By DAN BISER

Whiteville High football coach Mark Little admitted that it was a “water-logged victory,” but still one that his team had to be happy about Friday night.

With the Legion Field playing surface totally already drenched, the Wolfpack and visiting North Brunswick battled on throuht the steady rain that had begun that morning.

With senior quarterback Harrison Jordan throwing a touchdown pass and running for another, Whiteville posted a 14-6 Senior Night victory over the Scorpions to put its Waccamaw Conference record at 5-0.

The Wolfpack will travel Friday to take on two-time defending conference champion South Columbus (also 5-0) for the outright conference championship. (See related story).

Little said that when Whiteville made the decision to play Friday’s game earlier in the day, he felt certain that the weather would be a factor, but he had hoped that it wouldn’t be a damaging one.

“You never know just what a wet field will do to a team sometimes,” Little said. “It had some adverse effect on both teams, but both teams continued to play hard even though they were limited in some areas. I was impressed by the way North Brunswick kept after it tonight.”

The WHS win avenged a 26-17 loss to North Brunswick last season. That marked the first loss of the 2005 season for Whiteville after eight straight wins.

It was North Brunswick’s first loss in three games as the Scorpions closed their conference schedule with a 2-4 record and a 4-6 overall record. They will play host to 3A West Brunswick this Friday in a non-conference game.

The result gave Little his 40th victory in this his fifth season as WHS head coach. His Wolfpack has claimed at least eight wins in each of the last four seasons.

The Wolfpack scored on its first possession of the night, marching 70 yards in nine plays, including a 20-yard run by Jarrod McKinney. The touchdown came on a 25-yard pass from quarterback Harrison Jordan to tight end Alex Royal.

Following a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct call against the Wolfpack, WHS kicker David Hodgson booted a 35-yard extra-point through the heavy drizzle for a 7-0 lead.

A 46-yard run by North Brunswick standout tailback Josh Balloon gave the Scorpions the ball at the one-yard line in the second quarter. Whiteville held the Scorpions on the first two plays from that point before quarterback Jesse Riley scored on a quarterback sneak. A passing try on the two-point conversion attempt failed and Whiteville maintained a 7-6 halftime lead.

The Wolfpack defense kept North Brunswick from registering a first-down in the second half, and the WHS offense drove the ball 65 yards for its second-half score, The touchdown came on a one-yard, fourth-down sneak by Jordan on the first play of the final quarter. Hodgson kicked the extra point to complete the night’s scoring.

McKinney carried the ball 19 times for 136 yards to become the first WHS player to surpass the 1,000-yard season rushing mark since 1999 when his brother Brushawn McKinney rushed for more than 1,300 yards.

Josh Lennon, Kevin Gamble, Jonathan Norris and Donnale Ross paced the Wolfpack defense, which held its opponent to a single touchdown for the fifth straight week.

Balloon carried the ball 14 times for 46 yards for North Brunswick.

“This puts us where we had hoped to be at this point of the season,” Little said. “We have a huge week ahead of us.”

NB W

First downs 3 11

Rushes-yards 24-110 44-191

Yards passing 16 30

Passes 1-8-1 2-3-0

Fumbles-lost 3-1 5-2

Penalties 8-50 4-30

Punts-avg. 3-32.5 4-28.8