BURGAW - It was rated a toss-up. It turned into a rout.

Behind another staunch defensive effort and a balanced offensive attack, the Whiteville Wolfpack cruised to a 40-6 Waccamaw 1A-2A Conference football victory over the host Pender Patriots Friday night.

Coach Mark Little’s WHS squad, which was ignited by a 77-yard kickoff return by David Mosley for the first Wolfpack touchdown, eased past a Pender squad that was off to one of its best starts ever.

Both teams entered the game with identical 4-2 records.

“I never would have thought this would have turned into this type of game,” Little said. “From everything I’ve seen on tape and everything I’ve heard, Pender has really shown a lot of strength this year and they’ve beaten some really good teams.

“Our guys played hard and gave probably their best overall effort so far,” Little added. “We may not have put up a lot of impressive stats on offense, but we did a lot of good things as team. Our defense got after it.”

It was Whiteville’s eighth win over the Patriots in as many meetings as the Wolfpack improved its conference record to 2-0. Pender, which had as many as six players leave the field with injuries during the game, saw its conference mark slip to 1-1.

Coach Tom Eanes’ Pender squad, coming off a 33-0 romp over Trask in its conference opener, drew first blood when it got the ball deep in WHS territory following a botched Wolfpack punt attempt.

A 13-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Cook to Cruz Underwood gave Pender a 6-0 lead with 4 minutes, 32 seconds left in the first quarter.

However, Whiteville came right back to tie the score 12 seconds later when Mosley grabbed the ensuing kickoff at his own 23 yard line and sprinted straight up the middle for the game-tying touchdown. The conversion attempt failed and the score stayed 6-6 at the end of the quarter.

An end-around pass from E. Brown to Alex Royal for a 25-yard touchdown play with just over nine minutes left in the first half put Whiteville ahead to stay. Zack Stanley kicked the extra point.

Later in the period, a partially blocked Pender punt was scooped up by Wolfpack linebacker Kevin Gamble at the Patriot 22 and returned for a touchdown. Stanley’s PAT kick made the score 20-6 with 4:18 left in the half.

Whiteville added another touchdown in the second quarter when quarterback Harrison Jordan scored on a one-yard sneak with seven seconds left on the clock and Stanley added the extra point for a 27-6 halftime advantage.

Both of Whiteville’s second-half touchdowns came in the fourth quarter on a 10-yard run by Tyson Wilcox and two-yard run by Josh Lennon.

Along with his big kickoff return, Mosley also had a pass interception and fumble recovery. Donnelle Ross also got a pass interception.

Mosely also had the game’s longest run from srimmage with a 39-yard ramble.

Whitevile defenders Quan Gaddy, Kevin Gamble, George Spearman, John McZeak and Albarin Powell each had eight tackles. The WHS defense held Pender to 90 yards rushing an 36 yards passing as it has yet to yield more than two touchdowns in each of its seven games thus far.

On offense, Whiteville ground out 139 yards rushing and completed five passes for 103 yards, The Wolfpack did not commit a turnover.

Whiteville will play host to South Brunswick this Friday in its annual Homecoming game while Pender is scheduled to travel to North Brunswick.

P – Cruz Underwood 13 pass from Jordan Cook (kick blocked).

W – David Mosley 77 kickoff retur (kick failed).

W – Alex Royal 25 pass from E. Brown (Zack Stanley kick).

W – Kevin Gamble 22 punt return (Stanley kick).

W - Harrison Jordan 1 run (Stanley kick).

W – Tyson Wilcox 10 run (Stanley kick).

W – Josh Lennon 2 run (kick failed).