By DAN BISER

In a non-conference battle of huge proportions, the East Bladen Eagles will play host to the South Columbus Stallions Friday night at 7:30.

South Columbus is the two-time defending Waccamaw 1A-2A Conference champion, and East Bladen is the defending Southeastern 1A-2A Conference champion. Both are off to 2-0 starts and are favored to come away with their respective conference titles again this year.

“They have just about everybody back this year,’ said SCHS head coach Joey Price. “They are always loaded with athletes.”

Price’s Stallions took a 14-0 victory over border rival Loris, S.C., last Friday, but lost the services of junior running back Justin Smith. Smith, the team’s leading rusher, received a severe ankle while returning the second half kickoff and is expected to be out of action for at least eight weeks. Smith scored three SCHS touchdowns in the 27-14 season opening victory over Wilmington Laney and scored the only TD of the first half against Loris.

Lenon Fisher, now in his 27th season as EBHS head coach, guided the Eagles to a 40-14 victory over Richlands Monday night after taking an 8-6 season-opening victory over Whiteville. The Eagles are currently ranked fifth among state 1A teams.

South Columbus claimed a 41-14 victory over East Bladen last season and also defeated Bladen 24-21 in 2004 in a battle that eventually decided the Waccamaw 2A Conference championship.

The last time the two teams met on the EBHS field, East Bladen pulled out a 35-32 victory and that was the game that catapulted the Eagles to the Waccamaw Conference title. The 2003 loss to East Bladen is the Stallions’ only conference setback since the 1999 season.

Last year, East Bladen joined the new Southeastern 1A-2A Conference while South Columbus remained in the newly aligned Waccamaw 1A-2A Conference.

While a key part of its offense left the field on a stretcher with Smith Friday night, the Stallion defense remained a constant against a strong Loris effort.

Linebackers Andrae Jacobs and Matt Garrell helped lead the way for the Stallions as they held the visiting Lions to 57 yards of total offense. The Loris offense never had possession any deeper than the Stallions’s 35 yard line. South Columbus held the 4A Laney squad scoreless during the final three quarters of that game.

Friday will be the first time in Price’s head coaching career at SCHS that he will not have a member of the Smith family suited up to play. Justin’s Smith’s older brothers Marcus, James, Brandon, Tony and Malcolm played big roles on Price’s teams, which have posted a combined record of 98 wins and 20 losses since 1997.

East Bladen has a balanced offense, paced by quarterback Dom Whittington and running back Donovan Richardson, and a rock-solid defense.