By DAN BISER

Whiteville High School football coach Mark Little said he got as emotional as he has been in a while during the halftime address to his Wolfpack players Friday night in the Waccamaw Conference opener against visiting East Columbus.

With his squad holding a precarious 14-7 lead at the midway point, Little said he told his team just what he thought of his its lack of effort in the second quarter.

“I was just really disappointed,” Little said. “We got a two-touchdown lead and then we just looked like we were standing around in the second quarter. I knew if we kept that up that East Columbus would take it to us in the second half.”

It didn’t take the Wolfpack long to get back on track as it converted two Gator fumbles into touchdowns during the opening six minutes of the third quarter and went on to take a 33-7 victory.

After falling behind 14-0, East Columbus controlled the football for most of the second quarter and got a 15-yard touchdown run on an option keeper by quarterback Alex Williamson right after the Gators had recovered a WHS fumble.

Before the half ended, East Columbus stopped a Whiteville scoring threat at the five-yard line.

But the Wolfpack’s Aaron Clark recovered a Gator fumble at the ECHS 14-yard line on the second-half kickoff and Jarrod McKinney scored on a two-yard run three plays later for a 21-7 WHS lead.

East Columbus again fumbled on its second snap of the second half and the Wolfpack converted the miscue into an eight play, 28-yard drive that was aided by a pass interference call. McKinney again scored the touchdown on a four-yard run to make the score 27-7 with just under six minutes left in the third quarter.

The final WHS touchdown came in the fourth quarter on a 30-yard pass from Harrison Jordan to E. Brown.

“The momentum we gained in the second quarter went away quickly with the fumbles,” said ECHS head coach Travis Conner, whose squad suffered its fourth straight loss in falling to 1-5 for the season. “Things really got turned around for us after that.”

It looked like Whiteville would hold the momentum from the outset as running back Tyson Wilcox broke an 84-yard touchdown run on the game’s third play from scrimmage. Wilcox had ripped off a school-record 97 yard TD run in the Wolfpack’s win over West Columbus two weeks earlier.

On its second possession, the Wolfpack marched 47 yards on five plays with quarterback Harrison Jordan tossing a five-yard pass to Alex Royal for a touchdown with 5 minutes and 43 seconds left in the third quarter. David Hodgson kicked the second of his three extra points for the night to make the score 14-0.

“The rest of the half was pretty much of nothing on our part,” Little said. “East Columbus did a good job of controlling the football and scored after the fumble recovery. They outplayed us in the second quarter.”

The Whiteville defense, behind the play of Royal, Albarin Powell, George Spearman, Kevin Gamble, John McZeak and Jonathan Norris held the Gators to 50 yards rushing and 68 yards passing.

The win put Whiteville’s season record at 4-2.

The Wolfpack offense garnered 265 yards rushing, including 104 yards on seven carries by Wilcox and 85 yards on 15 carries by McKinney. Jordan completed 6 of 8 passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns before giving way to backup Ben Deans in the final quarter. It was the Wolfpack’s fifth straight win over the Gators in a series that dates back to 1992.

Williamson carried 19 times for 47 yards and touchdown for ECHS. Williamson’s touchdown provided the first Gator points against the Wolfpack since the 2002 season when Whiteville pulled out a 21-20 win.

Wakeem Johnson, Jolly Jacobs and Kevin Richardson paced the Gator defense.

Whiteville will play Friday at Pender while East Columbus is scheduled to play host to North Brunswick.

W – Tyson Wilcox 84 run (David Hodgson kick).

W – Alex Royal 5 pass from Harrison Jordan (Hodgson kick).

EC – Alex Williamson 15 run (Forrest Steed kick).

W - Jarrod McKinney 2 run (Hodgson kick).

W - McKinney 4 run (kick blocked).

W - E. Brown 30 pass from Jordan (kick failed).