LAKE WACCAMAW – East Columbus junior quarterback Alex Williamson ran for all three touchdowns and the Gator defense came through with its best showing of the season Friday night in a 21-6 Waccamaw 1A-2A Conference football victory over visiting Heide Trask.

The win gave Coach Travis Conner’s East Columbus team a 2-4 conference record to finish in a three-way with South Brunswick and North Brunswick for fourth place in the final Waccamaw Conference standings.

East Columbus, with a 3-8 record, will travel to meet unbeaten East Bladen this Friday in the opening round of the state 1AA playoffs. (See related story).

Trask finished regular season at 2-8, including an 0-6 conference record. The Titans will travel to meet unbeaten James Kenan in the opening round of the 1AA playoffs.

Williamson scored the only touchdown of the first half on a four-yard, second-quarter run. He also kicked the extra point.

Trask cut the ECHS lead to one point when the Titans broke a 32-yard TD run in the third quarter. The PAT was blocked,

Later in the quarter, Williamson broke loose on a 48-yard TD scamper, and in the fourth quarter, he scored on a seven-yard run. Demtrice McKelvie scored a two-point conversion run following the final TD.

The Gators, led by Petey Graham, Stanley Spaulding, Wakeem Johnson and Richard Jones held the Trask running game to 121 yards while the ECHS offense rolled up 253 yards rushing.

“Defensively, this is the sharpest we have been all season,” Coach Conner said. “We worked at stopping their fullback lead, and our people on the corners concentrated on controlling their quarterback option.

East Columbus, which finished with an 0-11 record last fall, will be making only its third state playoff appearance since the school opened in 1992.

The Gators are still looking for their first state playoff win.