VINEGAR HILL – It had been a long time since the Whiteville Wolfpack had hung a football loss on the South Columbus Stallions, and even longer since it had claimed an outright conference championship.

The Wolfpack managed to do both Friday night when a 32-yard touchdown pass from Harrison Jordan to Alex Royal with 46 seconds left on the clock hoisted WHS to a 21-15 victory over the host Stallions at a frigid Civitan Stadium.

Moments earlier, South Columbus had gone ahead 15-14 when Stallion fullback Andrae Jacobs scored on a one-yard plunge and then added a two-point conversion run.

“I guess it was our time,” said WHS coach Mark Little, referring to the Wolfpack’s 11 straight losses to SCHS leading into this season. “Both teams gave great efforts and fortunately we got the big play when we needed it.

“I’m really happy for a players, our coaches and all our supporters,” Little added. “We beat a very good football team tonight. We’ve known for a long time that to win the Waccamaw Conference you have to beat South Columbus. It’s been a long time coming for our kids.”

Whiteville claimed the Waccamaw title with a 6-0 record and has a 9-2 season mark. South Columbus, which suffered its first conference loss on its homefield since 1995, finished as conference runnerup with a 5-1 record and an 8-3 overall mark. It marks the first time since 1997 that the Stallions have lost as many as three games in regular-season play.

South Columbus head coach Joey Price said that Whiteville played a strong game, particularly in the second half.

“We moved the ball on them and scored early but Whiteville came back strong after that,” Price said, who has coached the Stallions to seven conference titles in his 10 years as SCHS head coach. “I thought both teams played well. Whiteville connected on the big play and that was the difference in the ball game.”

Along with the conference championship, Whiteville has received the top seed in the East 2A playoffs and will play host to Waccamaw Conference opponent North Brunswick Friday in the opening round of play. South Columbus will travel to Jacksonville to take on Northside Friday in the opening round. Should both Whiteville and South Columbus take opening-round victories, they would square off in second-round play at Whiteville. (See related story).

Jarrod McKinney helped pace Whiteville’s offense with 113 yards on 19 carries with touchdown runs of 10 and 35 yards. South Columbus countered with Dakota Piver, who carried 20 times for 127 yards.

South Columbus took a 7-0 lead on a strong scoring drive on its initial possession. Jacobs got the touchdown on a two-yard run and Donovan Watts added the extra point.

Whiteville tied the score with just over five minutes left in the first half on a 10-yard run by McKinney. David Hodgson kicked the extra point.

The Wolfpack gained its first lead when McKinney capped the opening possession with a 35-yard scoring run. Later in the half, Whiteville controlled the ball for more than nine minutes while driving 79 yards on 19 plays, only to be stopped on a fourth-down play. The Wolfpack also missed a 37-yard field goal attempt. South Columbus followed with an 80-yard drive that culminated with Jacobs going over from the one with 2 minutes and 34 seconds left in the game. Jacobs added the two-point conversion run give the Stallions their one-point lead.

But Whiteville came back with the game-winning drive that saw it convert a fourth-down-and-three play at midfield on a carry by McKinney and a 14-yard pass to Royal.

From the 32-yard line, Jordan threw to Royal in the end zone. Although he was well covered, Royal made a high-leaping grab of the ball and fell over backward for the winning points.

South Columbus’ last-ditch effort to answer the big Wolfpack score was halted on a pass interception by WHS linebacker Kevin Gamble.

Whiteville last won an outright conference championship in 1992 when it posted an unbeaten season record and advanced to third round of the state 2A playoffs. Its last win over South Columbus had come in 1994 by a 37-16 score.

South Columbus’ last homefield conference loss came in 1995 when it fell to South Brunswick by a 12-8 score.

SC – Andrae Jacobs 2 run (Donovan Watts kick).

W – Jarrod McKinney 10 run (David Hodgson kick).

W - McKinney 35 run (Hodgson kick).

SC – Jacobs 1 run (Jacobs run).

W – Alex Royal 32 pass from Harrison Jordan (Hodgson kick).