarter.

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Staff Report