By DAN BISER
Sports Editor

The East Columbus Gators have fulfilled their pre-season goal of advancing to the state 1AA playoffs and they solidified that bid with a 21-6 victory over Heide Trask last week.

Now that they are in the playoffs, Coach Travis Conner’s Gators take on the monumental task of traveling to Elizabehtown Friday for an opening round game against the unbeaten East Bladen Eagles.

“Without question, we’ll be playing the best team we have seen all year,” said Conner, whose Gators have a 3-8 record. “They are very athletic and very well coached. This is a huge challenge for our football team.”

East Bladen, under 27-year head coach Lenon Fisher, has a 10-0 record to go along with its second straight Southeastern 1A-2A Conference championship. The Eagles were virtually unstoppable in conference play.

The Eagles’ only close calls came in an 8-6 season opening win over Whiteville and 21-18 decision over Clinton. The victories included a 42-7 drubbing of South Columbus.

Eagle running back Donovan Richardson has surpassed the 1,000-yard rushing mark and quarterback Dom Whittington has passed for more than 1,000 yards.

This year’s Eagle squad may not be as strong physically as the 2003 EB team that advanced to he Eastern 2A finals and finished at 13-1, but it is probably the quickest and fastest team in school history.

“They’ve broken a lot of big plays this season,” Conner said. “They are very explosive.”

East Columbus, which went 0-11 a year ago, compiled a 2-4 record in Waccamaw 1A-2A Conference, tying North Brunswick and South Brunswick for fourth place.

In last week’s win over Trask, quarterback Alex Williamson ran for all three touchdowns to help snap a three-game Gator losing streak.

East Columbus’s other wins this season came over West Columbus 41-7 and North Brunswick 30-14.

East Bladen had open date last week after clinching the Souheastern title the previous week.